Every wholesaler knows that price works wonders. Don’t you? Not necessarily, because the wrong merchandise even at the right price can be problematic. Today’s article is about how to find goods at an outrageously low price.
Read the previous article here: 8 ways to find the right product for your warehouse at a good price part 1/3
Perfect price
As experts say, the ideal price is what the customer is willing to pay. And even though it’s a phrase, there’s a lot of truth in it. The way of selling, the quality of service, i.e. the whole environment connected with a given commodity, may turn the ideal prince into an illusion. You can have the same goods as your competitors at a much lower price and you will not have good sales. Besides, just competing with the price is killing the company, literally. But let’s get to the point…
How to find goods for your warehouse at an outrageously low price ?
Why look for anything if you can negotiate!
We often underestimate what we have under our noses and look for goods in Brazil. I recommend you to start with local producers, distributors or importers. I suggest you to approach it as follows:
- Call and identify the decision-maker.
- Ask them to send you the offer via e-mail (the caller will want to know your purchase intentions and if you have not presented them during the conversation, you will have to send it to them by e-mail). Do not pretend to be a shopping king from Dubai, you have to be reasonably honest about your shopping possibilities. The exception is the fight for exclusivity for the sale of the goods – that’s when everyone is far beyond their abilities.
- If you already have an offer, make an appointment. Lay down the details, tell them that the prices are too high and ask what they can offer you. You’ve managed to lower it? Good, but don’t get too excited yet. If you haven’t managed to negotiate anything, and they really have unattractive deals, it’s not your supplier.
- You have an offer. You were in a meeting. You’ve managed to negotiate a bit, it’s time for further negotiations. Now you can write an email to thank them for the meeting and send them your offer of the discount/unit price. Then make a call (call after a few days, if nobody answers) and ask what they think about it. Usually you can still negotiate something else, if not, well… at least know you did your best.
At the end of the article you will find some advice about the attitude during negotiations.
I have a lot of cash.
If you have a lot of cash then it’s obvious – you’re a shopping baron. Your negotiating team squeezes the last juices out of the supplier and you buy goods at a huge discount. In fact, you should stop reading this.
I have some cash, but I’m frugal.
Basically nobody who is normal at the beginning of the cooperation will give you a payment term, so the fact that you buy with cash will not impress anybody. However, a large one-time order is already impressive and is a prelude to cool negotiations.
I (do not) have money and a lot of enthusiasm for work.
Opening a warehouse without a financial background is a mistake and a waste of time. Think about dropshipping or brokering, learn something, put aside some cash, make contacts and maybe even get a wealthy partner. But I can open an online warehouse! Yes, you can, but if you look through the so-called e-warehouses you will discover that actually it is dropshiping, some Chinese market, a combination of the two or a simple wholesaler with a warehouse that opened a B2B online store. So I hold to the fact that a warehouse without a financial background is a mistake and a waste of time. To put it simply, if you don’t have the money, you won’t buy the goods at a good price.
Shopping groups
They usually don’t work. After all each one is falling apart, but at the beginning it is worth looking for or organizing it yourself. There’s strength in numbers, but also a lot of problems and diverging interests.
Goods from surplus warehouses and liquidation of companies.
By buying surpluses from a large chain of stores, you are able to reach a price below the cost of production. Is this option available for everyone? No. But according to the principle of the digestive system in nature, sharks buy 30 million worth goods from e.g. Tesco, then sell them to several wholesalers, and then you can buy from them. Although there are already several intermediaries along the way, the price is still scandalously low. You can check it on the website merkandi.com. Both the shark and the fisherman will find something for themselves there.
An exclusive agreement to sell the manufacturer’s goods.
It is difficult to negotiate such an agreement, but it is possible. Of course, you need to have the appropriate financial background and preferably an already extensive distribution network. In this case, you don’t have to compete on the prices, which doesn’t mean you have no competition. However, you are the king, because you are the only one with a brand. The search for such an option is tiring and usually goes beyond the borders of your country. If you succeed, and you do it well, you will be satisfied.
Why do I need a low price if I will sell under my brand name and set the selling price myself?
The thing is that eBay is full of sellers who sell Chinese goods with their own logo and name. I have no experience in this subject, I only know a few companies that made some money on it and later they were left with containers full of unsold “branded” goods. The topic is very broad, for a separate book of knowledge about building your brand.
Time
A long and successful cooperation is for the patient but it gives us one of the better negotiating positions. This way we build relationships, you might even call it “friendship”. We like each other, we have been cooperating for years, and we have good prices, bonuses for achieving sales targets. This is what counts in business. At first, it is difficult, but nobody said it would be easy. It drives us mad that Carrefour or Lidl have lower prices in the shops than the merchandise we have in the warehouse, but we can’t help it. If you want to try to win with the stores, please visit www.merkandi.com.
The commandments of a good negotiator:
- Learn to listen. Don’t try to talk too much, because you won’t hear that the interlocutor wanted to give you a good discount.
- Do not agree on the terms of the first offer. Not even the second one.
- Smile. After all, negotiations are not a war.
- If you’re offering a benefit, ask for something in return.
- Aim for the other party to come forward first.
- Take another person from your company to negotiate. I like it myself, even if there are 5 lawyers on the other side. If there are men at the table, it is definitely worth taking an attractive assistant with you. In most cases it works.
- For the sake of future benefits, aim for a situation where both sides are satisfied or equally unsatisfied with the negotiations.
I wish you a lot of wonderful deals.
Kind regards,
CEO
Dariusz Pańków