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Wholesale suppliers are your business partners. A great one will propel you to success and a bad one can shut you down.

Few manufacturers will sell direct so to find wholesalers contact a few of the leading manufacturers in your industry to learn the leading wholesale dealers. Ask them for a recommendation and then follow-up with your own research. Merchandise cost and shipping speed are essential things to look for.

In order to buy items wholesale, a wholesale license is required. Depending on the state where the business is located, the license can be called a seller’s permit, a resale ID, wholesale ID, retail ID or a resellers license.

The wholesale industry is large and about 50 of the largest wholesale distribution facilities generate 25% of industry revenue. Wholesalers serve retailers and other service businesses through a variety of distribution channels and supply chains. At the top of the chain are manufacturers which include importers or exclusive distributors who also sell to wholesalers. Next are wholesalers or regional distributors who distribute the goods locally and brokers or jobbers who deliver goods to local small businesses.

A wholesale purchase is almost always done in bulk. Because of that the wholesaler pays …

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RangeMe Pro Subscriber Big Guns Coffee and Farm landed Walmart right out of the gate from it’s very first in-person buyer meeting. Even more impressive: it was the brand’s 10-year-old CEO did the pitch! The meeting, which came from an Immediate Opportunity submission, was held at ECRM’s Coffee Tea and Cocoa Session in Vegas last year.

That was followed by more wins from the RangeMe Live meetings it had at that Session (three in-person meetings are part of the RangeMe Pro subscription). And still more from ECRM’s Diversity & Minority Owned Food & Beverage Session.

In addition to Walmart, they have landed deals with Sprouts Farmers Market, The Exchange, and several other retailers and distributors.

This past February Charli and her dad, T.Shane Johnson (who refers to himself as “Charli’s assistant” on his business card) participated in a full schedule of meetings at ECRM’s Winter Coffee, Tea & Cocoa Session, and were a big hit with buyers. More deals are sure to come.

T.Shane: Motivational speaker & ‘madman’

The company has a unique origin story: T.Shane is a Marine Corps Veteran, serial entrepreneur, motivational speaker, madman (according to his bio), author, philanthropist, and world record athlete (he held the record …

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What’s in a name? A Lot, if You Ask RangeMe Top Brand Yes Honey

Nobody wants to enter “naked chicks” into their browser search while they are on their work computer. But that’s what people had to do to find the honey-sweetened sodas and drizzlers created by Yes Honey Founder Heather Mincer, when her company was originally called Naked Chicks Pasture. 

When you know the brand’s origin, the name makes sense. It sold pasture-raised chickens with no chemicals or antibiotics on a small farm in Norwood, Mo. It had no online presence, and most of its sales came from word-of-mouth. Even when it started making honey-sweetened soda and drizzlers, the products were initially sold only at local farmers’ markets, so the brand name worked. It was catchy. (In fact, Heather still retains the title of “Head Chick” in her LinkedIn profile!)

Mincer

But as Mincer’s sales grew and she looked to reach a broader audience of consumers and even retail buyers, it launched a website and became a RangeMe Pro subscriber. 

That’s when things got a little … weird. 

Let’s just say website searches for Naked Chicks Pastures pulled up A LOT of unwanted results. And on RangeMe, buyers searching for honey-based food and beverage products may have been a tad bit confused when …

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RangeMe’s ‘Warm Handoff’ Helps i-XTECH Enter New Retail Channels

For many brands trying to expand distribution into new retail channels, traditional methods of prospecting and outreach can be ineffective, if not outright frustrating. Trying to locate buyers via online searches, then making endless calls and sending cold emails results in a lot of time wasted and no solid leads. 

This was certainly the case for John Adiguzel, Sales Executive at i-XTECH, a brand which markets audio equipment and solutions for creators, gamers and podcasters. “I would go on the retailer’s website and find a few people to email,” he says. “I had a CRM system to keep track of who I reached out to, and would often reach out to 10 people at that retailer. Nobody would respond.”

