Retailers – How to Select your Wholesale Sweet Supplier

If you’re a retailer wondering how to choose the best and most appropriate wholesale sweet supplier, some of the following tips for evaluation might come in handy.

Selecting a Wholesale Sweet Supplier

Align the available lines from a potential wholesale sweets supplier to your main marketing themes. For example, if you're targeting certain discerning (as opposed to mass-market) segments, you will need to select a wholesaler who is able to support you in that by offering appropriate high quality products.

Look for breadth of portfolio. Managing multiple suppliers can be time consuming, inefficient and also stressful. The more of your stock lines you're able to secure from a single source, the lower your management overheads will be.

Aim for economy of volume orders. This is closely linked to the point above because of the basic commercial reality that the more you order from a single supplier, the bigger your commercial clout is likely to be. That is going to put you in a stronger negotiating position when price comes to be discussed.

Value innovation in your providers. Certain components of the confectionery marketplace are volatile and you will need to select a wholesale sweets supplier who is not only aware of that, but is also able to react to it. In fact, ideally they should be at the forefront of driving that change and be ahead of the game rather than simply following events.

Aim for providers who can deliver a degree of uniqueness. There is considerable consumer pressure in the marketplace today for a different confectionery experience, rather than what might be termed the 'same-old–same-old' sweets.

Be aware of the need for traditional sweets, though. Once again, consumer pressures these days are driving increased attention towards the idea of nostalgia. This is being seen in many sectors, including the provision of confectionery, so any provider who can offer a range of products that hark back to people’s childhood is likely to be a good partner for you.

Consider reliability. This should go without saying, but unfortunately it is sometimes overlooked and not all suppliers are necessarily quite as reliable as they should be. You can check this out by researching them on the Internet and, of course, simply asking around other retailers.

Consider price, but don't make it the most important factor. This has been left until last for a very good reason, because finding the lowest-cost provider in the marketplace might not count for much if they are unable to deliver on some of the above things to you. Even so, times are tough and those wholesalers who are price conscious may be particularly attractive. You can check that out by conventional price comparisons.

Don’t underestimate the difference that a top-class wholesale sweets supplier can make to your business, and be prepared to put some time and effort into research before committing to a large order.