How to Easily start a Wholesale business in Uganda[2023].

Have you ever heard or witnessed a business that lacks customers. If yes then what do you think was the problem? Probably a lot of things right? Starting a wholesale business, you’ll have one of them. Which is market. You’ll surely have market for your wholesale business as long as you are in a place with plenty retailers and your price is good. Doesn’t that sound good? Now over that, this post will teach you exactly how to start a wholesale business. If you follow this guide on how to easily start a wholesale business, you’ll be guranteed of success. with some of the tips shared here, you can push your wholesale business to the nect level.

What is a wholesale business?

A whole sale business is an entity that buys goods in bulk from manufacturers and there after resells those at a higher price to retailers who also sell to the final consumer at a higher price.

How profitable is a wholesale business.

Very profitable is the short answer we can give for now. this is siply because;

• Wholesaers purchase in bulk from manufacturers at a very low cost. they are guranteed of their profit.
• Some mother companies bear the risk of expiry on behalf ogf yjr wholesalers hece reduced risk and more profit.
• Profits increase with quantity sold which is exactly what wholesalers do. sale in bulk.

Who is this business good for?

Every one that thinks that their full time job cant provide enough money to cater for all their financial needs. of you are reading this post, then you need not to worry, this business ifs good for you.

How to start a wholesale business.

Starting a wholesale business may seem hard but the assurance we’ll give you is that after this article, everything about it will be easy and you’ll smoothly go through the different steps and start your wholesale business.

Plan your business.

This is the first step in your journey starting a wholesale business. Miss it and loses it. Just like the saying goes, not planning is planning to fail, so you out to look at the different aspects of a plan and get them intact for your wholesale business. Ready to push it to the next level.

Below, we highlighted the aspects you need to look into and get them right in your business plan.

• Executive summary
• Business description
• Business goals and objectives including production strategies
• Market analysis
• Organization and management structure
• Sales strategies
• Funding and financial projections and mores others.

We’ve just highlighted a few aspects here, but if you don’t mind, you can find out the details of every aspect of a business plan just by following the link below.

Read Also: How to write a business plan.

Choose a business strategy and the commodity to deal in.

The wholesale business is a wide one, with many strategies all geared towards achieving one goal. “Finding a living”. Now that you wish to join, find time and do some research of the product you wish to deal in. There after the strategy to resale it.

The two strategies you can prioritize in this business are

• General whole sale

This is simple, when you choose to be a general whole sale, then you are going to have many different products large sums ready for retailers to come and purchase from you. This type of strategy is easier to start as it requires less capital and space. Such whole sales are usually many in different locations.

• Selected commodity wholesaler.

This is a little complex as compared to the general wholesaler. In this strategy, you deal in few products (one or two) but in super big quantities. Generally, you are the outlet point of the products in the whole region or district.

This is a little tricky to start as you need to make an agreement with the mother company, you need a lot of cash and space.

Depending on your money, the choice of the strategy is yours.

Find a product or products to deal in.

After you’ve chooses the strategy, then you need to critically look out for a product to deal in. For the first strategy, it sound obvious but not always. You may deal in general consumer products like dry foods, salt, sugar and many more house hold consumables.

Then when it comes to the second, you need to scratch your head and find a distribution gap. Its super had because companies plan to close all gaps but finding one isn’t impossible.

Read Also: Why most businesses fail.

Find a good location for your business.

Location is a key factor that shall heavily determine your success in the whole sale business.

You need an accessible location, with enough space as you’ll have a lot of commodities around

With room for expansion especially if you are going to be a selected commodity wholesaler. Remember, loading and unloading of tracks shall be daily business at your business premises, so have this in mind as you are looking out for a suitable location

Raise capital for your business.

Just like any other business, a whole sale business too requires capital to start. How much? Is a question that shall depend on your location, strategy and many more of the sort? How to raise capital for your whole sale business is another question that we fully discussed in one of our blog posts. Some of the ways you can is through your personal savings, bank loans, sourcing funds from family and friends, to mention but a few.

Read Also: How to raise money for your side business.

Purchase tools and equipment

Purchase the different tools and equipment to aid and ease your business. These shall heavily depend on what products you are dealing in. An example of these for a breweries wholesale business are pallets and a forklift to ease the unloading of crates from trucks. The tools and equipment you’ll need heavily depend on your strategy.

Look for suppliers

Producers and super big wholesalers can be your suppliers in the wholesale business. In the process of starting off, you can enquire from other fellow wholesalers of who their source of products are. It’s easy, you can use social media or even a web search of the product of interest to clearly locate the different sources of different products.

Purchase products

Now that you clearly know the product you want to deal in and have all the contacts of your suppliers, purchasing the products is your next step. As it is the start, you ought to purchase a small manageable stock in reference to the size of your wholesale business. As it is the start, you shouldn’t expect to make heavy sales so it is wise to purchase with this at the back of your mind.

Get a payment mechanism

Payments in cash are the commonest means of payment for small money. When it comes to a whole sale business, where some customers are expected to purchase in bulk, you need other mechanisms like bank transfer, and many more different ways to ease the process of purchasing.

Hire staff.

On your way to start off officially, you’ll need to hire staff to help in operation of the business. The number and expertise shall heavily depend on your scale of production and type of wholesale business respectively.

Start your business

Now that you have all these set, next is officially starting your business.

Advertise and provide incentives to attract more customers.

Advertise your business to improve exposure and get yourself more customers. Incentives too can do you the magic especially when it comes to holding onto those customers you already got. Here are some small things you can do as incentives.

• Provide free loading for customers especially those who purchase in bulk.
• Free transportation to a given distance in the working area is another you can think about.
• Generally, maximizing sales instead of profits can speak miles and gain you the biggest chunk of customers over time. The choice is yours.

Tips to improve your wholesale business

• Purchasing from the manufacturer directly is ideal for a wholesaler as you get more profits.
• Development of loyalty to a given supplier is something you should strive for in order to be given goods on credit.
• Of the two strategies, sales maximization and profit maximization, you should choose sales maximization as your whole goal is to sale bulk amounts of goods and customers who prefer to purchase in bulk look for the cheapest source

Conclusion.

As you can see, starting a whole sale business is not as intimidating or difficult as it might seem at first. There are many ways to make the process easier for yourself and less stressful. By following these tips and tricks, I hope that your process will be much smoother than mine was! Here are some of my favorite points as you join the business world.

• A well planned and managed business cannot fail. It’s just a matter of time.
• The business succeeds as much as you work hard. The more effort you input, the more likely that it shall work out.
• You quit, you lose. I know you’ll face a lot of challenges in this but something you shouldn’t think about is quitting.

With these few points, I wish you all the best in your whole sale business. In case of any questions, feel free to drop them in our inbox. If you feel this post makes a difference, you can also comment in the comment box below. All the best.