Finding the right supplier nightmare

jay-jay

My sister and I have just started a local business (customer base is about 3 towns wide), we have sourced a supplier online who as a wholesaler is giving us a 35% discount which we thought was pretty good but then discovered her carriage charges were really high. We have done our research but these so called wholesalers sites are no cheaper then the shops. I have been ripped of twice now paying for wholesalers information, and getting no where. I really need to find a supplier fast can anyone help. How do people find suppliers? We are making a small profit but I know with the right products we could offer a better service and a healthy return (dont want to put our prices up as our customers wouldnt pay more)
Thanks

Jay

martindow

35% discount is not very good. You don't say what sort of things you want to source. I would suggest going to trade shows. You've just missed the biggest general one for gifts and lots of other things, the Spring Fair at the NEC, but you can still find lists of exhibitors from their site
http://www.springfair.com/
Some shows are specific to a particular type of trade and others are more general. The Spring Fair people also do Summer Fair in London and Autumn Fair in Birmingham
http://www.summerfair.com/
http://www.autumnfair.com/

kimbatty

It's a bit hard to help when we don't know what you're trying to source but I would say that 35% discount is a bit rubbish, especially if you're paying hgh carriage. As the other respondent has said, you've just missed one of the best venues for picking up great suppliers but if you visit the springfair website you can buy the book of all the exhibitors and it'll be well worth the money spent. You need to find other trade fairs for your particular product area and they're held throughout the year , if you gave us an idea of what you do we could maybe have a root around for you

Another good trade fair is the topdrawer one

jay-jay

We supply complete party kits taylormade for each customer, complete with party games, pass the parcel, party suggestions etc etc. If we can continue we need to find a good supplier, rather than just scrapping by. I feel really down because the lists Ive bought have been useless on all the sites Ive visited seem like middlemen

kimbatty

Have you tried http://www.mdmdistributors.com/
or maybe even do a search on https://www.alibaba.com as they can throw up some good wholesale suppliers

I do think it would be well worthwhile to go onto the springfair website and order the book or all the exhibitors. When I visited a few years back there were a wealth of party supply companies selling all sorts of things

double_d77

I'd be careful of alibaba.com can be some rogue traders on there so do some checks before ordering!

Dave

jay-jay

Thanks just tried link but its an american site which doesnt deliver to UK, but thanks anyway

jay-jay

Has anyone heard of the UK wholesalers Directory and is it any good
thanks:beer:

buglawton

Esources is worth a try - search if first and only join if you find what you are looking for: www.esources.co.uk

Also try www.thewholesaler.co.uk it's free.

These are just about the UK's 2 biggest online Wholesale Directories.