Retail vs. wholesale for those who make their products

Is wholesale worth it?

[HRoth]

I just read an article about selling handmade items that recommended switching to wholesale in order not to have to deal with so many customers, phone calls, and such. It said that doing wholesale meant you had more time to make stuff. I always thought that if you make something, wholesale means doing the same amount of work for half the money. Has anyone tried it?

[palain]

Selling on ecommerce means you can sell retail without having a retail store.

This concept pays much more especially if you have large retail clients - Government for example.

Selling retail is more work but more rewarding. If I sold double the amount of stuff I do now only wholesale, I don't think I would get enough cash to grow. I would have to hire production staff - If you can't grow, you stay the same and eventually collapse - I have been with collapsing companies and it's no fun getting out of a rut.

Remember that more sales does not mean more profit.

Also, It is possible to sell wholesale & retail. I have local b&m stores selling my widgets but are unreliable and don't even call when their stock is low - I hate babysitting.

I also have a store in Puerto Rico which sells my widgets and are less problems than the local folks.

Phone calls and emails are part of business but this aspect could be reduced somewhat by have a better description, More pictures or create an FAQ for a certain product.

If I had a choice with the same amount of PROFIT to work more or less, I choose LESS WORK - This means RETAIL sales.

[ispy]

It depends upon what you consider work to be. Some people liking making the product, some like talking to customers. I dont think one has more work then the other, they are just different kinds of work.

I dont think retail is always more rewarding then manufacturing. A lot of the issues you deal with in retail are unsatisfied customers because hearing feedback from satisfied customers is more rare.

Making a quality product can be very rewarding and even relaxing. You have complete control over the material and the outcome, and I think this has the potential of causing less stress in your work.

[lorax]

I think that the business theory is that wholesale = volume sales so a lower profit margin may actually equate to higher gross profits because of the volume. An additional downside is that because of the slimmer margin, you'd need to manage it more closely. In the end, do you really get more time to make stuff? I suppose that after you've developed a working system and have the kinks out, then you could refine the profit margin. But isn't the same true for retail sales?

[HRoth]

I don't know. I've been wrestling with this for a couple years now. I have really expanded the things that I make, and I get more and more requests from shops who want to sell them, but if I gave them half off retail (which would be acceptable as "wholesale" in my niche), I would not make enough profit. I have thought of making a wholesale-only line on the one hand and played with the idea of raising my prices on the other, but I would have to raise them by at least 50% to make it workable to sell them at half off for wholesale. Friends have encouraged me to do that, but I'm afraid I'll just lose a bunch of customers that way.

OTOH, it is true that a merchant hears more often from the unhappy customers than the happy ones. It gets me down sometimes, especially when it is someone who has spent very little but acts like they are dealing with Amazon. I can imagine myself spending MUCH more time creating new products and making them if I were wholesale only, and I would enjoy that. I feel like I've been at a crossroads for the past two years and that I don't know which way to go now. Stick with what I know, or take another risk?