How to Build a Wholesale Ordering Process for a Small Brand

The short answer: A wholesale ordering process is five decisions written down before your first bulk buyer asks: who qualifies as a wholesale customer, the minimum order, a price list that still leaves you a margin after order-level costs, the payment terms, and how much stock you will set aside for wholesale. Once those are on one page, every enquiry becomes a routine reply instead of a negotiation.

Last updated 28 October 2026.

Most small brands get their first wholesale request by accident. A shop owner sees your product, a reseller messages you on Instagram, or a corporate buyer wants forty branded items for an event. The usual response is to improvise a discount, accept a part-payment and promise a date. That works once. By the third order you are short of stock for your retail customers, you cannot remember what you agreed, and your margin on the bulk sale is thinner than you thought.

This guide is tool-neutral. It works with a notebook, a spreadsheet, a chat app or an online store. We are not describing any wholesale-specific feature of Webift here, and you should not assume your software handles wholesale pricing or minimum orders for you. The process below is something you run yourself.

Step 1: Decide what wholesale means for your brand

Wholesale is not just retail with a bigger discount. The buyer is planning to resell, so they expect a lower unit price, and in return you get larger orders, fewer customers to serve per unit sold, and less spent on marketing per unit. The trade-off only holds if the terms are different from retail in ways that protect you.

Write down answers to these questions:

• Who qualifies? A shop, a market trader, a salon, a company buying for an event, a friend who wants "a good price"? Decide the types you will serve. A simple test is whether they can show you where they will sell the goods (a shop address, a social page, a registered business).
• Which products are available wholesale? Not every item makes sense. A fast-moving, easy-to-pack product is a better wholesale line than a made-to-order or fragile one.
• Is the buyer allowed to undercut you online? If a reseller lists your product cheaper than your own store, your retail customers will notice. Many brands set a minimum advertised price in their terms. Even a friendly sentence such as "please do not advertise below our retail price" is better than silence.
• Do you want exclusivity anywhere? If you promise a shop in one area that nobody else will stock you there, write down the area and the period.

Step 2: Set a minimum order that makes the order worth handling

A minimum order quantity (MOQ) exists because every order has a fixed handling cost, whatever its size: your time answering messages, a carton, an invoice, a trip to the dispatch rider. If the order is too small, that fixed cost eats the benefit of selling in bulk.

You can calculate a sensible MOQ instead of guessing. Here is a worked example. All numbers are illustrative.

• Landed cost per unit (what one unit costs you, including inbound transport): ₦3,200
• Retail price: ₦7,500
• Proposed wholesale price: ₦5,000
• Order-level costs, which do not change with order size: ₦800 for a carton and padding plus ₦600 for payment and handling = ₦1,400
• The minimum contribution you want from a wholesale order, to make it worth your time: ₦15,000

Contribution per unit at the wholesale price is ₦5,000 minus ₦3,200 = ₦1,800. The order needs to cover the ₦1,400 of order-level costs and still leave ₦15,000, so it must generate ₦16,400 in unit contribution. Divide: ₦16,400 / ₦1,800 = 9.11 units. Round up to 10 units.

Check it. Ten units: 10 x ₦1,800 = ₦18,000, minus ₦1,400 = ₦16,600, which is above ₦15,000. Nine units: 9 x ₦1,800 = ₦16,200, minus ₦1,400 = ₦14,800, which is below ₦15,000. So the calculated minimum is 10 units.

In practice, round to something that matches how you pack. If your product ships naturally in dozens, set the MOQ at 12 and say so. A 12-unit order in this example gives 12 x ₦5,000 = ₦60,000 in revenue, product cost of 12 x ₦3,200 = ₦38,400, order-level costs of ₦1,400, and a contribution of ₦60,000 - ₦38,400 - ₦1,400 = ₦20,200.

You can also set a minimum order value instead of units if your products vary a lot in price. Use the same calculation with an average unit contribution.

Step 3: Compare wholesale with retail before you commit

A bulk order feels profitable because the naira figure is large. Compare per-order contribution with what you would earn if the same stock sold at retail.

(Illustrative. The retail order-level cost of ₦550 is ₦300 packaging plus ₦250 payment and handling. Retail contribution is ₦7,500 - ₦3,200 - ₦550 = ₦3,750. Delivery is assumed to be paid by the customer in both cases.)

As a share of revenue, retail earns 50% (₦3,750 / ₦7,500) and wholesale earns about 33.7% (₦20,200 / ₦60,000). Per unit, wholesale earns about ₦1,683 against ₦3,750 for retail. Wholesale is the lower-margin sale; what you gain is volume, speed and fewer customers to chase. That is a fair trade only if you can actually produce or restock the stock, and if the wholesale buyer pays reliably. If you want to go deeper on order-level profit, see How to Calculate the Real Profit on Each Online Order. For setting the retail price itself, see How to Price Products in Nigeria.

Step 4: Build a simple price list with tiers

Keep tiers few and clear. Two or three is enough for a small brand. Every tier should pass the contribution check above.

