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Wholesale Trade Industry Resources

Wholesale Trade - Sector Overview
This part gives you a quick overview of this industry sector, the number of businesses that comprise the sector broken down into large and small businesses along with a discussion about some issues and challenges facing the businesses.

Wholesale Trade - List of Businesses
This section provides our readers with a listing of the businesses that are categorized under this industry classification.

Wholesale Trade - Resource Directory
A great tool put together painstakingly by our staff that identifies the major associations and organizations that serve the various businesses in this industry classification.  Besides the name and website, you will also find a brief description about the organization.  Our small business owners always thank us for putting this tool together – we are confident that you will find it useful as well. 

WHOLESALE TRADE – SECTOR OVERVIEW
 
The first step in determining how to write a business plan at Trident Consultants involves identifying the correct business sector to which our client’s business belongs.  The wholesale trade sector is a vast industry classification as per the NAICS – North American Industry Classification System.  It covers businesses like wholesale auto parts suppliers, wholesale furniture and home furnishings dealers, wholesale lumber dealers, wholesale office equipment dealers, wholesale medical supplies dealers, wholesale electrical and electronic goods merchants, wholesale hardware suppliers, wholesale industrial machinery dealers, wholesale paper merchants and many others.  (A detailed listing of wholesale businesses has been included at the end of this page.)

There are over a 766k larger businesses (with employees) in this industry sector that employ over 5.9 million people with a total payroll of $308 billion.  On average the larger wholesale trade firms have at least 8 employees and the average income nationally for each of these employees is about $27k.

In the small business world covering firms with no employees, there are 381k such wholesale trade firms with total gross receipts of $34 billion and the average annual income as reported by each firm of around $89k.

Firms involved in the wholesale trade for any industry usually have to carry very large inventories of items from various manufactures in their warehouses.  They tend to have very sophisticated inventory management systems and also have significant receivables since they have to wait for payments from their clients who are the retail sellers of these goods to the client.  A business plan for any firm involved in the wholesale trade must take into account the significant fixed cost structure built in for these businesses due to warehousing, inventory and labor requirements.

A sound business plan must address the fact that the greatest challenges facing the wholesale industry is that large buyers of their products are now going to manufacturer directly.  Firms like Home Depot, Lowes and others are now able to wield tremendous buying power and with sophisticated inventory management and other software are able to directly go to the manufacturer for electrical, construction, home good and other lines and cut out the wholesaler completely.  This has resulted in severe margin erosion in the wholesale trade business as the internet is increasingly removing all price arbitrage that used to exist in many industries.  Business planning for a firm in the wholesale trade business must address this threat and also provide for a solution.

One solution that many wholesale distributors are taking on is that of technical support and training.  Gone are the days when being a wholesale distributor meant having a warehouse and waiting for retailers to fax in their orders.  In today’s information age, wholesale distributors are setting up intranets and websites to give their buyers and the end customer information and knowledge on their product.  Many are also offering training to the staff of the buyers to be able to secure better and longer lasting relationships. 

Yet another major trend in the wholesale business is the slew of products that are coming over from China undercutting many local manufacturers.  The demand for these often lower costs goods now requires many wholesalers to buy directly from manufacturers in mainland China and sometimes make visits to factories there.  The last decade has seen the globalization of world manufacturing and business planning for a company in this industry must address the need to be able to travel and buy from producers internationally.  In the game of wholesale trade, the suppliers and merchants with the best inventory at the best costs win, and strategic planning must be implemented early on to catch the trends in the industry and source the right product mix so that the warehouses are ready when the purchase orders come in.

Seasonality of cash flow, and high receivables can quickly crimp the cash reserves of any wholesale trade business and the business plan must address this threat by recommending lines of credit or business loans so that the firm can meet its operational working capital needs in times of tight cash flow.

If you are starting a wholesale trade business, or are already established but are looking to grow, secure a partner, venture capital or business loans, we would be happy to help.      

WHOLESALE TRADE – LIST OF BUSINESSS:

The following is a list of the various businesses that fall under this industry sector:

Motor Vehicle and Motor Vehicle Parts and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Automobile and Other Motor Vehicle Merchant Wholesalers
Motor Vehicle Supplies and New Parts Merchant Wholesalers
Tire and Tube Merchant Wholesalers
Motor Vehicle Parts (Used) Merchant Wholesalers

Furniture and Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers
Furniture Merchant Wholesalers
Home Furnishing Merchant Wholesalers

Lumber and Other Construction Materials Merchant Wholesalers
Other Construction Material Merchant Wholesalers

Professional and Commercial Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Photographic Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Office Equipment Merchant Wholesalers
Computer and Computer Peripheral Equipment and Software Merchant Wholesalers
Other Commercial Equipment Merchant Wholesalers

Medical, Dental, and Hospital Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Medical, Dental, and Hospital Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Ophthalmic Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Coal and Other Mineral and Ore Merchant Wholesalers

Electrical and Electronic Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Electrical Apparatus and Equipment, Wiring Supplies, and Related Equipment Merchant  Wholesalers
Other Electronic Parts and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers

Hardware, and Plumbing and Heating Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Warm Air Heating and Air-Conditioning Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Refrigeration Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers

Machinery, Equipment, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Construction and Mining (except Oil Well) Machinery and Equipment Merchant Wholesalers
Service Establishment Equipment and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Transportation Equipment and Supplies (except Motor Vehicle) Merchant Wholesalers

Miscellaneous Durable Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Sporting and Recreational Goods and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Jewelry, Watch, Precious Stone, and Precious Metal Merchant Wholesalers
Other Miscellaneous Durable Goods Merchant Wholesalers

Paper and Paper Product Merchant Wholesalers
Printing and Writing Paper Merchant Wholesalers
Industrial and Personal Service Paper Merchant Wholesalers

Drugs and Druggists' Sundries Merchant Wholesalers
Drugs and Druggists' Sundries Merchant Wholesalers

Apparel, Piece Goods, and Notions Merchant Wholesalers
Piece Goods, Notions, and Other Dry Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Footwear Merchant Wholesalers

Grocery and Related Product Wholesalers
General Line Grocery Merchant Wholesalers
Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Merchant Wholesalers
Other Grocery and Related Products Merchant Wholesalers

Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers
Grain and Field Bean Merchant Wholesalers
Livestock Merchant Wholesalers
Other Farm Product Raw Material Merchant Wholesalers

Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers
Plastics Materials and Basic Forms and Shapes Merchant Wholesalers
Other Chemical and Allied Products Merchant Wholesalers

Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers
Petroleum Bulk Stations and Terminals
Petroleum and Petroleum Products Merchant Wholesalers (except Bulk Stations and Terminals)

Beer, Wine, and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers
Beer and Ale Merchant Wholesalers
Wine and Distilled Alcoholic Beverage Merchant Wholesalers

Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers
Paint, Varnish, and Supplies Merchant Wholesalers
Other Miscellaneous Nondurable Goods Merchant Wholesalers

Wholesale Electronic Markets and Agents and Brokers
Business to Business Electronic Markets
Wholesale Trade Agents and Brokers