Selling products by retail and wholesale

Do I do this through one site/business name, or create two?

[Synthetic]

Hi,

I will soon be selling products available through my retail storefront and also by wholesale (where I will provide customized quotes and/or standard prices for set quantities).

I was wondering if it's best to do all of this through the same business name and also market both services on the same website... or if I should create seperate entities that each have their own website and business name.

The reason why I am pondering over this is because I was concerned that the two streams of business might somehow conflict with each other if they are "combined".

Do any of you see this as a problem? Obviously the wholesale prices will be cheaper than the retail prices, but only business will be able to buy through wholesale and there will also be a minimum quantity/price set. And in addition, the wholesale prices will be kept in a secure, password-protected area where the user must first apply to gain access.

So I'd appreciate any input/recommendations on what I should do and how it should all be organized.

Thanks in advance.

*EDIT: Another issue that came to mind is that would businesses buying wholesale from me be turned off by the fact that I am in a way direct competition to them? (Being that I sell my products through retail as well).

[edited by: Synthetic at 8:42 pm (utc) on Dec. 10, 2003]

[danieljean]

I'm dealing with a similar issue right now for a client. Their retail site has less content, and because it is often duplicate content from the wholesale site... we have a PR0 to repair.

If they didn't insist on keeping the two separate, I would opt for just having 1 site that is well-linked and content-rich.

[GarryBoyd]

There is no real reason why you should have wholesale information on your retail site. It will just mean retail customers will try to get cheaper prices. You can easily service your wholesalers thru a hidden link, unless you aim to recruit them on the 'net as well.
As for competing with your dealers, provided they can make the mark up they expect, without you undercutting them, there should be no problem.

With the right cart, you can set multi level pricing. I run wholesale, distributor and retail pricing on one site, depends on your log in which price you see.

[hanuman]

not knowing your business and the type of products you sell, you can always offer quantities discount which works very well in many cases.