If wholesaler prices look attractive, the first question that comes to mind is:
“Why not just build my business by buying from wholesalers instead of importing?”
The answer is simple:
👉 You can start — but you cannot sustain.
Here’s why:
1. Stock Uncertainty
Wholesalers operate on their own import cycles. Once their stock runs out, there’s no guarantee they’ll reorder the same product.
So, even if your product is performing well, your supply chain could break overnight — leaving your listings inactive and your sales lost.
2. Lack of Control
When you buy in small quantities, your orders have no influence on a wholesaler’s future purchase decisions. Whether or not they re-import that SKU has nothing to do with your growth strategy.
3. Disrupted Continuity
On platforms like Amazon, continuity is everything. If you go out of stock, your ranking collapses, your ads lose traction, and your competitors capture your market share. Depending on wholesalers for continuity makes your business highly vulnerable.
4. No Channel Discipline
In categories like daily-use or e-commerce-friendly articles, the distribution chain is rarely structured.
There’s no channel exclusivity or price protection — wholesalers sell to whoever walks in: offline retailers, resellers, or online sellers.
As a general trend, we’ve seen wholesalers themselves selling directly on e-commerce platforms. Many sellers have approached us saying they sourced their products from a particular wholesaler, only to later discover that the same wholesaler was also competing with them online.
This clearly shows that wholesalers have no long-term commitment to any reseller. Their only objective is to move inventory — whoever buys, buys. Unlike a brand that imports and appoints distributors with fixed pricing and defined territories, wholesalers dealing in generic products don’t follow such discipline.
It’s not necessarily their fault — it’s how their business model works. But for an e-commerce retailer who invests in marketing, listings, and branding, this lack of commitment makes their position extremely vulnerable.
