Global Wholesale Market Trends and Strategies for 2022 and Beyond

Times are changing, and the global wholesale market is becoming more complex. Some changes wholesale traders have had to deal with include constant advancements in the B2B technologies, disruption in the supply chain, and a change in the market's purchasing and selling habits.

The COVID-19 disrupted entire supply chains and made it difficult to get products from manufacturers to wholesalers’ warehouses. What most wholesalers can't help but wonder is, what's next? What can you expect from the industry? What trends and strategies will you see this year?


Growth in Direct-to-Consumer Channels

The COVID-19 pandemic created a crisis in the supply chain, leading to different responses from various companies. Some companies responded by assessing safer distributors. Others used the digital platforms to sell their products and avoid pandemic restrictions.

A new trend emerged, with companies preferring to manufacture, market, sell and ship their product without intermediaries. Manufacturers built the Direct To Consumer (D2C)
channels, eliminating the wholesalers.

This new trend has led to the rise in technologies like drop shipping, social e-commerce, and e-commerce websites. Most small companies prefer to use these technologies to sell their goods as it relieves them of having to set up the retail logistics. 

These D2C channels threaten wholesalers as they face stiff competition from their retailers, with manufacturers preferring D2C.


Things are becoming thick for wholesalers. Statistics
show that in 2020, the D2C sales in the US alone reached 111.5 billion US dollars. We expect these figures to grow to 174.98 billion US dollars by 2023. That's a growth increase of about 45.5%. So how can a wholesaler respond to this new trend? 

The only way to respond to this trend as a wholesaler is to show why you are better. That means your services must be cost-effective, fast, and what B2B customers need.


Omnichannel E-commerce - the new B2B Standard

The omnichannel trend has always been popular among B2C transactions. Omnichannel is also finding its way into B2B sales. The new direction allows buyers to access a wholesaler's products and services regardless of the platform. Wholesalers using omnichannel
understand that it's no longer enough to use sales representatives. They combine them with technologies that customers interact with.

The channels give consumers a similar experience, whether using mobile phones or interacting with your website or sales representatives. So, even though their sales representatives are doing a good job, it's time for wholesalers to equip their staff with technological skills. These skills supplement the salesperson's role when interacting with consumers on digital platforms.

McKinsey's report also shows that most consumers prefer the hybrid approach when interacting with products. Hence, wholesalers who want to increase their sales in 2022 should start incorporating the new standard.


Importance of Value-Added Services

Because of adoption of D2C channels, manufacturers now prefer to sell directly to small retailers, thereby putting the wholesalers in competition with their customers. Wholesalers can only win by showing their customers that they are still valuable. One way to win back your customers is by upgrading the quality of your services. Other strategies include:

The direct-to-customer selling and logistics can be sloppy ground, especially for starting manufacturers. Hence wholesalers can use this opportunity to show their customers they can still deliver more efficiently.


Automation in Organizations

D2C manufacturers are raising the bar for efficiency, speed, and accuracy far too high for their competitors like wholesalers. Manufacturers are automating their operations from creation to delivery of goods. Therefore, any wholesaler that wants to survive must embrace a total digital transformation.

Automation enables your organization's IT and physical systems to perform tasks efficiently and by themselves. The robots perform tasks that humans would have performed. Humans now focus on the organization's value-adding activities, like customer service and decision-making.

Some of the things that you need include:


Labor Shortages

The wholesale labor market was most affected by the uncertainty of COVID -19. The market continues to suffer in 2022. Issues such as digital skills, flexible work arrangements, and low pay continue to dominate the market in countries like the US and UK.

Factors leading to labor shortages include:

Some of the solutions wholesalers can consider exploring to solve this shortage include:


Inventory Tracking with Warehouse Management Software

Wholesalers deal with bulk supplies, which may necessitate having multiple warehouses. When this happens, managing these inventories becomes even more challenging. You'll need an inventory management system to help you track and optimize the inventory.

An inventory management system like the Erply POS system
helps you monitor the goods, predict demand, and know what's selling from what's not. The software is the new transformation for the wholesaler's stock handling in 2022.

Erply generates stock replenishment reports that can help you move goods from warehouses with more stock to those with less inventory. You can also set it to notify the manufacturer once you reach the reorder level.

Sign up for a free trial
today.


Search Visibility

There's a big difference between being online and being visible to your target market. Wholesalers moving to digital selling know how important it is to be visible to their buyers. Those that want to succeed in 2022 must increase their site's and e-commerce store’s visibility by investing in search engine marketing.

Digital marketing strategies like SEO are a must-have for any wholesaler who wants their buyers to find them in 2022. SEO tactics
like link-building and blogging increase your search visibility and create brand awareness and authority
.


Data Analysis

Wholesalers collect large amounts of data daily. These traders use this data to analyze consumer preferences, orders, and changes. Good data analysis can help a trader anticipate demand and predict sales.

The data also helps wholesalers evaluate their mistakes and know where to amend them. So, a wholesaler wishing to exploit their business goals in 2022 knows the importance of data analysis.


Sustainability

Sustainability in wholesaling
is gaining momentum now more than before. The call for 'going green' has prompted companies to focus on reducing harmful waste emissions to the environment. Others have also resorted to lowering their carbon footprint by adopting green transportation.

With the rise in environmental-conscious consumers, we expect more companies to be serious about sustainability. 2022 will see wholesalers work for profits but with sustainability in mind.


Conclusion

Examine the global wholesale market trends and strategies for 2022, and you'll notice they all aim at cost-effectiveness, innovation, flexibility, sustainability, efficiency, and convenience.

There is also no denying that some ideas have been around for some time. However, there's a clear indication that 2022 comes with many opportunities. Businesses that are prepared to adapt will enjoy the benefits of these changes.