How to pitch your fashion brand at wholesale: 10 tips from a retail buyer

Fashion brands that start selling at wholesale can often find themselves acquiring lots of new skills; one of the biggest hurdles to get over can be learning what does and doesn’t work when you’re pitching to potential new B2B (business to business) customers.

Pitching, especially in person, can be quite nerve-wracking, particularly when you know they could be a great new wholesale customer for your brand. You’re in the right place; this post should help get you on the right track so you can sell your brand in the best possible way!

In this post, I’ll give you my advice; giving you tips on what works for me and what appeals to me as a fashion buyer. I’ve been on both sides a lot over the years; as both the person pitching my collections (for independent brands) and the buyer being pitched to at brands including Topshop, Next and New Look.

The situations where you’re most likely to be pitching are on emails, on the phone, at trade shows or if you’re showing your collection to the brand in person - perhaps at their office or shop. The principles are the same whatever the situation so I’ve pulled together my general tips below.

My 10 tips for pitching your brand to wholesale customers are:

1. Focus on how it will benefit them to have your brand

There’s often a slight shift in focus when you’re working with B2B wholesale customers; they’re businesses themselves so they’ll invest in products they think will sell well to their customers and fit into the range in their stores. It’s your job to prove that your brand will do this!

When selling at wholesale, your focus should always be on what can you do for them rather than (only) shouting about how great you are! Whilst you should always be trying to show off about what you do, what’s new and what’s unique about your brand it should always come back to how they can’t get what you have elsewhere and therefore need to stock your brand.

2. Research the brand and the buyer

When I work with brands preparing them for pitching I spend around 90% of my time researching beforehand. The most successful brands (selling at wholesale) are those that target the right brands and make their pitches personal.

Don’t be afraid to use the information you glean from the internet and their social media in your contact with them as it will show that you know what you’re talking about. You could reference details about their store on your last visit or something that you noticed on their social media that relates to your brand. For instance, if a customer’s focus currently seems to be on Scandi fashion then play up the relevant aspects of your brand.

If you know of some local information which might impact on their store, then mention it e.g. if you’re aware that a store in their town stocks a rival brand. Talk about how you can help them and fill in a gap. Basically, you should try and think from their point of view and show that you know what they’re motivated by. 

3. Make a point of using the name of the right contact

My Essential Wholesale Guide for Fashion Brands

£75.00

This and the last tip go hand in hand; the buyers, wholesale customers and owners of potential wholesale customers get lots of new brands contacting them each week so the more personal you can make the relationship with the buyer the better chance you have.

Addressing the right person by their name will go a long way to starting to make your approach more personal, thoughtful and getting their attention. If you’ve already been in touch with them on social media and found a connection with each other then definitely reference that to jog their memory.

In smaller independent stores the buyer is often the owner so targeting them is the best approach. It’s usually possible to find their name online via google or places like LinkedIn if it’s not on their website. In big companies, you will be looking for the buyers that have titles like ‘brands buyer’.

4. Start out with independents  

I know brands that have been discovered by big high street retailers; for instance, I know of one that was found on ASOS Marketplace. Whilst this is possible, it is much more common for brands to build up a loyal and avid fan base of independent stores that sell their products at wholesale.

My advice is to start out by targeting the small independents that are most relevant to your brand first and build your wholesale business from there. Once they have a following then large retailers can come along a little down the line. They'll be most interested when they know you have a track record of selling well and delivering your product on time.  

5. Focus on visuals rather than words

As fashion brands, the best way to stand out is through your beautiful product and the images you use to illustrate who you are.  

When you're emailing make what you send out visual with key images from your lookbook or a recent shoot. Add a PDF attachment with a lookbook on an email but be aware that many will not open it; adding some beautiful images to the email itself could help to get around this.

It goes without saying that f you’re pitching in person or at a trade show then your priority should be on grabbing attention with amazing visuals that do your brand justice. 

6. Consider mailing out a pack to retailers rather than emailing

Most of the brands I work with email rather than post as it’s more cost-effective but mailing out a beautiful pack can be an effective route these days; yours could really stand out as fewer brands take this route. 

