Important Steps to Follow for Handling Large Orders from Businesses

Customers place immense trust in your business, admiring both you and the mission that drives it. Of course, there may be instances where a customer wants to place a large order if you run an online store. These shoppers might be making purchases on behalf of government agencies, non-profits, or other corporations.

Serving customers in this way can offer your company a significant business-to-business (B2B) market entry opportunity. These various business models partake in quality-driven markets, which include goods that are routinely purchased in large quantities. Office supplies, dinnerware, food, and kitchen supplies are just some fantastic examples of this.

These are obviously only a handful of the markets that can benefit from bulk ordering. In fact, even if you don’t deal with anything relevant to these areas, it’s possible that, with a little creativity, you can fully benefit from this method.

You might be reluctant to allow bulk pricing at this point. In large orders, your individual item profits might be smaller, but your overall profits ought to increase along with your sales. It’s crucial to keep in mind that doing this on your eCommerce website isn’t always clear-cut. This blog post aims to show you the advantages that wholesale ordering can offer to your business and some advice on how to handle them so that you can seize this chance. Let’s get started!

Is Wholesale Ordering Something Your Company Should Provide?

To offer wholesale ordering or not—that is the question! It goes without saying that different companies have different approaches to developing their business plans. If you want to offer bulk ordering, you should think about taking the time to explore how your industry will function in this environment. Consider how you can modify your product offering to support business-to-business sales if your industry isn’t usually “wholesale-friendly” like the education or restaurant sectors. You can discover that you have access to opportunities and markets that were previously unimaginable.

It’s vital to assess your risks and develop a strategy. After all, you wouldn’t want to enter a new approach unprepared or unaware of what is waiting for you on the other side. Offering wholesale prices, however, can have a number of advantages if done properly.

A Growth in Profits

The fact of the matter is that the wholesale business is skyrocketing. In fact, the market size of the Wholesale Trade industry in the United States in 2023 is $11.6 trillion. Customers are simply seeing the benefits of a higher number of units at a lower individual cost. At the same time, your business sees the benefits of increased sales. While you may be selling your products for less overall, you are still making more sales than you would have without offering bulk options.

Dedicated Shoppers

Customers who require a lot of products frequently search for companies that can meet their requirements. This is especially true for customers who might have more specialized requirements. This may very well result in repeat business from devoted customers who will happily recommend the company to others in the market for comparable goods.

Waste Reduction

It goes without saying that business waste is bad for the environment and for your bottom line. You can open up a new source of income by giving the option for slow-moving goods to be sold. You have the chance to move more product that might otherwise be unused or laying around when you ship out large orders. You will also have a better understanding of how much stock to keep on hand at any given time if you have regular customers. By doing this, overstocking and understocking will decrease.

Advice for Online Businesses on Managing Large Orders

1. Create Discounts for Large Orders

   Given that they require a huge quantity of an item to accommodate a certain component of their operations, businesses buy in bulk. Indeed, they also want to benefit from the price breaks that come with ordering in quantity. Fortunately, a lot of eCommerce platforms have tools built in that automatically apply bulk discount prices based on the number of orders.

   Your company will be able to generate several discount levels for different customer demographics and offer discounted bulk pricing for particular customer groups with this capability. In addition to allowing an order to be practically limitless, you can also establish maximum and minimum quantities. You can include a quantity pricing section on your product page to show your customers the price range per unit.

   Bulk discounts aren’t just advantageous to your B2B customers. Whether it’s chicken wings for a local pizzeria to go with their secret barbecue sauce or sapphire jewels to go with bracelets at a nearby boutique, many regular customers are looking to stock up on specific products at a fair price. Establishing oneself as a reliable provider of these deals and supplies will greatly benefit your company.

2. Verify Inventory Levels with Distributors and Manufacturers

   Any company should ensure they have the right amount of inventory on hand, but eCommerce businesses that allow bulk ordering should pay particular attention. And besides, maintaining a sufficient supply to reliably fulfill large orders can necessitate regular, special attention to stock and effective communication between you and your supplier.

   Assuring that you have the necessary stock is the first step in reliably fulfilling large orders. This entails maintaining a line of communication with your vendors. Any reputable wholesale supplier or distributor would obviously get in touch with you right away if there were any production or supply chain problems. However, if you suspect a problem, it’s still essential to get in touch as soon as you can.

   When your supply changes, it’s critical to update your eCommerce store as soon as possible with the new quantity. Try to make a note on the product page when an item is scarce or in small supply. This will increase the customer’s sense of urgency and maintain transparency while assisting in a transaction.

3. Request an Upfront Payment

   Bulk fulfillment order carries some risk. You are stuck with unsold merchandise if someone places a larger purchase and cancels it. Developing a reputation if someone places a larger order and cancels it. Developing a reputation that permits this could significantly harm your company. It is crucial to request money upfront because of this. You might want to implement a Buy Now, Pay Later option or request security deposits if you can’t reasonably expect that of your customers. As you develop a connection with these regular customers and companies, there should be an air of confidence and trust that makes you feel more at ease when conducting business.

4. Construct a Wholesale/Bulk Order Landing Page

   Including an easily accessible landing page for your bulk order system on your website will help you build customer confidence and convey crucial information to both prospective and current customers. This includes information about bulk delivery, minimum and maximum purchase requirements, and links to your product sites. Any inquiries regarding the bulk order procedure should be sent to this page.

   On this page, you can quickly use optimal SEO tactics to target your desired demographic. Use straightforward, navigable text and graphics whenever possible. Give your reader key details up front while enticing them to look around your website more. Keep in mind that you want crucial information to be obvious, especially to someone who is skimming the page rapidly.

5. Provide Regular Customers Password-Protected Logins

   A lot of first-time customers would choose to use the faster guest checkout option rather than register an account on your website. However, frequent customers will prefer and require specific features that are only accessible with a personal account. This includes storing orders, shipping addresses, payment options, and customized choices.

   Your customers can create accounts with you if you remove barriers to account creation by making the login procedure quick and simple. This includes just requiring your user to enter their password once, letting them “uncover” it, and automatically filling up areas like “State” depending on their zip code. Allowing your customer to check in with their email address or phone number rather than a specific username will streamline the registration process once they have already registered.

Conclusion

Bulk order fulfillment for other companies can easily develop into an interesting new market for your business. The journey into the business-to-business sector can be challenging, but it could be totally worth it. Before you know it, you’ll be forging new partnerships that you previously didn’t think were feasible and promoting your goods like never before.

Ready to take your eCommerce business to the next level? FTx Warehouse offers an efficient, all-in-one warehouse inventory management tool that will ensure you are always one step ahead. You can arrange orders to run automatically so they are available when you are. You can also properly track your inventory, automate your everyday warehouse operations in real-time, and schedule orders. For a speedy and dependable omnichannel fulfillment, our solution also seamlessly interacts with your POS, online stores, and sales channels. Ready to get started? Reach out right now and let one of our experts show you how easy it can be!