Wholesale Catalog – All You Need to Know

B2B sector is great for taking your business to the next level.

But, selling wholesale is a completely different ball game from selling to a single customer. Prices are lower and the volume is higher. Most of all – instead of having to convince many similar people to buy your product you only have to convince one person. A manager, or maybe some sort of specialist.

How do you do that? With sales catalogs, but made for wholesale.

How to make wholesale catalogue online, and what pitfalls to avoid? Read further and you’ll find out!

What is a wholesale catalog?

What is a wholesale catalog? It’s best to explain it with an example.

Imagine you have a home appliances shop. Your shop has all kinds of products: shovels, hammers, nails, etc. You want to show them to your customer. You can invite them to come in and have a look around. Or, you can send them a nice, sleek visual presentation with all your products, with prices and special offers. This is what the catalog can do for you.

What about the wholesale catalog?

Now, in our scenario, you found a home makeover company that needs 10 000 nails, 20 hammers, and 100 gallons of white paint. Plus a bunch of tools. With that volume, you are probably happy to give him a discount. So you are preparing a wholesale catalog – with discounted prices for large orders.

In the next part of this article, we will show you what’s the best way to do it.

PRO TIP: Don’t just prepare a catalog for a paper version. Make one for the digital version too. And then use Publuu to post it online. Your catalog will look, move and even sound like a paper version. And it will be easier to distribute too – more on that later.

How to create a wholesale catalog?

To create a wholesale catalog, you will need few things: pictures of your products, web design software, and access to a high-quality printer. Also, some design skills – or willingness to make multiple wholesales catalogs until you get it right.

If you are planning on making your catalog digital, simply choose software that can save it as PDF. This way, you’ll be one step closer to getting it done with Publuu!

Publuu’s wholesale catalog example

View more Flipbook examples

MAKE YOUR OWN

Publuu let’s you share your catalog with a single link. Which is a pretty neat feature, if you want to share it on Facebook or via email. You wouldn’t be able to do the same if you stuck to sharing your catalog as file. Facebook algorithm wouldn’t let you post it and most of the email filters in the world would mark you as a spam.

Wholesale catalog – where to start?

Now, before you do anything – think about what kind of business is going to buy from you wholesale? Construction companies? Retailers? Maybe even your competition?

Pick items that are most likely to be interesting for those businesses and put them on the front page.

Now, the technical stuff might take a while. But remember – there’s no shame in hiring someone to do it for you. Really. Someone with design skills and professional tools can make your catalog look great. Which, in turn, can turn into better profit on your wholesale business.

How to make your wholesale catalog look GOOD?

PRO TIP: If f you do decide to hire someone to help you with your wholesale catalog, don’t hire big firms right away. Consider hiring a freelancer – they are usually more than qualified and will cost you only a fraction of what an agency would charge. You can look for candidates on dedicated Facebook groups for freelance designers. And always ask for a portfolio first, to see if that person has any experience with wholesale catalogs.

You can decide to make your catalog alone. Whether is it because you are confident that you can do it or you just don’t have a budget to hire someone -it’s up to you.

Digital or print?

If you don’t have previous experience with design, you should pick one of the tools that are dedicated to beginners. Canva or even Microsoft Word would do the trick.

WARNING! If you are planning to print your catalog, always check with the printing company first! They don’t always use popular file formats like .png or .jpg. They use their own – sophisticated formats like TIFF or EPS. The reason is simple – they hold more information on your catalog. And look better after you print them.

Getting your wholesale catalog DONE

Do you have the first page of the catalog done? Great. What’s next?

Follow the pattern of the first page while making the next ones. You don’t want to make your catalog look messy and disorganized, right?

Now there’s something that catalogs don’t pay enough attention to – product descriptions.

Good graphics attract attention. A good price can help close the deal. How you write about your products is what’s in-between.

Since you are going to show your catalog to business professionals, there’s no point in using flowery over the top language. It won’t work on them. Instead, write about the features and benefits of your products. Cold facts. Real value.

PRO TIP Consider hiring a copywriter. They live off writing convincing advertisements. Also, if you do hire one: do it before you decide on the graphical design of your catalog. Copywriting dictates design. Not another way around.

Last, but not least – make sure to add a piece of visible contact information. On the back, on the front – it’s up to you.

Selling wholesale – can digital catalogs help?

The paper catalog will only get you so far.

Any business worth its salt is getting at least some of its marketing online.

You can run Facebook ads (expensive), make your website rank high in the search console (time consuming) or…you can use the catalog that you just made.

How? It’s pretty easy. Since your catalog was made on a computer, you just need to save it as a PDF.

Then, upload that PDF to Publuu.

This way, your wholesale catalag will be optimized for digital marketing.

Are you planning on making any digital catalogs in the future? Let us know in the comments below.

You may be also interested in:

5 Tips to Make Your Catalogs Stand Out
Top 10 Catalog Maker Software For Your Business
How to Make a Catalog ?

Ola Swiderska Author View profile

Aesthetics and minimalism enthusiast. Loves to explore the world, and travel is the meaning of her life. Amateur photographer and passionate about dogs. At work, she points her energy into crafting content that reflects her interest in literature and design.