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Wholesale fashion distribution refers to the global market of bulk clothing sales, in which producers, wholesalers and sellers are involved in a commercial, business-to-business process.
Most wholesalers get their fashion stocks from the producers that commercialize the latest collections in bulk, at volume discounts. [1] Others purchase overstocks and closeout merchandise from retailers or distributors. Their clients are the resellers that purchase those stocks and sell it to the final consumers. Often, this process is financed through merchant factoring or vendor finance. In other cases, the merchant is assessed "counter rent" for a "store-within-a-store" concept, common in the cosmetics industry, but also not unheard of in clothing. In other cases, the vendor agrees to buy back unsold merchandise from the retailer — this is a common arrangement for higher-value seasonal clothing, like designer coats.
Many intermediaries exist to assure product quality or to hold stocks until needed by retailers who often have limited storage and retail space; they also help smaller retailers avoid issues like customs bonding and the need to secure an import license. The distributor sells large quantities of clothing stocks to a reseller, who tries to charge sufficient mark-ups to cover his costs and still make a profit. Often the supply chain will include more than one intermediary, although retailers usually strive for the fewest middlemen and lowest prices. Since the emergence of the Internet, many retailers have begun using it for just this purpose, and many new online-only wholesalers have emerged as a result. [2]
Business always involves risk, especially in a market strongly controlled by powerful fashion houses and manufacturers at one end and fickle consumers at the other. Fashion designers have to take into consideration the global supply chains and the seasonality of clothing which often means that clothing must be bought months or a year in advance and credit, transportation and warehousing arranged on tight deadlines. [3] Producers are the ones that set up the apparel stocks starting prices and consumers are the ones that choose to buy or not a product sold at a certain price. Despite increasingly sophisticated tools like computer modelling for measuring and predicting consumer behavior and tweaking price and promotional activity, retailers can never be entirely certain of their sell through rate or the average price realized. Retailers hedge risk by seeking vendor financing or vendor buy-back arrangements as mentioned above, which distributes some of the risk of unsold merchandise back up the supply chain to the producer or wholesaler; they also open alternate channels such as outlet stores to liquidate unsold merchandise while freeing up floor space for new arrivals. Some "fast fashion" retailers, like Zara attempt to control their whole supply chain from design to production to the retail store, in order to practice just in time production, or something close to it; in cases of complete integration, there is no "wholesale fashion distribution," as the retailer is its own manufacturer and wholesaler.
A related concept is drop shipping, a commercial process used in direct-to-consumer marketing. A drop-shipper relies on a third party, like an online fashion blog to generate consumer interest and initiate an electronic order that is sent to the drop shipper's warehouse for fulfillment. The profits are split between the drop shipper and the nominal seller at a pre-arranged rate, usually involving a commission structure. Because only the drop shipper has physical facilities, the notional online "retailer" faces much lower costs. This allows consumers to realize prices closer to the wholesale level, but it disadvantages retailers who lose control over many aspects of customer service, discounting, packaging etc. [4]
Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions that directly or indirectly contribute to the smooth, unhindered distribution and transfer of goods and services on a substantial scale and at the right time, place, quantity, quality and price through various channels from the original producers to the final consumers within local, regional, national or international economies. The diversity in the distribution of natural resources, differences of human needs and wants, and division of labour along with comparative advantage are the principal factors that give rise to commercial exchanges.
Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers and related subordinated services. In general, it is the sale of goods in bulk to anyone, either a person or an organization, other than the end consumer of that merchandise. Wholesaling is buying goods in bulk quantity, usually directly from the manufacturer or source, at a discounted rate. The retailer then sells the goods to the end consumer at a higher price making a profit.
Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and then sells in smaller quantities to consumers for a profit. Retailers are the final link in the supply chain from producers to consumers.
Distribution is the process of making a product or service available for the consumer or business user who needs it, and a distributor is a business involved in the distribution stage of the value chain. Distribution can be done directly by the producer or service provider or by using indirect channels with distributors or intermediaries. Distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix: the other three elements being product, pricing, and promotion.
Disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in economics from a supply chain, or "cutting out the middlemen" in connection with a transaction or a series of transactions. Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediary, companies may now deal with customers directly, for example via the Internet.
A farmers' market is a physical retail marketplace intended to sell foods directly by farmers to consumers. Farmers' markets may be indoors or outdoors and typically consist of booths, tables or stands where farmers sell their produce, live animals and plants, and sometimes prepared foods and beverages. Farmers' markets exist in many countries worldwide and reflect the local culture and economy. The size of the market may be just a few stalls or it may be as large as several city blocks. Due to their nature, they tend to be less rigidly regulated than retail produce shops.
Merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer. At a retail in-store level, merchandising refers to displaying products that are for sale in a creative way that entices customers to purchase more items or products.
Drop shipping is a form of retail business in which the seller accepts customer orders without keeping stock on hand. Instead, in a form of supply chain management, the seller transfers the orders and their shipment details either to the manufacturer, a wholesaler, another retailer, or a fulfillment house, which then ships the goods directly to the customer.
