There are many reasons to start a wholesale business. Maybe you’re tired of your current job or just looking for something new. Regardless of the reason, entering the wholesale industry can be a wise and profitable decision. In fact, research shows that 261 million units of personal computers were sold during 2019.
If you’re wanting to start wholesaling electronics, you might start by buying and reselling computers. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at how to start a profitable wholesale computer business.
How Does the Wholesale Electronics Industry Work?
To get goods into stores, product manufacturers use a distribution network. Many companies make up this network including retailers, business partners, and wholesalers. If you become a wholesaler, you could sell products to retailers, other wholesalers, and businesses.
When it comes to buying goods wholesale, this means purchasing items in large quantities. Wholesalers often purchase boxes, pallets, and even truckloads full of items.
Should I Buy New or Used Computers and Laptops?
Another thing to determine is whether you want new or used wholesale computers. If your customers and business partners need new computers, that’s great. Plenty of wholesalers specialize in only buying and selling new computers. However, new computers don’t provide lots of room for profit.
If you’re looking to buy low and sell high, it’s best to stick with used computers. As you know, computer technology improves at a rapid rate. This means that even computers several months to a year old still have lots of power and functionality. Considering that, most wholesalers choose to buy and sell used or refurbished computers.
Where Can I Find Wholesale Computers and Laptops for Sale?
You don’t want to visit your nearest retailer and start purchasing every computer it has. This will leave you with little to no room to make any money. Instead, check out these three options to start finding wholesale computers and laptops the right way.
Electronics Wholesalers
Your best bet for getting wholesale computers will be by finding wholesale suppliers. As you likely know, wholesalers specialize in buying and selling items in large quantities. With this type of buying system, it’s easy for you to find everything you need. You won’t have to worry about a lack of inventory or lots of non-popular electronics. Computer wholesalers are well-versed in what sells well and how to offer fair prices for their goods.
It’s also possible to partner with wholesalers who sell goods for some of the largest retailers in the world. These wholesalers partner with companies like Amazon and Wal-Mart. Partnering with these wholesalers is great because you know exactly where your electronics come from. You’ll also never have to worry about a lack of inventory with these partnerships.
Unfortunately, there are those out there who try to (and sometimes succeed at) scamming people. This was one of the main thoughts that led to the creation of Trade-In Tech. Trade-In Tech is a global wholesale platform meant to help electronics dealers thrive.
To protect our network of dealers and weed out scammers, each Trade-In Tech member goes through a rigorous verification process. Once you’re in, it’s easy to start speaking directly with thousands of wholesale electronics suppliers. This is why we’re one of the best places to buy wholesale electronics.
If you’re looking to expand your business, our network of members also wholesale smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, and other popular types of electronics.
Sourcing Wholesale Computers and Laptops Locally
Another option for sourcing wholesale computers is by finding local sellers. However, unless you live in a densely populated area, finding computers available for wholesale might be tough. Local sellers can be good sources of inventory for those on a budget.
As long as you’re being cautious, it’s possible to find quality computers for sale from local buyers. However, most local sellers won’t have as much inventory as wholesalers. You also might encounter local sellers who want top dollar for what they’re selling, which isn’t great for wholesalers.
Resellers
You can also buy wholesale computers and laptops by working with resellers. These are individuals that purchase computers and other electronics from distributors. Most of the time, resellers sell items in smaller quantities.
But, if you have extra time and effort to spend, you might find a reseller offering wholesale computers. Be warned, certain resellers might offer prices that you’re not willing to pay.
How to Run a Profitable Wholesale Computer Business
Now that you know how to find wholesale computers, it’s time to learn how to sell them. At first, the thought of selling computers might seem a bit intimidating. But, after following our tips, this process will become much easier for you. Here are eight tips to help you wholesale computers and start making money.
1. Know Your Client Base
In any industry, it’s imperative to understand your company’s target audience. In business, target audiences are groups of people most likely to make purchases from a company. It’s essential to understand what types of people or companies plan to use your computers.
For instance, if you work with lots of web design companies, they might need computers with top of the line monitors. On the other hand, businesses that create and store lots of data may prefer computers with immense storage space. Knowing how to buy wholesale computers your customers actually want is a great skill.
2. Calculate Your Per Item Price
We’ve talked a lot about how to sell more computers. But making lots of money from wholesale computers and laptops also has to do with how you buy them. As we’ve mentioned, wholesalers buy items in bulk. If you don’t know how to buy wholesale computers, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Sometimes, getting overwhelmed can mean losing a lot of money fast.
