Fashion

How to sell more at wholesale: 5 tips from a fashion buyer

If you’re a fashion brand that’s ventured into the world of wholesale or B2B (business to business) selling then you probably know how disheartening it is when your emails are ignored or a tradeshow isn’t as successful as you’d hoped. Don't worry, it happens to the best of us from time to time! 

As a retail buyer and consultant, I work with clients in this area and they often ask me what’s really important to potential new wholesale customers. This post should give your brand a steer in the right direction as the principles in these 5 tips are the basis for everything I do in my work in this channel. 

Wholesaling can be incredibly lucrative; I’ve worked with brands that make the majority of their sales through this route. It can also help as a way to promote your brand and get your message out to new parts of the country so it’s worth the extra time and effort involved. 

In my work with both large high street retailers and with emerging brands I've seen clear patterns of what works and what doesn't. Here are my 5 top tips for fashion brands who want to get more sales at wholesale:

1. Be ridiculously unique and gain a cult following of ‘cheerleaders’

Don’t be scared of making your product and story really niche in the market and shouting about your unique qualities. The quote I use most when I talk to emerging brands is:

‘ Be everything to someone not something to everyone.’

Don't try to copy what someone else is doing, the more specific and unique your brand can be the better! The brands that I see grow successfully in all aspects of their business, but especially at wholesale, specialise in one area of the market.

In contrast, big high street retailers appeal to lots of different types of people and they do it well; you can't compete with what they've established (for now!). What you can do is carve out a section that's just yours, you can become experts and be the go-to brand for that product. 

Building a brand in this way often means that you'll gain a cult following that's very passionate about what you do. These super fans will shout about your brand whenever they can and get quite loyal to the brands they love! They won't do this for the high street brands they buy from but they'll do it for the brand they 'discovered' and speaks to them in a way that nothing else does! 

If you can create a genuine buzz around your brand then new wholesale customer will be seeking you out rather than the other way round! Large retailers would kill for a bit of this kind of passion for their brands so exploit it; especially on social media where an avid fan base can have a snowball effect on your reach. 

2. Tell your story in whatever you do

To be totally frank, this is the only thing that really matters as it’s what drives wholesale customers to buy from you! Make every word and image on your website, in your look book and on your social media count and reflect your story. Wholesale customers want to buy into something that they can see will excite and capture the imagination of their customers. 

Make your story pretty explicit and don't hide it; customers don't have time to coax it out of you! To help with this ensure you have a compelling and personal About Us page on your website; it's the first thing wholesale customers (and I!) go to after they've got a quick feel for your brand on your website.

Your About Us should do your brand justice so spend some time on it! I'll be writing a post about my tips on this soon as it's so key to a brands success. 

3. Don’t overestimate how much your products will sell themselves

It goes without saying that your products should be excellent and unique in their field but there's also a lot of work and time that goes on behind the scenes when you're selling to wholesale customers. 

As an example, there's a lot of groundwork that you need to lay in terms of networking. So much of this can now be done on social media but it still takes a lot of time, especially if you're doing it in a natural and thoughtful way (not in a spammy way!). Building an engaged and two-way relationship on social media could lead to sales and if nothing else can help make the emails you send less 'cold' so it's worth the time and extra effort.

4. Target your audience; don’t use a scatter gun approach

Another area that brands need to spend a lot of time on is targeting the right customers and making their communication with them considered and personal. This approach has a MUCH higher rate than a scatter gun approach to emailing. 

At the very least it's key to find out the first name of the person you need to contact; people are much more likely to read an email that's addressed to them than 'dear sir/madam'. 

If you're going to succeed then you need to spend a lot of time researching the right potential customers and targeting them specifically with information that you know will be important to them. By sending less emails you'll increase your chances of making actual sales!

5. Persist

The focus for wholesale customers differs slightly to your usual customers; for instance, they can't always spend their money when they want to. They're also businesses that are constantly balancing their ranges to ensure that they have a range of 'sure things' that pay the bills and newness that keeps their customers excited.

