The vapor game has changed since its initial boom. While there was once a niche for smaller businesses, success now depends on going big. Going big means scaling up, and scaling up means scaling costs back down. There’s no escape from the need to deal with vape wholesale distributors. Thankfully, there are quite a few to choose from now that the industry is in full swing. The following are four tips to pick the one that’s right for you.
The first trait to look for in a vape wholesale distributor is always specialization. When you’re working at scale, the details begin to matter more as they’re multiplied across every product and every transaction. Having multiple distributors on hand for multiple kinds of products can be a safe option, but there is not a huge difference in the infrastructure necessary to safely transport tanks and coils as compared to providing quality vape juices.
One of the easily-overlooked details requires a bit of research to uncover, but has to do with the number of facilities a given vape wholesale distributor maintains. If they have a great number of facilities over a relatively small area, that’s a warning sign that they are deliberately keeping their operation splintered as opposed to consolidating for greater efficiency. Running operations out of one facility to serve a large area or even the entire country is much more valuable.
The location of a vape wholesale distributor doesn’t actually speak to their quality, but it may be relevant to their suitability for your storefront. As a general rule, closer is better. However, depending on your needs, you may need to venture further afield. It’s best to balance distance and services provided. You need to account for problems with shipping to you, as well as problems shipping to them. Learning what manufacturers they work with and the details of their business is a necessary component of this. No detail can be ignored, but this is the one many forget to account for, opting for the lowest costs without regard for proximity--and regretting it when the money saved doesn’t exceed the money lost.
Reputation is everything. If you have any contacts in the vape industry, get a feel for what actual merchants are saying about the service they’ve received from their distributors. Nothing beats word-of-mouth in determining the reliability of a distributor, assuming the opinions provided are themselves trustworthy. However, don’t overlook a distributor simply because you’ve heard some negative spin; the vape industry is growing, but is still young enough that social sabotage is a functional marketing tactic which some are, sadly, not above using.
Choosing the right vape wholesale distributors is a necessary foundational step to taking your vape storefront to the next level. If any choice demands your due diligence, it will be your suppliers. Always look for the easy-to-overlook angles first, as the rest will be obvious in common-sense terms.
