By Guest Blogger: Debbie McGrew for Debt.org, America’s Debt Help Organization

So, you want to own your own business? Before starting this new business venture, there are many decisions that will have to be made, and among them is the decision to buy wholesale or retail. Purchasing products at wholesale prices and then selling them at retail value is a great way to launch your own successful, profitable business. However, it is important to understand the difference between wholesale and retail to understand the many benefits of buying wholesale.

• Retail. Buying retail consists of buying goods for sale directly to consumers, not necessarily in large quantities, and for a higher price. Retailers must take other costs, such as employees, rent, taxes and advertising into account when selling their products. These costs are then factored into the price that customers are charged.
• Wholesale. In contrast, the wholesale market consists of a manufacturer that sells products to a middleman, who then sells the products to the public at retail value to make a profit.

However, there is more to running a successful business than buying low and selling high, and there are many reasons why buying wholesale can drive a profitable business.

Wholesale markets improve efficiency in food distribution by centralizing all transactions at a single location, which in turn, allows wholesalers to sell larger quantities of goods at a lower price.

Wholesale markets also provide greater stability of supply and sale of produce, because everything is centralized and easily accessible to operators, which reduces uncertainty concerning supplies and completion of sales transactions.

Popular warehouse stores like Sam’s or Costco offer wholesale prices to their customers. Their prices of manufactured goods could be as much as half of the retail price. However, goods are not always manufactured; they are sometimes grown.

A farmer for example may offer a grocery store his or her products at a wholesale price, because the grocery store would buy the farmer’s product in bulk. A grocery store wouldn’t buy just one apple and a handful of potatoes; it would need to buy large quantities because of its high demand for produce.

The grocery store is then able to sell the goods at retail value to make a profit. And although farmers are selling the product at a lower price, they are guaranteed a regular, large payment.

Buying your products from a wholesale market also allows for some price flexibility, which is important when you are in control of your own business profits. You can buy your products at wholesale prices and put them on sale or clearance, which will make your customers happy, while still turning a profit. The profit of sale items would not be nearly as significant if you bought the products at retail value.

Buying wholesale and selling retail can be a great way to run a profitable business, but it can be, at times, challenging. It’s important to learn all you can before you dive into the wholesale market.

Debbie McGrew writes and blogs for Debt.org, America’s Debt Help Organization

Great news! We have recently joined forces with Bongo International  to offer customers located worldwide the same unbeatable discounts and superior service that our U.S. clients have enjoyed for over 12 years. Bongo International is a well-established global eCommerce solution providing U.S. retailers access to international markets with no change to their current operations.

“As DollarDays is expanding its business worldwide, Bongo seemed like the logical choice to take us into countries where we never shipped to before.  Our customers using Bongo have given us such positive feedback that we are allocating additional marketing dollars to make sure the world is aware of DollarDays’ ability through Bongo to now ship everywhere,” says Marc Joseph, company founder.   The entrance into the international market couldn’t be better timing.  The eCommerce industry surpassed a trillion-dollars in sales worldwide for 2012, and continues to demonstrate substantial growth.  eMarketer reported for the 2012 selling year, B2C eCommerce sales grew by 21.1% worldwide, and predicted that sales will increase another 12.3% to nearly $1.3 trillion dollars for 2013.

DollarDays’ website has over 3.5 Million registered users and averages over 1,200 new customers each day.  Our reduced price points enable smaller businesses to compete against larger enterprises. We also offer retail items by the piece vs. by the case as in the wholesale option.   Additionally, we offer business services such as website design, drop shipping, distributorships, affiliate programs and more.  Until teaming up with Bongo, the wholesale discounts were only available to clients located nationwide.  These providers are now able to deliver everything retailers need to succeed in online commerce.

Through the partnership with Bongo, DollarDays is now available in over 220 countries.  Bongo’s Checkout solution allows international visitors the same seamless experience as domestic shoppers.  This includes a smooth checkout experience that offers the full landed cost prior to checkout so there are no hidden costs appearing at any point in the transaction.  Bongo’s comprehensive solution offers a secure international checkout that is localized to the language specific to the IP address or language selection of the user. This solution also supplies shoppers with a Unified Tracking Number that is active from the domestic warehouse until arrival at the international destination.

Did you enter March’s Contest to help families in need? Please do! Click here.

“During the holidays, we see an outpouring of thoughtfulness to those who are less fortunate. But what about after the holidays, when the outpouring of good intention ends? Unfortunately, the holidays are not the only time families need help. It’s twelve months a year; there are always families in need. Some families have had their breadwinner(s) out of work for months, taking its toll on family finances. Others have had medical emergencies. There are many situations that can put a family in need. And as you might imagine, there are many families who don’t reach out for help at all, and often they are the ones who suffer the most.  That’s why DollarDays  is anonymously giving away $5,000 in merchandise this month to people and families who could use a hand. To support this suffering segment of our population, we as a nation must come together, and this giveaway is DollarDays’ way of giving back,” said DollarDays’  CEO Marc Joseph.

We know non-profits tirelessly help twelve months a year, but if you’re unemployed or needing help, no day is a holiday. Let’s do what we can to help others, and entering the DollarDays $5,000 Merchandise Giveaway by visiting  DollarDays’ Facebook page is a good start.  