This approach would work best for a brand that has an extremely strong set of images that might get missed in an email. Whilst email attachments of lookbooks may not get opened a lookbook sent in the post could be more likely to be opened if it’s of high quality, addressed to a person and doesn’t look like a generic mailshot.

7. Brush up on your product knowledge and figures

Make sure you're 100% up to date with everything you need to know regarding your brand as you might get asked quite specific questions about the range or your sales.

Know your USP (unique selling point) and product inside out; tell your story and show your product by giving insight into what goes into making your brand who you are. Be prepared by knowing what branding will be on which style and where each style was made

Ensure you’re up to date with your brands figures: know your retail selling prices, wholesale list prices or what discounts you will be offering off the top of your head.

Have information ready about how well your products have sold already, who’s buying into it (or interested), what styles are selling well and any media interest you've had on particular styles.

8. Practice

Contact Details for 300 Wholesale Retailers

£75.00

Practice your pitch beforehand and it will flow much better! There are some great resources online that can help with presentation nerves and practical tips for engaging with your audience. I find that knowing a bit about the audience and thinking about how it might go help me. The research you’ve done can help with this side of things!

 9. Be flexible

Adapt to what is being said by the buyer and listen to them; this is where it becomes key to know your pitch inside out as you need to be ready to jump to a different section as needed.

Pay attention to the buyer and what he/she are saying to you in terms of body language as well as their words. Be able to change tact to what feels right at a moment’s notice and play up what you do if it fits in with what they’re looking for.

10. Follow up and get feedback

Make sure you have their card or check that you have their correct details. Follow up with an email later that day to say it was nice to meet them and if they have any queries then please don’t hesitate to call them. Answer any follow-up emails or calls quickly!

If it goes well, then you’ll start to talk about orders during their next phase. Don’t be downhearted if it doesn’t go 100% to plan. This really is about building relationships on a long-term basis. The buyer may be on the lookout for something slightly different at that time so don’t take it personally if it doesn’t go any further. Keep in touch as there may come a time that it will go further in the future.

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

In my guide, I talk through, in detail, how a pitch will actually go in person. 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.

My free buyers line sheet template for fashion brands

When fashion brands start working in wholesale and B2B they know they need some selling tools but it can be a bit confusing trying to figure out which ones they need and how to create them! Line sheets are a key tool for selling at wholesale (and in many other areas of their businesses) and as a fashion buyer, I've seen lots of them in my time; I've written this post and created a quick template which I hope will help clarify what this document is needed for and what to include in it. 

Line sheets are essentially a list of styles from a particular range with pictures and some key information on each style. That's it. It really isn't any more complicated than that! To prove this I whipped up a quick template (in under ten minutes!) that you can use if you like. Find the link at the bottom of this page. 

Fashion brands give line sheets to their wholesale customers to show the details of the styles they're showing them either in person, at a trade show or via email. It's a detailed view of the range as opposed to a lookbook or catalogue which gives a top line overview or a 'feel' for the brand. 

I've worked for some of the biggest retailers in the UK as well as many independents and pretty much everyone uses the same kind of template; it's usually a fairly standard grid template with pics and info inside it.

I'm sure your images will be much nicer than mine (!) but I just wanted to show you that the industry standard is fairly straightforward and doesn't require anything fancy. They can get more basic than I've created (even at quite premium brands!) so don't put too much pressure on yourself to create anything too complicated.

What information you include is down to you and the priorities of your customer; name, reference number, colour, wholesale list prices and RRP are common. Feel free to add in bits of info that are also relevant to your brand and customer like Country of Origin, Minimum order quantity (MOQ) or size range as well.

Please note that my template is best opened in Word and not in Google Docs; I made it in Word and the formatting doesn't usually work well between the two in my experience (!).

I made it in Word rather than Illustrator or Photoshop so that it's accessible to most people but you may find it easier to create your own template in the software that you're most comfortable with. 

