Relation between Wholesalers, Retailers & Consumers in Apparel Industry

Introduction:
Apparel industry has a close relationship with the wholesalers and retailers, where textile companies supply textiles to these sub-industries. This is an industry that can help them to get a steady income every month with a wide range of profits. Wholesalers and retailers supply clothing as per the demand of the consumers.

In the primitive apparel industry, producers sold garments directly to the consumer. With the increase in the number of consumers and the increase in the geographical size of the market, the introduction of wholesale business gradually began. Wholesalers buy large quantities of products from the apparel industry and sell small quantities of garments to retailers. As a result the buyer or consumer gets his required products from wholesalers or retailers. A good relationship is maintained between them.

What Is Wholesaler?
Wholesale business is the act of buying goods for resale or use in business, selling goods to them or performing other sales-related functions. In the case of the apparel industry, they buy garments and sell them to retailers.

Functions of Wholesaler in the Apparel Industry:

The wholesaler buys the product directly from the apparel industry.
Selling large quantities of garments products to retailers.
Wholesalers are seen in the marketing of almost all types of apparel products.
Usually they do not sell garments directly to the buyer or seller. A wholesaler usually sells a limited number of products.
The wholesaler is an intermediary trader.
They divide the various products stored in the warehouse into different grades as per the requirement and keep the products in a beautiful order.

What Is Retailer?
A retailer is a merchant or agent whose main business is to sell goods directly to the final seller. That is, any business can be called a retail business if its sales are mainly related to retail business. Clothing shopkeepers display attractive clothing in front of the store for sale. This is because they sell products to consumers for personal and final use.

Functions of Retailer in the Apparel Industry:

Consumers can easily purchase the required quantity of apparel products from the retailer.
Apparel products have to be procured from various sources or retailers have to procure products in any other way for the purpose of supplying apparel products as per the demand of the buyers.
Retailers have to buy more at once and sell less. To facilitate retail sales, apparel products are divided into parts / lots according to their specifications and sold in small batches as per the demand of the buyers.
All collected garments are not sold at one time. So unsold garments may need to be stored safely or the product may not be delivered on demand.
Retailers have to stockpile different types of garments, which can lead to the loss of stored goods, change in demand and depreciation. Moreover, he has to bear the risk of selling the rest of the clothes.

Connection among Wholesalers, Retailers and Consumers:

The wholesaler buys a large quantity of different types of apparel from the manufacturer. And sells small quantities of those products to retailers. Retailers deliver it to the buyer or consumer. As a result, a good relationship developed between them.
Retailers bring a variety of garments products from wholesale sources and arrange them in stores. Due to the availability of the product at hand, the proponent of the consumer’s share increases. Consumer tastes change. This improves the quality of life in the long run. As a result, good relations are maintained between them.
Buying clothes from wholesalers reduces the transportation cost of retailers. Purchasing garments from far-flung manufacturers in different places will naturally increase the cost of transportation.
By buying apparel from wholesalers and applying modern sales techniques, retailers play their role in the consumer society by giving prior advice in product selection, product use and product distribution.
Wholesalers draw the attention of retailers to new apparel products. As a result, retailers buy those products and attract the attention of buyers or consumers.
With the advertisement of wholesale products, there is a demand for garments in the market. As a result, there is no difficulty for retailers to sell products. It also saves on advertising costs. In addition, by looking at the advertisement, the buyer or consumer can get an idea about the product.
Wholesalers inform retailers about market changes and the quality of garments from different companies. As a result, they can easily reach the consumer.

Conclusion:
The buyer or the consumer gets the idea of an apparel product from the retailers of the store. And retailers know that from wholesalers. The whole acts as a chain. Everyone complements each other. Wholesalers or retailers promote the product by presenting the idea about garment products to the consumer or buyer. In this case they also play an important role in the apparel industry.

References:

Fashion Marketing Management by Dr. V. Ramesh Babu, A. Arunraj
Biponon Juge Juge by Dr. M. A. Mannan
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/relationship-between-manufacturer-and-wholesaler-marketing-essay.php
https://hbr.org/1996/11/the-power-of-trust-in-manufacturer-retailer-relationship
http://connorgillivan.com/supplier-relationships-affect-retail/

Author of this Article:
Nazifa Tabassum
B.Sc. in Clothing and Textile
College of Home Economics, Dhaka
Email: nazifa.099@gmail.com

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Mazharul Islam Kiron

Founder & Editor of Textile Learner. He is a Textile Consultant, Blogger & Entrepreneur. He is working as a textile consultant in several local and international companies. He is also a contributor of Wikipedia.