Importance of Distributor Connections in Online Reseller Business

As a reseller, you will be buying products from a reliable distributor and then sell them for a profit. These distributors act as an inventory source and often provide dropshipping services. Most resellers depend on multiple distributors to run their business successfully.

For instance, if you are selling office supplies, you will have a partnership with at least two Office supplies wholesale distributors. This will allow you to compare product pricing coming from different distributors and accordingly choose one that provides maximum profit in the transaction.

When you take your business online, it is important to have appropriate distributor connections to streamline your operations. E-commerce provides a lot of convenience to both business owners as well as customers. Your store is open 24/7 with no geographical constraints, which can go a long way in boosting your reseller business.

However, if you don’t have online distributor connections, you will have a tough time running your e-commerce business. Keep in mind that generating adequate profits matters a lot in E-commerce. Distributors connections can play a key role to maximize profits.

Product pricing & available from distributors frequently changes. In such circumstances, your e-commerce business should have some mechanism so that you always have access to up-to-date product information. You simply cannot depend on distributor sites to get updated product data. That can be tedious and time-consuming.

A better option to get accurate product data from distributors is to use an e-commerce platform that allows you to import your distributor’s inventory data feed into your application. An inventory data feed is a process by which up-to-date product information is sent automatically from a server to a client. With data feeds, you can load thousands of products onto your site in a matter of minutes. To ensure that it is possible to import inventory data feed from the distributor to your Ecommerce. Wholesale distributors have a data feed that is often distributed via FTP protocol. It saves hours of manual work and ensures that your site has access to up-to-date product information.

In case, you are an IT reseller connected to Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Synnex, and D&H, make sure their respective catalogs are directly connected to your site through the backend. You will have to use a catalog management tool that allows you to aggregate all catalogs in a single one and present it in a well-structured format. The aggregated catalog should allow you to search and compare products coming from different distributors. This is particularly useful at the time of quoting products to the customers.

If you are running your own e-commerce store and you have XML integrations with your distributor, it is even better. XML integrations give you the opportunity to access product information from distributors in real time. Real-time pricing and availability is a characteristic feature that you can use to your advantage. Any changes in product pricing or availability are accessible to you in real time from e-commerce backend. Moreover, you can even send orders electronically to the distributor, which can help to streamline processes.