That all changed once Adiguzel signed up for a free RangeMe account last August and uploaded three products to his newly-created i-XTECH brand profile page. He landed a retail deal shortly after, then immediately upgraded to RangeMe Premium, after which he quickly landed one more. And as of the time of this writing, a third is in the works.

“When you are running a business, there are two types of sales outreach you can do,” says Adiguzel. “One is cold outreach, …

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For CPG brands scaling through RangeMe, reliable supply chains are critical. But with today’s landscape filled with delays, logistical challenges, and unforeseen events, supply chain disruptions can hit brands hard, causing costly setbacks, strained retailer relationships, and lost revenue. 

With the right protection, however, you build resilience, manage risks, and maintain momentum even when disruptions arise. Following are several key types of insurance essential for emerging brands.

Business Interruption Insurance: Protection for Your Bottom Line

How Business Interruption Insurance Protects Your Business: 

A disruption in your supply chain can bring production to a standstill, cutting off revenue and threatening your cash flow. It covers lost income and essential expenses when a covered event—such as a fire or natural disaster—halts your operations. With this support, your brand can stay afloat during downtime, ensuring your business continues even when production pauses.

Why CPG Brands on RangeMe Need This Coverage: 

As you expand through RangeMe, maintaining consistent inventory is crucial to meet retail demand. Business Interruption insurance provides the financial stability needed to recover quickly, so you can continue building strong relationships with retailers, even if you encounter an operational setback.

Contingent Business Interruption (CBI) Insurance: Extending Coverage to Your Supply Chain

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For a brand like Death Wish Coffee, known for its bold, high-caffeine brews, breaking into retail shelves is crucial for growth. However, standing out in the competitive coffee market requires more than just a strong product—it takes strategic tools and certifications to win the trust of retailers. 

To gain exposure to buyers, the brand leveraged product discovery platform RangeMe, and to help win the trust of retailers, it secured SQF certification, a food safety management program.

Using RangeMe for retail discovery

By listing its products on RangeMe, Death Wish was able to showcase its coffee to decision-makers at major retailers like Walmart, Target, and Whole Foods. RangeMe streamlines the process for buyers to discover new products, making it easier for brands to get noticed. 

For Death Wish, this was a game-changer. It enabled the brand to not only introduce its bold coffee but also provide detailed product information, including packaging, certifications, and pricing, all in one place. The platform’s ability to bridge the gap between suppliers and retail buyers helped Death Wish gain visibility and expand its retail footprint.

Building retailer confidence with SQF Certification

While RangeMe helped get Death Wish Coffee in front of the right buyers, SQF certification …

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PartnerSlate to Streamline Co-Man Searches for RangeMe’s 200K Subscribers

You’ve just landed that huge purchase order and now it’s time to scale up. This means you have to find a solid contract manufacturer. For many brands, this is an arduous, time-consuming task that can involve weeks or even months of phone calls and meetings as you vet dozens of companies to find just the right one for your business.

Until now. 

PartnerSlate, a leading tech platform connecting brands with manufacturers in the food and beverage industry, has teamed up with RangeMe to streamline the process of finding contract manufacturers (CMs) for all RangeMe subscribers.

Through the partnership, PartnerSlate will provide RangeMe subscribers with free or discounted access to its AI-powered Co-Manufacturer Marketplace, which connects CPG brands with CMs that have the capabilities, capacity and are actively interested in their projects. 

“RangeMe is the ultimate tool to help Brands unlock new distribution channels,” said Vince Tseng, CEO of PartnerSlate. “For many of those brands, scaling production quickly is a stressful hurdle to meeting those new POs. We’re thrilled to help brands find their next production partner quickly and with far less stress.” 

Access to 7K contract manufacturers

RangeMe subscribers now have access to PartnerSlate’s 7,000+ CMs directly from their RangeMe …

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