(Illustrative. For 24 units: 24 x ₦4,700 = ₦112,800, minus 24 x ₦3,200 = ₦76,800, minus ₦1,400 = ₦34,600. For 36 units: 36 x ₦4,700 = ₦169,200, minus 36 x ₦3,200 = ₦115,200, minus ₦1,400 = ₦52,600.)

In this example the third tier has the same unit price as the second. That is a choice: a bigger order earns the buyer free dispatch preparation or priority packing, not a deeper discount. Do not drop the price again unless the unit contribution still pays you.

Put the following on the same page as the price list:

1. Your minimum order and the pack size (cartons of 12, sets of 6).
2. How long the price is valid (for example 30 days), so old quotes do not follow you around.
3. Lead time: "ready for collection three working days after payment" or "fourteen days for orders above 48 units".
4. Whether delivery is included. Most small brands quote wholesale ex-works, meaning the buyer pays for transport.

Step 5: Set payment terms you can survive

Payment terms are where small brands get hurt, because a late payer on a large order can freeze your next production run.

• New buyers pay in full before dispatch. This is the safest default, and it is normal for a first order.
• Large or custom orders: a deposit, then the balance before collection. A common arrangement is 50% to confirm and 50% before dispatch. On a 36-unit order at ₦4,700 (₦169,200), that is ₦84,600 now and ₦84,600 before the goods leave.
• Credit only after a track record. If you ever give terms such as payment within 14 days, limit it to repeat buyers, cap the amount, and write it down. Do not extend new credit while an invoice is overdue.
• Be exact about what counts as paid. If you accept bank transfer, confirm the money has arrived in your account before releasing goods. A screenshot of a transfer is not proof; look at your own account balance.

Issue an invoice for every wholesale order. A numbered invoice with the buyer's name, the quantities, the unit price and the payment status avoids most later arguments. On Webift, invoices and receipts are a Standard-plan item; if you are on the Pay per order plan, a spreadsheet or a simple template works just as well.

Step 6: Protect retail stock with an allocation rule

The commonest wholesale failure is selling the same unit twice: once to a bulk buyer and once to a retail customer. Decide a rule before you quote.

Illustrative example: you have 120 units of a bestseller. You decide to keep 60% for retail and make 40% available for wholesale.

• Retail reserve: 120 x 0.60 = 72 units
• Wholesale pool: 120 x 0.40 = 48 units, which is four orders of 12

When the wholesale pool is used up, you tell the next buyer the next available date instead of dipping into retail stock. You can review the percentage monthly based on what actually sells. Use your reorder point to decide when to restock; the method is explained in How to Plan Reorders Before Your Bestselling Product Runs Out. If the same stock sits in a shop, on social media and online, How to Prevent Overselling When You Sell in More Than One Place covers the stock-count routine.

Step 7: Run each order through the same fulfilment checklist

A wholesale order is bigger and heavier, so mistakes cost more. Use a short checklist for every one:

1. Quote. Send the price list, MOQ, lead time and payment terms in one message.
2. Confirm in writing. Quantities, variants (sizes, colours), unit price, total, delivery or collection, and the payment deadline.
3. Receive payment. Mark the order paid only when the money is in your account.
4. Reserve stock. Move the units out of the retail count immediately.
5. Pick and count. Count twice, ideally by someone who did not pack.
6. Pack. Cartons labelled with buyer name, order number and contents. Photograph the packed order.
7. Hand off. Get a signature or a clear message from the buyer or rider when collected.
8. Follow up. Ask after a week whether the goods sold, what moved fast, and whether they want a reorder.

The general order of work is the same as in A Simple Order-Fulfilment SOP for a Small Ecommerce Team; wholesale simply adds the quote, the deposit and the stock reservation.

A one-page wholesale terms template

Copy this into a document and fill in your own numbers.

• Who we sell to: ______
• Minimum order: ______ units (pack size ______)
• Price list valid until: ______
• Payment: ______% to confirm, balance before dispatch; no credit for first orders
• Lead time: ______ working days after payment
• Delivery: buyer arranges transport / we arrange at buyer's cost
• Damaged or wrong items: report within ______ days with photos; we replace or refund as agreed
• Advertising: please do not advertise below our retail price of ______
• Reorders: same terms apply for 30 days unless we notify you

FAQs

What is a reasonable minimum order for a small brand?

There is no universal number. Work it out from your own costs, as in step 2: find the order size at which your unit contribution covers your order-level costs and leaves the minimum amount you want. Then round it to a natural pack size.

Should I give wholesale buyers credit?

Not for a first order. Ask for full payment before dispatch, or a deposit and the balance before collection. Consider credit only for repeat buyers who have paid on time, with a cap and a written date.

How much discount should I give for wholesale?

Let the margin decide, not the buyer's request. Calculate contribution at the proposed wholesale price, including the order-level costs, and check it against what the same units would earn at retail. If it does not leave you a margin you can live with, do not discount further.

Can I sell wholesale from my online store?

You can run wholesale beside your store. This guide does not rely on any wholesale-specific store feature, so treat the quote, deposit and invoice steps as manual unless you confirm otherwise in your own tools.

If you want a retail storefront to sit beside your wholesale process, you can create a free Webift store and keep wholesale on its own simple order form until the volume justifies more.