There could be all sorts of reasons why a wholesale customer might not be in a position to buy from you at that time you get in touch with them. For instance, they could have used up their budget for the season or already have a few new brands that they're trialling.

Asking for a little feedback can be useful to get an idea of there's anything you could be working on but chances are it's a timing problem.

Persistence is key (obviously don't be annoying!); keep the relationship open and don't give up on it. Keep engaging and having a meaningful relationship even if you're not selling to them yet, the timing will be right eventually if they really are the right store for you. 

Take a look at my blog and website for more insight into wholesale; I discuss these points in more detail in my Essential Guide to Wholesale. 

I also give practical advice for your wholesale problems like what the correct wholesale list prices are, when you should be selling, advice on pitching to buyers and much more.

In addition to my guides and I offer a spreadsheet of 300 potential customers details at nicoledavidson.co.uk. It's a great tool for targeting the wholesale customers that are right for your brand. 

Starting a fashion brand; my guide

As a fashion brand consultant, I coach new brands and designers every day, they’re always really passionate about fulfilling their dreams but can feel overwhelmed by the task of starting out in the industry. One of the best parts of my job is helping brands through this process, it’s really satisfying and fulfilling so I wanted to write this post to help move you in the right direction.

The one piece of advice I give every new brand I work with is to…

Be everything to someone not something to everyone

This 10 step guide to starting a fashion brand covers all of the key areas to start thinking about. I wanted this guide to be no-nonsense and realistic; it won’t happen overnight and there’s a lot to learn along the way but with work, lots of enthusiasm and hustle (!) you can do it.

It’s often a steep learning curve when starting a fashion brand; I’ll explore each of these areas further in future posts but for now here are the headlines to get you started on your journey…

1. DEFINE YOUR USP AND A GAP IN THE MARKET

The essence of starting a brand is always remembering that customers need a reason to buy from you; not a competitor or from a big retailer (who will usually be selling at a much cheaper price). Finding this gap in the market and your Unique Selling Point (USP) is the most important, and often most difficult, part of starting a brand. Everything you do from this point forward will come back to this so it’s important to get this first step right!

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When you’re thinking about this part of your brand some considerations will be:

  • What’s missing in the market and finding something that’s truly unique. This doesn’t necessarily have to be a product but could also be the way you sell that product. It could be based on something specific like who you are or where you live. Some examples could be your life living by the sea, an unusual target customer, how you handmake your products or the unique influences in your designs.

  • Who do you know that needs this product? This will help you to decide if this is worthy of taking it to market.

  • Who your customer is - for instance, what she likes, how she spends her time and what her priorities are. This will help you as you move forward by helping you find your customer and building the brand around her.

  • Where your brand will sit in the market - if it will be premium, young fashion etc. Again this will help you focus on what’s important to your customer.

  • Who your competitors are - make this as realistic as possible by looking at brands that aren’t large or long-established. Doing this work will help you find templates for building your brand.

  • Which brands you aspire to in the future - good models that will help you focus your goals and inspire you on your journey.

  • What level of quality your customer will expect - going higher or lower than what they expect can be a stumbling block.

  • What appeals to that customer - this could be sustainable practices, neutral colours, natural fabrics and so on.

The more specific your USP is the better. You'll get a group of loud cheerleaders if you're doing something no one else is doing in the market. It should be extremely personal to you and ideally involve you as a selling point of the brand (nothing is as unique as you are). You need to sell something truly individual and give the customer reasons to buy into your story to make it worthwhile buying from you. This can be your unique approach to design, unique product, the interesting story behind the brand and so on.

I really enjoy helping brands to refine this aspect of their brand as it can sometimes feel like everything’s been done before! There are always new trends and ways of selling so it’s worth putting some time aside to work through this point.

2. DECIDe WHETHER IT WILL BE OWN BUY OR BRANDED

If you haven't already then its time to decide whether your brand will be own buy or branded i.e. if the products you sell will be made based on your own designs or ready-made from a third party. The approach you take will determine how you run your business and what you need to plan into the development of your brand. Branded products are often ‘easier’ to buy as they are ready-made but they may be less unique in the market as other brands may have them. Own buy requires investment in time and money but it will be truly unique to you - a great selling point.