Here's the Link for edit in Word. It should be easy to switch my pics with yours, fill in your info and so on. 

I'd love to hear about how you get on with it! Either comment below or send me an email.

My Essential Wholesale Guide for Fashion Brands

£75.00

Contact Details for 300 Wholesale Retailers

£75.00

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. 

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.

My Essential Wholesale Guide for Fashion Brands

£75.00

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. 

Contact Details for 300 Wholesale Retailers

£75.00

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. 

Fashion Insiders: Fashion Buyer Georgie Eustace

If you’ve ever wondered what a fashion buyer does every day then this post is for you! Georgie Eustace is a successful buyer at New Look on the jerseywear department. Having been obsessed with clothes for as long as she can remember she’s worked her way up at the brand over the past nine years.

As a fashion buyer Georgie has a ridiculously glamorous life which includes endless trips to places like New York and LA. She told me about what it’s like to see a customer wearing her clothes on the street, about being paid to shop in Tokyo and South Korea and where she gains inspiration for her ranges.

She also spoke about the pressures of constantly buying product that sells and what it’s like when you’re working in China over the weekend and all of your friends are in London at Field Day!

When did you know you wanted to be a fashion buyer?

I didn’t realise I wanted to be a fashion buyer for quite a while.  To be honest, I didn’t know what I wanted to do! I’ve always been very logical and mathematically minded so I choose to study Economics at Uni. I very briefly considered studying a fashion related degree but I didn’t want to restrict my future career to only fashion and I don’t regret my decision at all (even though I obviously have ended up in fashion!).  

What skills do you feel are key to being a buyer?

There are so many skills involved in a being a buyer that it's hard to narrow it down to a few! Probably first and most important is passion and product eye. You can have all the strategic ideas in the world but if you don’t have the eye for what product you think will be the next bestseller then you won’t make it as a buyer. Listening and teamwork would be next up. You can’t do this job on your own and the team is so important. If you can’t listen to your team and get them on board (and make sure they’re happy!) you’ll be trying to do everything on your own, which is impossible without having a breakdown!

What’s the most glamorous thing about being a fashion buyer?!

The glamorous part is definitely the travel. I’ve done so amazing trips for New Look. I’ve been to New York, LA, Miami and Korea all just to shop for a few days for inspiration and ideas! And I’ve been lucky to do it with colleagues who are all like-minded and have become true friends.

People generally think it’s all glamorous. They think that you have loads of amazing product to choose from and that you can just pick the winners. If only it was that easy! With travel, there are a lot of parts that are very hard work. Working in China for days when you’re jetlagged is tough, and when you’re there working over the weekend and all your friends are at Field Day it can get to you.

What does a typical day look like?

My typical day is in the London office. I like to go the gym before work so I can relax once I’m there, knowing there’s no pressure that I need to leave on time. I will usually have checked my schedule the night before so I know what meetings are coming up. First thing I do is check the sales from the previous day. The best part of the job is seeing your clothes sell and I still get so excited when something new goes out and selling well. Every day I will be multitasking. It’s a constant balance between meeting suppliers and designers to develop new product for the months ahead, but also reacting to current sales and quickly buying more of any bestsellers. If I’m not out at supplier meetings then I’ll be in the office, racking up the product and deciding how much to buy and at what price.

How big is your team?

I’m lucky I have quite a big team. I have four assistants, which I honestly couldn’t live without. I also have three amazing designers. What I love about New Look are the people I work with. I have worked with so many people who have become lifelong friends, have gone on numerous holidays and even lived with!

What have you loved most about being a buyer and what have been your biggest challenges so far?

The biggest challenge I’ve faced is the pressure of being a buyer. When I was an assistant, I never understood why my buyer was stressed. I thought it looked easy! But even though I’ve been doing this for years I still feel the pressure every day to deliver good product that everyone will like and will sell. It often keeps me up at night. But I guess that’s just a sign of how much I care, and I wouldn’t be able to do a good job if I didn’t.

How does it feel when you see your product on customers or celebrities?