Congratulations to our winners of the February 2013 $5,000 DollarDays Small Business Giveaway! We wanted to applaud the backbone of our country, the small business owner. We had our Facebook Fans nominate small businesses in their hometowns. First place was $2000, second place was $1,000 and third place was $500—all in merchandise from DollarDays.com. There were 15 businesses selected to each receive a $100 shopping spree as well. Each winner was sent an email with instructions on home to redeem their gifts! Thank you for everyone who participated and be sure to enter our March $5000 Merchandise Giveaway on Facebook!

And the businesses that won are:

Meet DollarDays’ podcast host, Sean.  Sean authors and delivers a weekly podcast show to DollarDays customers, touching on topics about how to run a successful distributorship to the true back story of DollarDays and CEO Marc Joseph’s commitment to giving back to communities, and everything in between.

Although this is only our second podcast, we are committed to getting the word out about all that DollarDays has to offer.   You can listen to any of our podcasts here. 

We are proud of our CEO, Marc Joseph, who is one of LinkedIn’s most influential members.  He has one of the top 1% most viewed @LinkedIn profiles for 2012. With 1,429 connections, he is linked to 11,800,853 professionals! Congratulations, Marc Joseph! 

For the month of February, we are extending our New Year new opportunity so anyone can own their own online business right away! At DollarDays, we believe in helping small businesses succeed, which is why we created this turnkey solution.  CEO Marc Joseph’s recent Huffington Post article to get a little fuel for becoming an online distributor.

With our Distributor Program, you get a unique sub-domain on our site, with all the same products and content as DollarDays.com. We provide you the added benefit of customer retention and long term sales while offering a commission rate of up to 15%! Many of us have dreamed about owning our own business but the costs are just too much. DollarDays has created a distributor program where there is no investment in inventory. It gives you the chance to sell over 225,000 different products by the case at truckload prices to the businesses and organizations in your town or to your neighbors. It is a very simple program.

The setup fee ($99)  is waived for the first year. The annual fee is equal to the price featured at the time of renewal. All DollarDays order policies apply. A monthly recurring fee of  $9.95 (normally $15.95)  will be charged for the following services:

• Full Service Sales Force
• Complete customer service including handling returns
• All customer order tracking and email notification
• Order processing and shipping
• Payment Processing (Mastercard, Visa, American Express, PayPal)
• Responsibility for collections on unpaid or delinquent orders
• Website hosting and daily maintenance of product database
• Manage and warehouse all inventory.

We handle it all, so you can spend your time promoting your website! Go ahead and compare programs. We guarantee you won’t find others that offer so much for so little.

Already have your own storefront (online or brick and mortar)? Use this opportunity to buy merchandise for your store and make commission on it.

In addition to all of the above, we offer significant help to you through our Distributorship Tool Kit, Q&A podcasts and a free downloadable copy of CEO Marc Joseph’s book ($22.95 value),The Secrets of Retailing…or How to Beat Wal Mart.

Take a closer look at our distributorship program. We’d love to have you on board.

Wow.  One thousand blankets. So many people need them to stay warm this winter. We are proud to be a part of helping those in need, and you should be too! We had 3,974 people nominate their favorite non-profits to receive the blankets. Thank you to all who participated.

Here are the winners! Did yours win? If the non-profit you nominated won, please let us know on Facebook!

Thanks again for your participation and making a difference!

This month’s  DollarDays’ Giveaway is $5,000 in merchandise for the home-town small business you nominate! Check out our Small Business Pay It Forward Giveaway here!

Congratulations to our December Sock-It-To-Me Sweepstake Winners!

We had over 1,000 non-profit organizations nominated to receive Free Socks. Our deepest thanks to each of you who took the time to help those in need.

Here  are the winners we’ve been able to contact so far and will continue to update the list as contact is made:

1st place – 300 pairs of socks – Operation Nightwatch, Seattle, WA
2nd place – 180 pairs of socks – The Women’s Center, Waukesha, WI
3rd place – 120 pairs of socks – Soldier’s Angels, Pasedena, CA
4th place – 60 pairs of socks – HERO House, Bellevue, WA
4th place – 60 pairs of socks – Making A Way Housing, Atlanta, GA
4th place – 60 pairs of socks – Mercy House, Santa Ana, CA
4th place – 60 pairs of socks – Beth Dillinger Foundation, St. Petersburg, FL
4th place – 60 pairs of socks – The Providence House, Keithville, LA
4th place – 60 pairs of socks – Community Action Agency of Siouxland, Sioux City, IA
4th place – 60 pairs of socks – Father Joe’s Villages, San Diego, CA

We will update this post with the other winners as we contact them and they accept the prizes.  Congratulations to all the non-profits that won and who will be keeping a lot of feet warm this winter.  We also wish to thank the 1,100 people who nominated a non-profit.  Together we can make a difference!

If you nominated any of the winners, please post it on our Facebook page! You are appreciated!!

We have similar contests every month to help non-profit organizations, schools and small businesses.  Our goal for the monthly contests is to help those in need. It’s our pay it forward effort to help those who have supported us through the years.