There are many options within this, some of which include:

  • Buying from a third party wholesaler - there are many suppliers out there, especially online that will sell their goods to you for you to re-sell. Some of them will re-label with your own labels and branding.

  • Customised wholesale/Wholesale branded product - buying ready-made products that you customise in some way. Commonly this is used by brands that sell printed t-shirts with their unique designs on them. There are many other customisable products out there which are bought through a fulfilment company. Many will even re-label and send out the finished product to the customer for you.

  • Make your own products at home.

  • Working with suppliers to create a unique collection just for you - own buy products that you will buy upfront and will be delivered to you.

  • Custom making pieces for individual customers based on, for instance, their specific measurements.

3. SOURCING AND SUPPLIERS

Whichever route you take, you will need to find the correct suppliers for your brand; some considerations are:

  • Location - this is critical if you want to be able to visit your suppliers

  • Cost - for obvious reasons its key to be clear about what is and isn’t included in your price.

  • Quality - getting examples of what you will receive from your supplier.

  • Lead time - how long will it take to get delivered? Does this fit with your time frame? Local suppliers are often quicker than those that are far away from you.

  • Flexibility - can you change designs and if so at which points can you do this? This is called the critical path and should be managed consistently at each stage of the process to ensure you’re on time for your launch

  • Experience and ratings - are they reliable and trustworthy as a supplier?

  • Ethical/sustainable standards - are they at the standard you require?

  • Ability and expertise - can they make the products that you want for your brand?

  • Minimum order quantity (MOQ) - are there any minimum buys that you need to be aware of?

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4. DEVELOPing YOUR PRODUCT

What you need to consider when you’re designing and building your range will vary depending on whether you’re designing your own product or not. In general, some of the things you will need to think about are:

  • Fabrics - are the fabrics you require available and within your budget?

  • Trims - as above.

  • The design - getting a tech pack to send to the factory. A tech pack gives the factory the measurements and specifications needed to make the product

  • Sizing (and grading).

  • The cost of the garment.

  • Feasibility of making the product in reality - complicated styles can be hard to make in real life. They may also be very expensive.

  • Economies of scale - can your product be made in bigger quantities later down the line?

5. SETTING UP YOUR BRAND FROM A LEGAL/FINANCIAL POINT OF VIEW

I’ll only touch on this briefly as many new brands are self-funded; it’s absolutely possible to start small, especially in todays online marketplace. I would always advise new brands to grow slowly and sustainably with a very small budget initially.

Some funding options might be:

  • Using Crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter or one of the many other platforms out there

  • Government or privately funded grants/loans

  • Small business loans

  • Business Angel Funding is a good source of investment at the early stages of a business. Find out more via networks like Angels Den and Angel Investment Network.

You’ll also need to set up your business for tax purposes - either as a self-employed sole trader or company.

6. DESIGN AND BUILD THE RANGE

Another part of the process I love is building the range; this stage is vital to ensure that you have a collection that works well together and covers everything that your customer will be looking for.

What to think about:

  • Trend forecasting to ensure that your customer will have what they’re looking for when your collection launches

  • Offering a full range of products that your customer will want - making sure that both trend-led and ‘core’ products are available.

  • Ensuring there’s no duplication in the range

  • Range of prices (both cost prices and selling prices) so that there is choice and your budget is managed

  • Competitor analysis i.e. looking at your competitor’s ranges. This is key to ensuring that you are staying unique to you and that your prices/quality are what the customer will expect

  • Market research to ensure that there is potential within your part of the market

  • Factors like making sure there are a variety of colours, prints and lengths on offer so that you are not putting off customers that don’t like certain design aspects of your collection.

  • Lead times of each garment to ensure that the whole collection will be delivered at the same time

My guide to the Essentials of Buying (linked above), is a useful tool for brands that need a bit more guidance in this area. It also covers other areas like working out cost prices and managing the critical path.

