Wholesale puts your product on someone else's shelf. It's slower to start than online sales, but one good store reorders every month without ads.
What happened at Lezzet
The first email only had one job: get a reply. In October 2026 we emailed 15 local specialty and international grocery stores. The subject line: "LEZZET PREMIUM COFFEE: 30 BAGS FREE." The offer: 30 free bags to try, credit on the second order, a swap of any slow sellers within 90 days, a display stand once it sells, and one question: "What's the best address to send your cases to?"
There was no price sheet, no minimum order, and no sizes in that first email. All of that comes after they say yes.
Pricing came later, built from the store's side. The price sheet shows the wholesale price, the suggested retail price, and the store's margin for every size. Minimums are one case per size.
Reordering is a portal, not an email chain. Stores reorder through a password-protected wholesale page with fixed prices, shipping per bag, and tax exemption, separate from the retail store.
Marketplaces exist for this too. Wholesale marketplaces like Airgoods list your products for independent stores. Ours doesn't sync photos from Shopify, so we update images there by hand.
How to start
- List 30–50 stores that already sell products like yours to your customer.
- Send a short first email that offers a free trial and asks one question.
- Follow up twice, a few days apart. Walk in if they're local.
- Send the price sheet only when they're interested.
- Track every lead: contacted, replied, samples sent, first order, reorders.
What to watch out for
- Leading with price. A price sheet in the first email gets compared and filed, not answered.
- Different terms for different stores. Keep one set of terms and stick to it.
- Instagram DMs from a computer. Sending several in a row can trip Instagram's bot checks. Send them from your phone.
What bites you later
- Slow sellers on the shelf. A swap program costs a few bags. A dusty shelf costs the account.
- Retail and wholesale prices drifting apart. If your website discounts below the store's shelf price, the store stops reordering.