However, you can stop this feeling by doing a bit of research before buying wholesale computers. To do this, have a maximum per-item or per-unit price you’re willing to spend. For example, let’s say you are willing to spend $100 per computer. Eventually, you find a wholesale lot of 100 computers for $15,000 in total.
To find your per unit price, you would divide 15,000 (lot price) by 100 (quantity of items in a lot). Unfortunately, in this situation, buying this lot would mean paying $150 per computer and putting you $50 over budget per item.
What about if you found a lot of 50 computers for $4,000 total? Dividing 4,000 by 50 gives you a total of 80. So, if you bought this lot, you would only be paying $80 per computer. This would place you $20 under budget for each unit, leaving lots of room for profits.
3. Start a Tiered Pricing System
If you’re struggling to make sales, your pricing structure might be to blame. Most wholesalers share the same goal, get customers to purchase as much inventory as possible. To make this happen, wholesalers often create tiered pricing structures.
For example, imagine that your normal pricing for computers is $150 per unit. To create a tiered pricing system, you could drop your per-unit price to $140 if someone orders 100 computers. This marketing strategy is time-tested and works well because it encourages customers to buy more to qualify for certain savings.
4. Everyone Loves Specials on Wholesale Computers
One great way to set yourself apart from competitors is by offering specials. However, make sure the deals you’re offering aren’t going to leave you without any profit. To avoid this, try to offer small discounts for people and companies that order large quantities of merchandise.
This is a marketing tactic that encourages people to buy more because they want your deals. It’s also a good way to get rid of some items that aren’t selling as well as others. To start selling more electronics, try offering specials that change each day, week, and month. These situations give active watchers and potential buyers a lot to get excited about.
5. Give Gifts to New Customers
When entering into any industry, companies need to build up their customer bases. With that in mind, you can do this by giving gifts to new customers. Who doesn’t love getting something for free? Plus, with deals becoming so popular, many new customers are seeking out companies that reward them.
You can go one step further with this marketing strategy by creating gift tiers. Companies of all sizes do this to reward shoppers based on how much they spend. If a customer places a small first order, they can receive a gift worth a set amount. When customers place larger orders, they can get a gift that’s worth more.
6. Offer Excellent Customer Service
In any industry, it’s essential to have satisfied customers. If not, these individuals are probably going to seek out a competitor for better service. You can prevent this from happening by offering excellent customer service. In the interest of keeping things simple, let’s go over a few of the best customer service tips.
One of the best ways to offer great customer service is through empathy. Showing empathy means placing yourself in the shoes of your customer or vendor. By doing this, it helps create a bond between your employees and its customers. Make sure you’re also showing kindness to your customers, even the ones who aren’t being so kind themselves.
In this day and age, it only takes one post from an angry customer on social media to make a news story about a business. If this keeps happening, it could spell lots of trouble for the future of your company. By using empathy and kindness, you’ll never have to worry about your company being the subject of one of these posts.
7. Create an Incentivized Referral Program
Hopefully, your business begins building up a list of business partners and customers. As this happens, certain companies don’t realize how valuable these contacts are. To avoid being that business, create an incentivized referral program for your company.
If you didn’t know, referrals happen when one person encourages someone else to do business with a company. One recent study from Neilsen found that 84% of people trust referrals over all other types of marketing. Most of the time, when someone is referring a company to another person, they’re going to have lots of good things to say about it.
So, how do you make it easier for people to start sending referrals your way? By creating an incentivized referral program. This means that you give your customers and clients incentives or rewards for spreading the word about your company. For examples of good referral program incentives, think about giving referrers discounts or credits towards their purchases.
8. Partner With Lots of Wholesalers
At first, this tip might seem a little strange. Why would you try to partner with potential competitors? These partnerships are much more beneficial than you might think, especially if you’re a new wholesaler. Oftentimes, the most profitable wholesalers understand the value of partnerships and start making lots of connections right away.
Every wholesaler is connected to networks of suppliers and buyers. If you’re having trouble selling wholesale computers and laptops, partnering with wholesalers can expand the reach of your company. By doing this, wholesalers might either be able to connect you with someone who needs what you sell. Also, you might have exactly what a wholesaler is looking for and will spend money to buy.
Electronics wholesalers can also help answer questions you might have. For instance, you might be wondering whether it’s better to purchase laptops or desktop computers. After learning more about your company’s goals, it’s easy for a wholesaler to recommend the items you need. This type of partnership is also incredibly beneficial if you’re wanting to enter this industry but don’t know a lot about computers.
Conclusion
If you’re looking for a new career, the wholesale computer industry has a lot to offer. If you’re wanting to learn more tips about the wholesale industry, go to Trade-In Tech’s blog. Here, you’ll find articles about buying electronics, selling them, growing your wholesale business, and much more.