Pricing For Wholesale and Retail: Are Indie Retailers Actually Monsters?

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Pricing For Wholesale And Retail
Are indie retailers actually monsters?
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When I started teaching creative people how to sell their work to shops seven years ago, (if
you’re new here, download my free Beginner’s Wholesale Roadmap
(https://www.indieretailacademy.com/starter-kit-roadmap/) right now!) I quickly realised
that two words cause a great deal of anxiety: wholesale and mark up.
Some people think “wholesale” means cheap, discounted, commercial or unethical.
Some people think “mark up” is a euphemism for “I’m going to sell your product for
twenty times what I paid for it, take a quick dip in a bath of virgins’ blood then go to sleep on a
mountain of fty pound notes.”
I’d love to tell you those things just aren’t true, but I can’t.
Well, apart from the bit about the virgins’ blood.
Most shopkeepers prefer to bathe in kittens’ tears. It’s much better at exfoliating our scaly
hides and talons.
The truth is that sometimes “wholesale” does refer to values, practices or products that
probably aren’t in line with where you want your company to go. And there are retailers who
have a lump of coal for a heart and a well-thumbed copy of “How To Crush People and Grind
Their Bones To Make Your Bread” where their ethics should be.
That’s just life, pretty much.
Thankfully, this kind of thing isn’t common, and in most cases a smart cookie like you can spot
it a mile o . So why with the crazy about these words?
Well, let’s take on wholesale rst. One of the reasons for its air of peril is that most artists know
that wholesale prices (https://www.indieretailacademy.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-
ready-for-retailers/) arecookies.
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“What!” you might say. “This vulgar little shopkeep wants to buy my precious work, the very
items I put my heart and soul into creating, and they want to PAY LESS THAN THE STANDARD
PRICE?” *THUD*
The thud was you fainting onto the parquet. Don’t worry, the butler will fetch some smelling
salts.
The point is that yes, your wholesale price should be lower than the price you charge when
selling your work directly to the public.
In fact, your wholesale price should be the absolute minimum you’re

happy to part with your work for.
Hang on!
When I say absolute minimum, I don’t mean rock-bottom, not-even-covering-costs.
Come on. Does that sound like something I’d say?
No, your wholesale price is made up of four parts: the direct costs of making your product, a
percentage of the overheads associated with selling your product, recompense for your time
and labour in making the product, and a dash of straight-up pro t.
The Ultimate Guide To Getting Ready For Retailers goes into pricing in much more detail
(https://www.indieretailacademy.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-getting-ready-for-retailers/), but
that’s the basic structure. When a retailer asks for your wholesale price, this is the gure what
they want to see.
Remember, ALL your material and overhead costs are covered by this price, you’re being paid
for your labour and there’s some extra pro t built into it too. This gure should not send you on
a one-way ticket to the poor-house.
If it does you can’t a ord to sell your work at wholesale, which means you need to go back to
your calculator and start again. Or you need to put aside the idea of selling your work to shops
for now.
There’s no middle ground. You can either make it work comfortably or

you can’t.
This is your life we’re talking about here, so there’s no room for error. Your wholesale price
should be your friend – it should have enough buoyancy to keep your business a oat, not drag
you into the depths.
So that’s your wholesale price, now let’s talk about the practice of wholesaling.
The major di erence between me buying your product for my shop, and me buying your
product for my Mum is she’s unlikely to want fty of your screen-printed tea-towels in a choice
of colours.
She’s got a dishwasher, for one thing.
If I’m buying for my shop, on the other hand, I certainly do want all those tea-towels, and
probably a few other things besides. It depends very much on the product, of course, but in
general retailers like to buy in bulk.
So this is where things balance out for you.
You’re selling your work to a retailer for less per item, but they’re
ordering larger quantities of items.
That’s the foundation of your wholesale business in a nutshell.
So wholesale doesn’t mean something scary, dirty or unspeakably evil. It just describes a
particular kind of selling arrangement.
Now we’ve got that settled, let’s allow the other boot to drop. What about mark up?
Mark up is what the shopkeeper adds to your wholesale price to arrive at their retail price.
In general, to get their retail price, most shopkeepers will multiply your wholesale price by at
least two. So if your price is £10, your lovely thing will go on sale in their shop for £20.
Sometimes we multiply by more – 2.4 or 2.5, for example – but overall that’s what’s going to
happen.
Now, before you faint again out of sheer outrage, let’s have a look at what the retailer’s mark
up covers. Then you can swoon into the bronzed and muscular arms of Hargreaves if you
really want to.
I know I do.
Let’s see: rent, electricity, card machine fees, taxes, employee’s wages, property maintenance,
carrier bags, tissue paper, stickers, o ce supplies, water, marketing, website maintenance and
hosting, licences, accountancy fees, alarm maintenance, attending trade shows, di erent kinds
of insurance and stock purchases.
I’ve probably missed a few, but that gives you a avour of where that
£10 mark up is going.
You’ll also note that this is before any salary or wage for the shopkeeper has been taken into
account. Most of us don’t sleep on piles on money. Waking up with a 2p coin stuck to your
cheek gets old really fast. Like you, indie retailers are simply business owners, trying our best to
stay a oat in a choppy economy. We’re not dirty, scary or unspeakably evil either.
Well, not during work hours, anyway.
One more thing.
When you sell direct to the public, you should be selling your work at
its full retail price.
Not the wholesale price, not some half way point, but the full retail price.
If you don’t, you’re undercutting your stockists and expecting them to swallow it. That’s not
cool.
Think your customers on Etsy, Folksy, at craft fairs or on your own website won’t pay that
much? You need to nd di erent customers who will. After all, that’s what your stockists have
to do, right?
Pricing is a jungle and it’s something we talk about a lot

(https://www.indieretailacademy.com/starter-kit-roadmap/) around here.
But here’s your takeaway: wholesale de nitely isn’t evil, shopkeepers usually aren’t evil and you
should try very hard not to be evil too.
THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY
Clare Yuille
I help creative people like you sell their work to independent retailers, without hyperventilating
into a sandwich bag. I take the EEEEK! out of wholesale and replace it with AAAAH, right up
until you're making the kind of money you want to make.
Want some training? See which classes can help you the most right now in the Indie Retail
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3/22/2019 Pricing For Wholesale And Retail (Without Getting Angry And Resentful) | Indie Retail Academy

Pricing For Wholesale And Retail

Are indie retailers actually monsters?

Okay Privacy policy (https://www.indieretailacademy.com/privacy-policy/)

Some people think “wholesale” means cheap, discounted, commercial or unethical.

Well, apart from the bit about the virgins’ blood.

That’s just life, pretty much.

In fact, your wholesale price should be the absolute minimum you’re

When I say absolute minimum, I don’t mean rock-bottom, not-even-covering-costs.

Come on. Does that sound like something I’d say?

There’s no middle ground. You can either make it work comfortably or

She’s got a dishwasher, for one thing.

So this is where things balance out for you.

That’s the foundation of your wholesale business in a nutshell.

Well, not during work hours, anyway.

One more thing.

Pricing is a jungle and it’s something we talk about a lot

THIS ARTICLE WAS WRITTEN BY

← A Weird But E ective Way To Stop Feeling Nervous

How To Feel Comfortable In Your Business → (https://www.indieretailacademy.com/why-you-

Download one of our helpful starter kits!

Okay Privacy policy (https://www.indieretailacademy.com/privacy-policy/)

Okay Privacy policy (https://www.indieretailacademy.com/privacy-policy/)

15 Template Emails Starter Kit

Join Our Facebook Group

© 2019 Indie Retail Academy

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