032: How to Find Products for Your Subscription Box?
You have an idea for a subscription box and you’re excited to start building it for your audience. But where are you going to get all the items you need for a price that doesn’t break the bank? Or maybe you’re already sending your box out, but you’ve increased your subscriber base to the point that you need to start thinking about ordering in bulk. That’s the subject of this week’s episode, where I’m going to show you that there’s more than one way to fill a box. Where to Source Deciding what supplier to go with is really what kind of scale you’re looking for as well as your need to diversify your supply chain. When you start to scale up, having more options is going to be better for your schedule as well as your piece of mind to make sure you’re getting what you need for each shipment. Here is a list of sources you can use to help keep you stocked and ready to ship: Local Shops – The ability to support business owners in your own area is invaluable, especially when you’re starting out small. Facebook Wholesale Groups – There’s likely going to be a Facebook Wholesale group for whatever you’re looking for. It’s a good idea to look around and see what you can find, and it’s easy to join when you do find a group that might work. General Wholesale and Vendor Sites – These are sites that cater to buyers in need of wholesale and often carry many different brands. There is a need to prove that you are a business in need of wholesale, so take care to see what kind of requirements are needed to become a member of the site. Markets or Trade Shows – These are scheduled events that happen across the country where hundreds of vendors come to connect with buyers. These are great to get hands on with companies looking to supply all kinds of businesses and are a great place to network with other businesses as well. Here are some resources for details on shows: https://nynow.com/ https://dallasmarketcenter.com/ https://www.lasvegasmarket.com/ https://www.americasmart.com/ http://www.greatrep.com/TradeShows.aspx White Label with a Private Lender – Partnering with a vendor to create custom products can be a huge way of getting unique products without having to do all of the sourcing and shipping yourself. Markets/Trade Shows are a great way to connect with vendors to partner with and start a white label line. Global Marketplace – Sites like Alibaba or Indiamart are a great way to lower costs for items. However, since the items are coming from overseas, you’ll need to give them more lead time when ordering, and it can be affected by global bottlenecks, but they are a great place for sourcing. Sourcing Services – Companies that specialize in sourcing supply for companies. These services can be great when you need a large volume of items as they can leverage their relationships with suppliers to get you what you need when you need it. There are so many resources available to subscription box owners to get your products at scale for a price to keep you in business. Don’t be afraid to diversify, because you’ll find that once you have many sources for the items you need, it’s going to be much easier to keep you piece of mind and your business in the positive. Remember to subscribe to the podcast on your favorite podcast provider, as well as leave a 5-star rating and a review and drop me a line letting me know what your favorite episode is! You can also get on my waitlist for my subscription box course at https://www.launchyourboxwithsarah.com/. Get 30 Days FREE when you switch to Subbly: https://join.subbly.co/sarah-williams Use code LAUNCHWELCOME at https://www.boxup.com/ to get 10% off your first order