7. BUDGET

Before you commit to buying from suppliers you should work out what budget you need to get started and what funds you have available. To to do this you will need to consider the following:

  • The costs of each component of your product

  • Packaging and labelling costs

  • Running costs of your business - website, promotion, paying people for services related to your brand

  • Shipping costs

  • Import costs

  • Storage costs

  • Delivery costs (to the customer)

  • Decide your selling prices - they should be based on what your customer is willing to spend on this product but also what the total cost price will be for each product


8. BRANDING

Branding is an important part of the first impression you will have on a potential new customer. This needs to be designed for your website, literature (like lookbooks), social media and clothing labels.

You may need to employ a graphic designer with this part of the process; one that shares your vision and can help translate this for your brand. Some things to consider are:

  • Tone of voice you’re going to use to talk to your customer

  • How you will tell your story through your branding

  • Creating a logo that can be used across your brand - on your website, social media, packaging and labelling

  • Design your labelling

  • Choosing the fonts and colours that will best represent your brand

  • Photography and visual tools that will help tell your story


9. WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA

I always advise brands to use a template for the initial stages of their brand; like Squarespace. It’s cost-effective, easy to build and low risk. If you have a custom site built it will be costly and require further maintenance whenever you update your site (at extra cost). If you have the option of updating it yourself you’ll save money and get the benefit of high-quality web design that you can adapt to your brand easily.

We all know how important social media is to fashion brands, Instagram, in particular, can be a useful tool for growing a brand. In My experience, follower counts aren’t important, true engagement and passion from followers are all that matters! The key is converting current followers into sales, by telling a story that will capture their imagination and inviting new followers by showing who you are.

Some of the advice I give brands when considering their website and social media includes:

  • Think about who your customer is, what they want to see, are interested in and where they go to find products and inspiration

  • Use original content - like photography at all times. Customers are very savvy and know when images are from stock.

  • Don’t use ‘product shots’ as the basis of the imagery for your brand. You should have photographs that bring it to life; on a model and either on location or in a studio. There are ways to do this on a small budget and it’s vital if you’re going to sell your story and make your products worthwhile buying over cheaper products on the high street. Shots of the product in isolation can be important as second or third images on a product page but they're not what will move the customer to buy from you initially.

  • Use interesting, insightful and witty captions and copy when speaking to your customer. Always coming back to what you know appeals to your customer

  • Have an ‘About us’ page. This is particularly important for a new brand. Talk about who you are, on a personal level and what’s unique about your brand

  • Regularly update your blog and ensure that you’re using keywords to increase traffic to your site

  • Utilise Pinterest to bring traffic to your site - this is a hugely underestimated tool when growing a fashion brand

  • Keeping it all up to date and relevant - time-consuming but there’s nothing more off-putting than an out of date site or social media page

  • Build a community around your brand via social media; using hashtags, engaging with potential new followers and promoting your accounts.

  • Engage with your community and get them to create content for you via hashtags i.e. posting selfies of themselves

  • If you can then it’s a good idea to create videos to show who you are - either your personal story or the story of your brand. This isn’t essential but they are visually appealing and people can easily get a feel for your brand from them.

  • Collaborate with influencers where appropriate. When done well this can a great way of getting new customers onboard and expanding your message

10. TELLING YOUR STORY

There are countless ways of utilising PR And marketing to grow your brand and get your message out there. Usually, the approach will involve building networks to get seen by new customers, increasing exposure and collaborating with other brands or individuals. The route you take will be whichever fits best with your brand, some ways of telling your story include:

  • Letting your customer go ‘behind the scenes’ into the workings of your brand and process

  • Showing how your product is being worn and used; either in your photography or in real life with examples from your customers

  • Talking about how its made or how you design your product

  • Discussing the inspiration behind your brand

  • Using quality images that bring your products to life - no flat and lifeless product shots as mentioned in the above step

  • Collaborate with other brands/organisations to show how your product will work in customers lives

  • Interviews with publications, blogs etc are great opportunities to tell your story. Reach out to people that will help spread your message and help you reach your customer

As I discussed in my first point, the most important factor to remember is to sell your story at all times! Everything else will fall into place if you do this well. Good luck on your journey!


