From Buyer to Vendor: What Changed—and What Didn’t
- Kaylie
- 11 minutes ago
- 6 min read
Until 2016, I sat on the other side of the wholesale table. I was a buyer and store manager for a leading footwear and accessories boutique in Boston's busy Beacon Hill neighborhood. Alongside selling and customer service, I spent my days discovering new brands, choosing products that would resonate with our customers, and deciding what deserved precious space on our (small) sales floor. Working for a small business means learning fast and doing it all!
When I started Kaylie Dawn, I brought that retail experience with me. I already understood the importance of choosing the right products. Becoming a vendor gave me a new perspective on that pervasive decision, and over the years, an even deeper understanding of the wholesale business. The tools, pace, and expectations of wholesale may have changed dramatically over the last decade, but the fundamentals of good retail haven't.
One of my favorite parts of supplying handmade jewelry to independent shops is connecting with the buyers. Sometimes we reminisce about the “good old days,” and other times we marvel at how much has been simplified. Along the way, a few themes have come up again and again in our conversations.
What Has Changed in Wholesale Over the Last Ten Years
The size of "Yes" has shrunk.
Back when I was buying, a $1,500+ opening order was fairly normal—in fact, it was often the minimum. Today, platforms like Faire have made it much easier for retailers to test a new brand with a much smaller initial commitment, often encouraging vendors to set minimums of $150 or less.
There are obvious benefits: less risk for retailers, easier discovery of emerging brands, and an opportunity for smaller stores to carry a wider variety of vendors. But there’s a tradeoff: a smaller financial commitment doesn’t necessarily create a smaller expectation.
A vendor may provide the same level of service to a $150 account as a $1,500 account, but what happens when 50 retailers order $150 worth of product instead of five ordering $1,500? For small and handmade brands in particular, more accounts can mean significantly more communication, fulfillment, and customer service—without necessarily creating more capacity to handle it.
Wholesale has become more transactional.
When I was buyer, I had a smaller number of vendor relationships that developed over time. We connected at trade shows, via in-store appointments, and we spoke on the phone regularly.
Today, a buyer can scroll through thousands of brands, place an order with a few clicks, reorder online, and move on. That's incredibly convenient—but it can also make wholesale feel more like e-commerce between businesses than a relationship between a buyer and a brand.
Technology has made it easier to place an order, but it has made it more difficult to build a relationship.
The expectation of speed has changed.
Faire and other wholesale platforms have normalized:
easy ordering
quick fulfillment
low minimums
frequent reordering
immediate access to product information
easy returns/credits in some circumstances
The buyer experience has become much more similar to consumer e-commerce, but a handmade or emerging brand isn't Amazon.
That creates an interesting tension for independent brands: buyers have become accustomed to the speed and convenience of online ordering, while many small brands are still designing, making, packing, and shipping products by hand.
Brand discovery has exploded.
As a buyer, I discovered brands through:
sales reps
trade shows
showroom appointments
catalogs
word of mouth
vendors reaching out directly
Today, a buyer can discover a brand while sitting at their desk at 10 p.m. That’s a huge positive change. Platforms like Faire have also lowered the barrier to entering wholesale, making it possible for more emerging brands and small businesses to reach retailers without the traditional investment in trade shows, sales reps, or physical showrooms.
But this digital convenience also means the vendor has to communicate its entire brand through:
photography
product descriptions
merchandising images
reviews
social media
a tiny thumbnail on a marketplace
This is a huge challenge for vendors to keep up with.
The “test” mentality has become more common.
When the barrier to entry is lower, it becomes easier to say, “Let's just try a few.” And in some ways, especially for emerging brands, this is considered a plus.
But there's a difference between testing a product and introducing a brand.
A few pieces can tell you whether you like the products, while a thoughtfully built assortment gives the customer an opportunity to understand the brand. A curated collection also tells shoppers, "We love this brand," "We believe in this brand," "We selected this for our store with confidence."
What Has Remained True in Wholesale
Customers need a reason to buy.
Technology hasn't changed the fundamental retail equation. The product still has to resonate with the person who ultimately walks into the store.
A convenient ordering process can get a product onto the sales floor, but it can't make a customer want to take it home. Just as they always have, brands need to find a differentiator or a niche that makes them unique and lean into it.
A good assortment matters.
A buyer can order 10 pieces with three clicks or 100 pieces with three clicks. The technology has changed the ordering process, but it hasn't changed the importance of what you put on the sales floor and how that collection looks and feels together.
A thoughtful assortment gives customers enough of an introduction to a brand to understand its aesthetic, discover what they love, and see that the retailer has made an intentional decision to bring that brand into the store.
Relationships are paramount.
Faire or any other wholesale platform can make it easier than ever for a buyer and vendor to find each other, but it can't replace the relationship that develops after that first order.
The best wholesale partnerships are built on communication, trust, feedback, responsiveness, and a genuine understanding of each other's businesses.
Ultimately, both sides should want to see the other succeed—so don't be surprised to see Kaylie Dawn cheering you on through social media comments and likes, leaving great Google reviews, and checking in to see how your vacation was (even if you're not due for a reorder)!
The retailer has to sell the product.
This sounds obvious, but it's an important distinction: ordering jewelry is easy; selling jewelry isn't.
No platform can make a product successful once it arrives in a store. It still needs the right placement, merchandising, storytelling, sales associate knowledge, and, most importantly, the right customer.
A vendor has to earn a reorder.
The ultimate goal of a wholesale relationship isn't the size of the first order, it's whether the brand earns another one.
A successful reorder means the product resonated with customers, the assortment worked for the store, and the vendor proved to be a good partner—and I think that's a much more meaningful measure of success than how quickly or easily that first order was placed.
When I look back at my years as a buyer and compare them to my experience as a vendor today, I’m struck by how much the wholesale industry has changed. The way buyers discover brands, place orders, communicate with vendors, and even think about inventory is very different from when I started.
And I think most of those changes have been positive. It’s easier for buyers to discover new brands, easier for small businesses to enter wholesale, and easier for both sides to connect without the time and expense that once came with every new vendor relationship.
But the fundamentals haven't changed. Customers still need a reason to buy. Assortment and merchandising still matter. Relationships still matter. Retailers still have to sell the product, and vendors still have to earn the reorder.
Maybe that's what I appreciate most about having been on both sides of the table.
Technology can change how we do business, but it can't change what makes a good retail partnership work. At the end of the day, we're still just two small businesses trying to create something that customers love—and hoping they'll come back for more.
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