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Wholesale Housewares

Choices, choices, choices…whether you walk the streets of a major city or shop online from the comfort of any size community around the world, buying wholesale housewares is as easy as setting up an account with your favorite supplier. Of course, the opportunities exist to buy practically anything wholesale. But for those dozens of resellers in the housewares business or the individual seeking low prices, wholesale housewares are a particularly attractive area.

For example, those with an eye on buying "things" for the kitchen can find pots, pans and other cooking items from one of the many purveyors of wholesale housewares who have print catalogs or online product lists. Many of these suppliers have huge warehouses of housewares purchased from manufacturers around the world. Others act as brokers, ordering your chosen item when you complete the sale. But in just about every case, the representative can offer you standard cooking vessels and utensils or, if you wish, more exotic pot/pan combinations designed to handle breakfast, lunch, dinner and the occasional snack dish.

Do you need to stock your store with items that help customers save food for future consumption or keep spices fresh and clearly marked for those special dishes? Suppliers of wholesale housewares can send you sandwich and food storage bags in volume, as well as spice racks. Do you need to stock the cabinet shelves with drinking glasses? These too are available in larger amounts from wholesale housewares merchants.

But don't be fooled by the low, low wholesale prices. Many products sold in the wholesale housewares field are cheap in price, but certainly not in construction. Whether it's kitchen items, small electronic appliances or salt/pepper shakers, in most cases the items are brand new, still in the original packaging, and perfectly suitable for the job. It's often the case that these are closeout items, being sold at reduced prices to make room for new designs and new styles that may be attractive to the retail buyer. Others are liquidation inventory – items sold in bulk as stores close or completely change their focus.

For those just beginning in the wholesale housewares business, it would be best to ask a couple specific questions when making first contact with a supplier. Find out which merchants work only with resellers and retail stores who have a state sales tax number, which merchants sell at wholesale prices to distributors, brokers and export/import houses. Ask if the wholesale housewares supplier will sell at discount prices to the individual, with a reasonable minimum-size order. Tip: Consider as well that brokers are often at the mercy of large companies that have their warehouse companies that already own all of the items on their product list. Ask if it is "in stock."

Because this is a high-volume, fast-moving business, it may be difficult to find a price quote on every wholesale housewares item you are interested in. There are auction products and fixed price products. But prices on fruit slicers, muffin tins, bud vases or small mirrors are just a fraction of the ultimate retail cost. Tip: It may be a good idea to look into the International Housewares Association directories.

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