I help brands through each part of the process via my 1hr consultancy sessions and 3 month starter packages. Get in touch to discuss them further or see my Packages and Courses page for further details.

If you like this then my blog and Instagram have lots more content and free advice that you may also like to take a look at!

How to get a job as a fashion buyer

Following your dreams and getting a job as a fashion buyer will be one of the best things you ever do. As a fashion buyer myself, I’ve had the time of my life working in an exciting career in fashion, travelling the world and being creative!

I’ve worked in the industry for over fifteen years, at the biggest brands on the high street and I often help and mentor others to get them into the industry. Fashion buying is fun, challenging and it can also be glamorous but it’s a competitive field that can be tough to get into.

Buyers attend catwalk shows, fashion events and spend time shopping as part of their role. It’s a varied career that I’ve really enjoyed and got so much from. You will meet lifelong friends, have experiences you probably wouldn’t have otherwise and learn so much about the fashion industry.

It’s a particularly good choice for those people that want to combine their interests in fashion with business. As a buyer you’ll be at the centre of a fashion brand and surrounded by samples all day.

Being a fashion buyer is a fabulous career but it’s also hard to get your foot in the door, in light of this I’ve written a guide to help those that want to get into the industry. The experience, skills and qualities I’ve developed and the knowledge I’ve gained have helped to form this guide.

It’s based on my experience in the industry, as both the interviewer and the candidate. As well as walking you through the process, step by step, I also give you countless tips and insider information. I will tell you about the questions that will come up, what I’m looking for as an interviewer and how to stand out from others.

If you’re thinking of getting into this role or have already tried without success then my guide will help you avoid the pitfalls that I’ve seen time and time again.

Fashion Brands: How to help reduce lead times

Fashion brands usually want the flexibility of shorter lead times as they can help them to react to sales and changes in the market. Ideally, we’d be able to get a full order on next day delivery, right?!

Unfortunately, long lead times are the bugbear of many emerging and medium sized brands as they often find they’re not prioritised by suppliers who have bigger customers to service.

Note: we don’t ever want to give our suppliers too much of a hard time with regards to lead times. It’s important to have a good working relationship with suppliers and we don’t want rushed/poor quality orders or to jeopardise the working conditions of the people making our products.

What are lead times?

The lead time of a garment or range is the time it takes from placing an order with a supplier to receiving it at your end. I won’t go into the specifics of what the ‘placing an order’ and ‘receiving date’ are, in this post, as that’s a conversation for another time! Your shipping terms and many other variables can have an impact on these dates so clarify this with your supplier if you’re unsure.

Factors that impact on lead times

There are no hard and fast rules as lead times vary considerably from supplier to supplier; depending on country of origin, whether you’re designing the garments yourself and where you sit in the market in terms of quality and price.

A general guide is that (when buying from the UK) European and UK based suppliers have shorter lead times than suppliers in Asia and China. European suppliers usually have lead times between 4 and 10 weeks and Asia/China Suppliers usually have lead times between 10 and 18 weeks.

The type of product you make can also impact on lead times. Garments that require a lot of workmanship like outerwear tend to have longer lead times than jersey T shirts which are relatively easier to make.

The size of your brand can impact on the lead time you’re quoted by a supplier. Large brands can command much quicker lead times (even though they tend to buy in larger quantities) because suppliers and factories will prioritise their orders (for obvious reasons!).

Fabrication and make up can also affect lead times, specially woven fabrics, labour intensive stitches or knitted fabrics can all increase the lead time.

My tips to help reduce lead times:

In general, having a conversation with your supplier, about lead times, is always the starting point. Breaking the lead time down and getting explanations of why some are longer than others will really help you to understand the unique challenges you have as a brand.

Ask suppliers for advice as they may well have some clever ideas to overcome obstacles.

