The world of wholesale mobile phones: a practical introduction

Don’t rush; choose carefully. The process can take weeks, even months. Searching for a trustworthy business partner requires a lot of thorough research. Be ready to make hundreds of phone calls and write even more e-mails.

When you finally find the proper suppliers, you initially should order smaller bundles out of safety. Smartphones depreciate pretty fast in value so a wholesale mobile phones distributor’s primary goal is to sell his goods as soon as possible.

Time here literally is money.

Tips for searching

1. Google it!

With the help of Google Translate, you can translate keywords like wholesale mobile phones or smartphone wholesale into the target country’s language. There are many possible variations for a Google search, so be thorough.

2. europages.com

This website contains international databases of companies broken down according to their country of origin.

3. Lists and direct contacts

Find the respective country’s Chamber of Commerce or (if present) the local agency of the Enterprise Europe Network. Ask for lists of companies relevant to you.

4. Comparison Shopping Engines

You should look for the respective country’s most popular price comparison websites and see the companies registered as their vendors. For example: idealo.de or guenstiger.de in Germany, arukereso.hu in Hungary, ceneo.pl in Poland.

The more information you can find about a company on the web, the greater the chances of you two becoming serious partners. It doesn’t matter if they are suppliers or buyers, these markers are equally important.

Website

How up to date and functional is their homepage? Is it well designed and neat? Was it easy to find the contact info?

Despite serving a wholesale mobile phones company, a website should be appealing to the eye in a minimalistic way. It is worth drawing the attention of potential partners to whom the brand itself and its presence matter too: some companies are not interested solely in the lowest price.

Reachability

Get in touch with the contacts on the website to check a couple of things out. Do they speak English? Is it possible to arrange a personal meeting with them? What is their general attitude?

Social media and e-mail marketing

How active are your prospective partners on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn? Do they have a frequent newsletter with new offers? Is their e-mail marketing personalized?

Testimonials

What do their previous partners have to say about them? Are there any concrete facts in the testimonials or just praise?

Reputation in search engines

What pops up when you google the company’s name? Do they have a blog to share their insight into their field of expertise? Do their experts have vlogs?

Public data

Is the company registered to any local chambers of commerce or B2B platforms? Are they a member of the Enterprise Europe Network? When was the company founded?

02. Around in the world of wholesale mobile phones

Let’s say you’ve already started your business. There’s a bunch of stuff to look after, but here are a couple of main guidelines. 

Only a phone number and an e-mail address

In B2C (business-to-consumer) trading, having a good-looking and functional webshop is crucial: it’s a long way from the potential buyer putting an item in the basket to actually clicking pay.

In contrast, in the field of wholesale mobile phones, it is enough to have a simple website with contact info. In fact, you only need a smartphone and an e-mail address to start a B2B company and run it.

Effective communication

In most cases, the potential buyer will send you an email in which he expresses his interest. This is followed by a quick chat on Skype or WhatsApp. Generally, this is the point where the potential buyer decides if your terms and prices are OK with him or not.

Be different than the big ones

There are companies in the field of wholesale mobile phones with decades of experience and huge capital at their back. They have priority when buying directly from manufacturers, who give them discounts due to their distribution rights and good reputation. These big companies set the pace on the wholesale mobile phones market, and they are likely not to hurry when it comes to money transactions.

On the other hand, you should try a different approach with your partners: by being agile and striving to create win-win situations for both sides, you can establish long-term business relationships and gain permanent partners.

Payment methods

How transactions are handled depends on many things, both with distributors and buyers.

When paying in advance to distributors you should consider these: the size of the company, their reliability and helpfulness during previous deals (this may be the most important), and whether they are official distributors of the brand.

For the first time, 99% of buyers pay in advance, except maybe if they are a well-known international company on the wholesale mobile phones market. Nonetheless, the terms of payment should be renegotiated to be more favorable for the buyer after good cooperation has developed between the partners.

What can business partners do to make cooperation more effective?

The most important: both parties should have (almost) the same goals and respect for each other.

Distributors and suppliers must provide all the information the buyer might need during the process: terms of payment, terms of delivery, device specifications (EU, USA or Asia), and lead time (how long will it take for the package to arrive).

The buyer must send a Purchase Order Form to the supplier or distributor to confirm their order and to guarantee payment for the items ordered.

Flexibility and open communication are essential: to maintain a good business relationship, both sides should inform each other instantly if something unforeseeable comes up – maybe an order will be late, or there is a liquidity crisis and the partner isn’t able to pay right away.

03. That’s how we do

The 7 sentence practice

You shouldn’t need more than 7-8 sentences to close a deal with a partner, regardless of whether you’re on the buying or selling side. Despite the fact that each wholesale mobile phones deal includes large amounts of money, it should be a straightforward transaction.

Always be available to your partners

Even in the morning or late in the evening. If there’s work to be done, time of day should not be a factor. Always be logged in to Skype and WhatsApp.

Keep your deadlines

If necessary, use your own resources to put together the buyer’s order. If needed, get in your own car to speed up the delivery.

Do everything in your power to prove how reliable you are.

Event meetings

Face-to-face communication is very important. There are several events held each year (including Berlin-IFA a CeBIT-Hannover) where companies get an opportunity to meet potential buyers or suppliers. Or they can simply nurture already existing business relationships with partners whom they haven’t met in person yet.

Be personal in an impersonal world

The B2B practices of the wholesale mobile phones market might seem a little rigid at first. The straight-to-the-point communication, the minimalistic websites, and the whole rush of the process of getting the phones from the supplier to the buying partner make the whole field look very mechanic. That’s why a different attitude towards your (potential) partners can make a difference. Flexibility, reliability and a humanized way of making business are truly profitable in the long run.