I honestly love it whenever I see anyone wearing my products. From a girl on the street to fashion bloggers and magazines, I’m happy with them all! In a way it’s nicer when you see a normal girl in the street wearing something you bought though, it’s more real than another Instagram post and I like to think I’m making people happy.

How much do you travel with your job?

I travel a lot at the moment, which does get a bit much sometimes. I go to Turkey every 6 weeks and China twice a year. Sometimes you just want to sleep in your own bed! When I’m there it’s all about product development. In China, we’ll be developing for the season ahead and in Turkey, it will be product for the next month. I spend most of my time there with designers, brainstorming ideas using catwalk images and inspiration from our shopping in Korea to develop new and exciting ranges.

What big trends can we look forward over the next few months?

Trend-wise I definitely think there’s a shift towards colour and print. Recently I’ve been wearing head to toe red but I’m over that now and I’m onto yellow and green. I’m also obsessed with stripes, there are so many new colour variations I want!

How do you find inspiration for your department, what trend forecasting resources do you use?

Most of the inspiration I use for my department comes from our Korea and Tokyo shopping. They are definitely a season ahead of trends. Last year we bought a lot of things that seemed crazy and full-on at the time but now they’re bestsellers and all the high street are landing similar trends! You definitely have to have an open mind.

Has the loom of Brexit, the downturn in the economy and a general push to keep costs down affected your work?

It is tougher since Brexit, mainly because of the fall in the pound to the dollar and the uncertainty it’s caused. It’s meant re-sourcing some products and working even harder to get the product we want into the retail price we want to sell it at.

What ambitions do you have in your role? 

Right now I’m at a stage where I’m not sure what my ultimate goal is. For years I knew I wanted to progress up the ladder and be a buyer and now that I’ve finally accomplished that I’m not sure what’s next for me. It’s definitely an unsettling feeling.

How do you keep a balance in your life? 

It is hard to keep a balance. This is an all-consuming industry and you can’t succeed if your heart isn’t in it. Even if I’m not working long hours I find it hard to switch off. Support from friends and family is absolutely vital. It’s also really important to have friends in the industry, as they really understand what you’re going through.

Ultimately hanging out with great friends who make me laugh is my favourite way to unwind but I do absolutely love a good holiday. We work so hard that we deserve a break and I love travelling and exploring new places.

Fashion Insiders: Anna Berkeley

The next interview in my Fashion Insiders Series, with former fashion buyer Anna Berkeley, has come along at the perfect time for me as I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the changes in my own life since I started out on my own this year.

Anna’s worked in the fashion industry for over 20 years and in that time she’s been a buyer at the likes of Selfridges, Prada, Reiss, Margaret Howell and is now is now a successful style consultant and range planner. I found it fascinating hearing about how she got to this point in her career.

Hearing stories like Anna’s and my own experience of this year has helped me see that life isn’t always a straight path but more like a river that meanders to new places, bringing with it new opportunities. I’ve also been getting very philosophical in the last year or so, in case you hadn’t noticed! Lol!

Hi Anna, thank you for taking the time to talk to me today!

You do a number of different roles in your life - including working as a stylist, fashion writer and buyer. When did you know you wanted to work in these roles?

I have to admit I didn’t truly work it out until my 3rd year at university. I took my favourite subject (history) as I really didn’t know what else to do aged 18! I then did a summer job at Topshop and thought, this is it! I want to work in this world. I had always loved fashion and shopping growing up but never dreamed I could make a living out of it.

Please, can you tell me a bit about your career so far?

Once I had decided it was fashion I wanted to get into I researched all the different roles. I alighted on buying. It really excited me. It was very difficult to get into and I entered sideways as an allocator for Wallis. This sits in the merchandising function, not buying, but was a perfect place to start to learn how the retail world operates. I was basically responsible for sending out the stock, monitoring it and doing transfers. It’s a vital role and I relished the analysis side of things especially. I have to admit I wasn’t very good at it!