Other practical solutions could be:

  1. Reserving production space with factories. This will mean that you have a guaranteed spot when it comes to the time you need to make your bulk production

  2. Don’t over sample. Focused sampling will win favour with suppliers as it won’t cause them too much work

  3. Thorough range planning up front (at your end) is key as this will reduce the number of changes you make to the range further down the line

  4. Use past colours and styles where applicable and possible as this will save time in terms of lab dipping and fitting garments

  5. Use stock colours that the factory already has available

  6. Back a greige (un-dyed and finished) fabric that you will use across styles. If the fabric is ready and in house it will reduce the overall lead time. Waiting for fabric to arrive is often one of the longest parts of a lead time.

  7. Source closer to home as this will usually offer a quicker lead time

It’s always good to hear from you! If you have any queries, feedback or want to share your experience then get in touch with me on the comments below, by email or via my Instagram.

I update my Instagram with tips and videos weekly so come and say hello!


I talk about lead times, the critical path, the industry standards for cost prices, range planning and managing the buying calendar in my guide ‘Buying Essentials for Fashion Brands #1’


Take a look at my guides,  blog and website for more insight into fashion retail and wholesale


Fashion brands: My tips for reducing delivery problems and delays

Even the biggest brands suffer from the pain of delivery problems and delays on the critical path of their ranges. Not only does this disappoint customers but it also puts strain on your teams workload and your supplier relationships.

As a fashion buyer I’ve spent over ten years managing the critical path of hundreds of styles at once and learnt how to get the best from your supply base. This post will cover some of the key tips I give brands on how to manage this area of their business.


What is a critical path?

The critical path is the series of dates that must be met in order to meet an agreed delivery date for that item. Working backwards from the intake date, that you need a style to be in your warehouse, can help you to ensure that your products will be on time.

It’s important that styles are in on time as this will reduce the risk of lost sales i.e. there’s a window of time that heavyweight coats will sell well (let’s say from October to december), if a coat delivery is late by one month then customers will go to another retailer to buy this style.

I talk about the critical path, the industry standards for cost prices, range planning and managing the buying calendar in my guide ‘Buying Essentials for Fashion Brands #1’


My top 10 tips for managing the critical path

  1. Create a critical path for each of your styles. Think about every key date in the production of your product, from design to delivery, and plot it on a chart that you can reference and check against.

  2. Work backwards from the date you need to have a product in your warehouse.

  3. Regularly check with suppliers where they are in the production process to ensure they’re on time. It can be rare for a supplier to volunteer information about problems they foresee with meeting your original delivery date.

  4. Ask to be sent lab dips to approve for colour, pieces of bulk fabric and samples at each stage of the process to ensure they are correct.

  5. Confirm and approve every stage of a product as early as possible in the critical path to give the supplier as much chance as possible to get it to you on time. Don’t leave anything until the last minute.

  6. Keep changes to a minimum where possible. Make it as easy possible for the supplier to get the stock shipped to you on time.

  7. Keep a good relationship with your suppliers by taking the time to explain why changes must be made. Having a respectful and understanding relationship on both sides will help you both meet your goals.

  8. Consider both your holidays and the local holidays of your suppliers when planning dates.

  9. Always add a buffer on to all dates if you’re serious about getting styles in on time for your wholesale customers. The longer the better as you never know what may come up!

  10. Let your wholesale customers know if any changes or delays have come up as early as possible. They will appreciate the heads up and can make alternative arrangements if needed. Note that wholesale customers may ask to start cancelling styles that are not as originally agreed.


The importance of a buffer

One way to get around delays is to add a buffer that will take the pressure off getting your products out to your customers, particularly if you sell B2B at wholesale. Many brands add in a buffer of a couple of weeks, meaning that styles are less likely to be late for the collections launch date.

The downside of this is that the whole process and the buying calendar needs to be started even earlier.


It’s always good to hear from you! If you have any queries, feedback or want to share your experience then get in touch with me on the comments below, by email or via my Instagram.

I update my Instagram with tips and videos weekly so come and say hello!


Take a look at my guides,  blog and website for more insight into fashion retail and wholesale