I have always found your best way to learn about a wholesale provider is meeting the people behind the company. Before you get to that stage, however, you have to find the companies you want to meet.

There are many ways to find new wholesale providers and probably the best one is learning from the providers you already have. They almost always mention their competition and that gives you a credible company to look at.

The next source is obviously the internet, however, it is hard to sift through tons of junk. To help narrow it down try groups and message boards related to the field you are looking at or ask questions in related forums much like the question being asked here.

Once you find the a list of companies you can look at their websites, call them for more information, check any of the investor web sites to find out size and earnings if listed, or even purchase credit/business reports through many different agencies.

Even after I find as much information as I can on a given company, nothing compares to having them visit for a meeting. Most companies will send a VP or higher so make sure you have a list of in-depth questions for them. I typically ask for size of company, earnings strength, number of employees, number of customers, dependency on core customers, locations, types customer support channels, and off course many specific questions related to the product I need the company to supply.

How you interpret the results is another question, but hopefully this will help you generate a list to begin with.

Jake Hodge

High Altitude Hardware

Posted on Dec. 17, 2010

Start with the internet to make sure you understand the universe of potential wholesalers out there for the product you are interested in. But you should only use the internet for high level requirements gathering and to understand what the universe of suppliers looks like.

Once you have an understanding of that, the hard work starts. Call and/or visit prospective wholesalers and make sure you come away with an understanding of whether they:

1. Already produce or have the capacity to produce the product you want to buy.
2. Are a going, valid business concern - this is particularly relevant when working with offshore wholesalers and suppliers.
3. Can meet the volume requirements of your order.
4. Have the culture and skills to work with you as a partner - again often more of a concern with foreign suppliers.
5. Adhere to quality control standards that will meet your quality specifications.
6. Can modify product development processes mid-job to account for changes that you may want for the order.
7. Have the requisite level of shipping, export, etc experience to meet your requirements.

If it's a big enough partnership, I strongly recommend collecting this data from 3-4 prospective wholesalers and doing it in person, even if it means getting on a plane. Internet based research is useful and more cost effective, but some of these things can't be understood without face to face contact and factory floor visits.