Business Tip: Don’t Buy Retail

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Above: A picture of a section of receipt, showing that $60 was spent, and $120 was “saved.”

It is important to me to provide affordable items. More than a few times I have been told I price “too low,” and while I could certainly raise my prices, I have explained my pricing before… and part of how I achieve that, is purchasing materials wholesale or through discount programs.

I do not do all of my shopping online, I don’t want the local stores to disappear. Price, while a factor in purchasing materials, is not my only concern. I have more to my value system than the “almighty dollar.” I would not, however, be able to provide the items I do at the prices I use if I needed to purchase my supplies at the retail price.

Almost all stores have at least a loyalty program and a few go further than that. I am also lucky to be able to purchase from some wholesalers in the region, because I am in Minnesota, and the way business licensing works here is different. It has meant being unable to register with a few wholesalers out of state so far, but hopefully I can tackle that task next year (I really need a better necklace chain source).

Here, it is very easy to be set up as a business and register to purchase through wholesalers, and if you do any selling, you should immediately see about doing so. Everything can be handled online and you could be seeing receipts like the one I posted above in no time. 😉 Besides, you are needlessly paying sales tax on your supplies, and that adds up!

If you’re in another state, it is still well worth looking into seeing which wholesalers are available to you and what you need to purchase through them. Wholesale pricing is not available to the general public and you may need to do some searching before you find wholesalers available to you.

The USA Small Business Administration has a page about finding wholesalers right here.

Good luck!

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