I then took a job as a Buyer’s Clerk at Faith Footwear (which was huge then!). Again this was a starter role but I learnt all the grassroots jobs and began to really grasp what made commercial sense. I began to do some buying and then got my dream role as an Assistant Buyer at Selfridge’s department store. I started in menswear and then moved to women’s. I was responsible for the denim room, the casual area and then moved into designer wear and millinery.

It was a brilliant time. I attended all the shows all over the world and had huge autonomy. I then worked briefly for Prada. It was an amazing experience seeing how the luxury market worked and the difference between working multi-brand versus single brand.

I then moved to Reiss to be Head of Buying. This again was a huge learning curve and totally different to all the roles I had had previously. I worked closely with the in house design team seeing sketches and toiles for the first time. I adored that process and the honour of seeing sketch to shopfloor all the way through. By this time I had worked for ten years in buying and was thinking about my next move.  

I took a break and trained as a stylist as I wanted to run my own business and help other women navigate the choppy waters of style! I then got pregnant with my first child and styling enabled me to work around him as well as a consulting role for the award-winning designer, Margaret Howell. I did all their womenswear buying for a few years and then moved to range planning and helping with concessions.

What skills do you feel are key to what you do?

For buying you need to be numerate, analytical and resilient; have strong stamina, be hard-working, good at negotiating and possess a natural eye for the right pieces. Not the pieces you like, but the pieces that the customer wants. Range planning requires many of the same skills but is more analytical. In styling, I believe you need to be a good listener, empathetic, energetic, enthusiastic and kind. You need to be really interested in people and create strong relationships with retailers and clients alike.

What’s the most satisfying thing about what you do?

The wonderful, wonderful people I work with. Being invited into people’s homes and wardrobe’s is a magical thing. Being able to help someone transform themselves or dig them out of a style rut and make them feel better is so rewarding. Finding the right pieces that you know a client will love is very similar to what I enjoyed about buying. Seeking out the best items and using all the knowledge and experience I have gathered over the years feels really good. I never tire of it.

In terms of my consultancy work there really is nothing better than seeing all the outfits you have worked with over 6 months come to life on the catwalk, the campaigns and the company lookbooks. The designers are the real stars but I have a hand in making the range commercially successful and that’s fabulous to me.

What do you do every day? What does a typical day look like?

Every day is different. I could be scouting for a personal shopping session, clearing out a wardrobe, planning next season’s range, looking at toiles or doing a colour analysis.

What advice would you give someone wanting to do what you do?

Immerse yourself in the fashion world. Ask questions and start right at the bottom, with humility, and learn everything you can about the business from all angles.

Where do you go to keep up with current trends?

Stores, Instagram and Vogue.com

Has the importance of catwalk trends changed over the years? Are there other more important influences these days?

Street style.

What ambitions do you have in your role?

To help as many women as possible to fulfil their potential and look and feel great in what they wear.

What kind of satisfaction do you get from your roles? For instance, how does it feel when you are featured in publications you admire or when you work with a client?

It’s a wonderful buzz and I feel very grateful.

Is there anything that has inspired or guided you in getting you to where you are today? For instance a book, tool, approach to life or a saying?

Just do it!

How do you keep a balance in your life?

I have two boys, Sam and Jesse, so being mum as well as running my own business and consulting is really tough sometimes. I love all my roles so I’m incredibly lucky. Yes, I do feel under pressure at busy times. I relax by taking long baths, reading, walking and getting outside as much as possible.

What are this seasons most flattering trends?

Velvet and cord are very flattering next to the face!

What are your top trends for Christmas this year?

I’m still very taken with head to toe velvet, a suit preferably. Or the amazing pink sequin dress by Preen for LK Bennett.

Do you have any tips for Christmas dressing?

Make sure it’s comfortable. When trying on -sit down, stretch, move around, reach up and ensure your outfit doesn’t pull or dig in.

What’s the one thing we should be investing in now for SS18?

Souped-up trainers

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Contact Anna via email at anna@annaberkeley.com

Anna's website: annaberkeley.com

Anna's Instagram: @annaberkeleystyling