A closeout or clearance sale is a discount sale of inventory either by retail or wholesale. It may be that a product is not selling well, or that the retailer is closing because of relocation, a fire, over-ordering, or especially because of bankruptcy. In the latter case, it is usually known as a going-out-of-business sale or liquidation sale, and is part of the process of liquidation. A hail sale is a closeout at a car dealership after hail damage.
Essendant, formerly known as United Stationers, is a national wholesale distributor of office supplies, with consolidated net sales of $5.3 billion. Essendant stocks over 160,000 items, including traditional office products, office furniture, janitorial and break room supplies, and technology products. Essendant is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, and also has operations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest. The term fast fashion is also used generically to describe the products of this business model. Retailers who employ the fast fashion strategy include Primark, H&M, Shein, and Zara, all of which have become large multinationals by driving high turnover of inexpensive seasonal and trendy clothing that appeals to fashion-conscious consumers.
Channel conflict occurs when manufacturers (brands) disintermediate their channel partners, such as distributors, retailers, dealers, and sales representatives, by selling their products directly to consumers through general marketing methods and/or over the Internet.
A marketing channel consists of the people, organizations, and activities necessary to transfer the ownership of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption. It is the way products get to the end-user, the consumer; and is also known as a distribution channel. A marketing channel is a useful tool for management, and is crucial to creating an effective and well-planned marketing strategy.
In a supply chain, a vendor, supplier, provider or a seller, is an enterprise that contributes goods or services. Generally, a supply chain vendor manufactures inventory/stock items and sells them to the next link in the chain. Today, these terms refer to a supplier of any goods or service.
Direct-to-consumer (DTC) or business-to-consumer (B2C) is the business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or middlemen. Direct-to-consumer sales are usually transacted online, but direct-to-consumer brands may also operate physical retail spaces as a complement to their main e-commerce platform in a clicks-and-mortar business model. In the year 2021, direct-to-customer e-commerce sales in the United States were over $128 Billion.
In the retail industry, a buyer is an individual who selects what items are stocked and their key responsibility is dealing with all the products that come into the store. Buyers usually work closely with designers and their designated sales representatives and attend trade fairs, wholesale showrooms and fashion shows to observe trends. They are employed by large department stores, chain stores or smaller boutiques. For smaller independent stores, a buyer may participate in sales as well as promotion, whereas in a major fashion store there may be different levels of seniority such as trainee buyers, assistant buyers, senior buyers and buying managers, and buying directors. Decisions about what to stock can greatly affect fashion businesses.
The consumption and production of marketed food are spatially separated. Production is primarily in rural areas while consumption is mainly in urban areas. Agricultural marketing is the process that overcomes this separation, allowing produce to be moved from an area of surplus to one of need. Food reaches the consumer by a complex network, involving production, assembly, sorting, packing, reassembly, distribution and retail stages. In developing countries the linkage between the producer and the retailer is still usually provided by assembly and wholesale markets, where wholesale marketing takes place using a variety of transaction methods. Recent years have seen an expansion of wholesale marketing in European and former CIS countries. On the other hand, the growth of supermarkets in many regions has seen the development of direct marketing and a reduced role for wholesale systems.
Fashion merchandising can be defined as the planning and promotion of sales by presenting a product to the right market at the proper time, by carrying out organized, skillful advertising, using attractive displays, etc. Merchandising, within fashion retail, refers specifically to the stock planning, management, and control process. Fashion Merchandising is a job that is done world- wide. This position requires well-developed quantitative skills, and natural ability to discover trends, meaning relationships and interrelationships among standard sales and stock figures. In the fashion industry, there are two different merchandising teams: the visual merchandising team, and the fashion merchandising team.
Jobber, in merchandising, can be synonymous with "wholesaler", "distributor", or "intermediary". A business which buys goods and bulk products from importers, other wholesalers, or manufacturers, and then sells to retailers, was historically called a jobbing house. A jobber is a merchant—e.g., (i) a wholesaler or (ii) reseller or (iii) independent distributor operating on consignment—who takes goods in quantity from manufacturers or importers and sells or resells or distributes them to retail chains and syndicates, particularly supermarkets, department stores, drug chains, and the like. One objective is to distribute goods at lower costs through economies of scale, which, in sophisticated operations, typically uses complex transportation models. In competitive markets, the practice is an integral part of supply chain management—one that might incorporate, among other things, operations research in areas of logistics involving supply chain networking, and supply chain optimization. A jobber is very different from a broker. A broker transacts on behalf of a merchandiser while a jobber supplies inventory at a merchandiser's site for consumers to purchase.
The retail format influences the consumer's store choice and addresses the consumer's expectations. At its most basic level, a retail format is a simple marketplace, that is; a location where goods and services are exchanged. In some parts of the world, the retail sector is still dominated by small family-run stores, but large retail chains are increasingly dominating the sector, because they can exert considerable buying power and pass on the savings in the form of lower prices. Many of these large retail chains also produce their own private labels which compete alongside manufacturer brands. Considerable consolidation of retail stores has changed the retail landscape, transferring power away from wholesalers and into the hands of the large retail chains.