Advice on UK E-commerce Business looking to start B2B in UK

[willkeelham]

Hi Guys,

I spent a lot of time on this forum when I first started my business online 18 months ago after I finished uni. Since then my online business has grown massively. I sell via ebay/amazon/website and i am now looking to sell my product B2B. It is in the outdoor activities category and I know of many shops/hire companies who would be very interested in our product.

My branding is very strong and I offer things other companies do not.

I currently sell my product between £200-400 with a 25-35% margin.

I am unsure as to how to best approach UK businesses with my product. What sort of terms and basis do you look to sell on.

Should I approach businesses in person and book meetings?

What sort of margins should I be looking at?

What sort of terms do businesses generally tend to buy on - 30 days credit?

My product can be sold in shops at easily £350-500 as i can see many shops are already doing online.

I would also like to start franchising this brand and product throughout Europe. But I am also unsure where to go to do so?

Any advise whatsoever would be very much appreciated.

Kind Regards

Will

 

[Jason L]

Hi Will

I ran my own e-commerce business some years back and mostly did B2C. However, I also did some B2B wholesale on certain product lines and also sold items in bulk as corporate gifts.

Here are some thoughts (others may have more insights):

- I sold small value items around £10 RRP. In this case, retailers want at least 100% markup. I think I used to sell to them at around £3.50 + VAT. As your items are higher value though, maybe resellers would be happy to work on less margin?

- You should try and set the payment terms - if you leave it to the retailer they will want 90 days, I'm sure! Suggest 30 days and then maybe negotiate if you have to. The bigger the retailer, the more rigid their terms will be. If you were selling to Amazon they would have a whole list of terms that you have to adhere to. Unless you had an exclusive, massively in demand product, there would be no negotiation!

- If you are used to selling B2C, you will have to get your head around the cashflow issues associated with B2B. A strong piece of advice - make sure you invoice bang on time and have a set procedure that you follow to chase unpaid invoices (e.g. if it comes to it, add late payment charges, stop supplying etc). It might sound harsh, but you can end up in real trouble if you don't keep on top of this.