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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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DEFI-ing the Odds: This Former CPG Exec Scores Quick Retail Wins With Her Healthy & Indulgent Snacks

Defi Snacks has certainly hit the ground running. Just launched last year, the healthy snack brand has already landed on the RangeMe Top Brands in Food & Beverage charts three times (October 2025, January 2026 and April 2026), and was recently named one of six winners of the Nourishing Change Conference Emerging Brands Competition, which will see its products on the shelves of 500 Kroger stores. The brand inked a deal with Hy-Vee, as well. 

Leading the charge for DEFI (which stands for Delicious Energizing Fitness Indulgence) is Founder and CEO Tatyana Jones, who previously spent years climbing the corporate ladder at global Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) giants like Mars, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), and Bausch & Lomb. 

Looking at Jones’ background, it becomes clear why her brand has seen so much success so fast. While DEFI is Jones’ first entrepreneurial venture, her CPG background has more than prepared her to win as a business owner. She was a classically trained brand director, fresh off managing a massive $ 100 million marketing budget and launching high-profile national commercial campaigns for pharmaceutical brands like Miebo.

I caught up with Jones shortly after her Nourishing Change win, and she broke down her journey, from …

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From Feedback to Fortune: How Smart CPG Brands Pivot Their Packaging and Products for Retail Success

I often tell CPG founders participating in their first ECRM Session that when their product ends up on a retailer’s shelf, it is often different from what they originally pitched during their first buyer meeting. The buyer may want a different packaging design, a tweak in the ingredients, or different pricing options. This is normal, and part of the journey to the shelf.

In fact, brand owners should want this feedback. They should treasure it. During EVERY buyer meeting they should seek out constructive criticism on what they can improve. Nobody is perfect. The buyers are the experts on their shoppers and their markets, and the insights they can share are gold. 

Brands that solicit this feedback and act on it tend to do very well.

Indeed, the most valuable asset a CPG founder can possess is not just a great idea, but a profound willingness to listen to retail buyers and dynamically reshape their packaging, pricing, and product development to accommodate them. Here are a few examples of brands that have done this, from interviews I’ve done over the past year.

Bessie’s Best Lactation Cookies: The Walmart Reality Check

For Brittany Hausmann and the team at Bessie’s Best Lactation …

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What Brands Need to Know About the Amazon/Whole Foods Market Worldwide Grocery Private Brands Biz

In January 2026, Amazon and Whole Foods Market enacted a major structural realignment by formally consolidating their separate private label divisions into a single, unified Worldwide Grocery Private Brands business. Led by Jen Coccaro, a nine-year Whole Foods Market veteran, this newly integrated organization brings five distinct corporate brands – Amazon Saver, Amazon Grocery, 365 by Whole Foods Market, Whole Foods Market, and Whole Foods Market Kitchens – under a centralized leadership structure. 

The strategic move is designed to merge Whole Foods Market’s historical expertise in food quality, strict sustainability, and animal welfare standards with Amazon’s unmatched global tech infrastructure, rapid operational speed, and massive physical and digital scale.

Coccaro

In a fireside chat with ECRM SVP of Retail Wayne Bennett during ECRM’s Private Label Sessions, Coccaro detailed the intricate dynamics of managing this high-profile integration. While Whole Foods Market’s private brands represent highly mature, established market leaders focused on optimizing historical consumer trust, the proprietary Amazon grocery brands are operating in an agile, fast-paced “builder mode” requiring immediate scale. 

For the commercial supplier community, this operational shift represents a major unlock of volume opportunities, establishing a streamlined single point of contact per category across all five core brands. However, …

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Why Independent Retail Distribution Matters in a Consolidated Market

Retail has entered one of the most consolidated periods in its history. Buying power is concentrated. Store counts are shrinking. Corporate procurement teams now control thousands of doors from a single office. For small manufacturers, this consolidation creates the illusion that access to a few national chains is the only viable path forward. 

In reality, consolidation has quietly increased the strategic value of independent retail distribution. As large retailers grow larger, they also grow less flexible. Their systems prioritize scale over individuality. Their product selection models favor proven velocity over emerging potential. Their category strategies reduce differentiation. The result is a marketplace where shelves look increasingly similar and risk tolerance continues to decline. 

Independent retailers thrive precisely because they are not built this way.

They exist outside centralized buying models. They are not bound to national resets. They are not obligated to mirror competitors. They win by being different. And in a consolidated market, differentiation becomes the primary currency of success.

Independent retailers seek products that give them identity. They look for brands that cannot be found everywhere else. They curate assortments that reflect the values, tastes, and expectations of their local communities. This behavior creates natural opportunities for small …

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First Impressions Matter: 12 Ways to Win Your Buyer Meeting Before It Even Starts

Emerging brands often invest an immense amount of time and capital into perfecting their product pitch. However, when it comes to a buyer meeting – whether at an ECRM Session or an industry trade show – the outcome of the engagement is frequently decided before the formal presentation even begins.

First impressions count. A lot.

Ball

And first impressions are given off everywhere. A smile and a warm handshake. What you are wearing. The setup of your meeting space. Eye contact. Tone of voice. There are a lot of nonverbal cues that can say a lot without you “saying” anything. Of course, the initial verbal interaction counts too. The first few minutes of the buyer meeting can make or break a deal.

To unpack some of the ways you can start off your buyer meeting on the right foot, I spoke with Alli Ball, a former supermarket buyer and the founder of Food Biz Wiz, who helps emerging CPG brands scale through programs like Retail Ready. She has tons of experience being pitched to as well as helping brands develop successful pitches.

Here are 12 definitive strategies outlined by Ball to secure a competitive edge and win over a category …

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Unlocking Retail Growth: 4 Keys to Success with RangeMe Immediate Opportunities

The consumer packaged goods is VERY competitive, and emerging brands face an uphill battle securing the attention of retail buyers. Traditional cold outreach can take months, and buyers are increasingly protective of their time. However, forward-thinking brands are leveraging specialized digital tools to position themselves exactly where buyers are looking. And they are looking on RangeMe. 

What’s more, when it comes to RangeMe’s Immediate Opportunities, not only are buyers looking, they are actually inviting you to submit your products for review!

Consolo

SneakERASERS, a regular on the RangeMe Top Brands in General Merchandise rankings, is a best-in-class example of how to get the most from these Immediate Opportunities. Originally entering the market with a single, unique, dual-layered pre-moistened eraser foam sponge designed for on-the-go shoe cleaning, the company filled an evident white space between inefficient wipes and cumbersome sneaker kits. Today, Sneakerasers has scaled into automotive, golf, marine, and household cleaning categories – growth catalyzed by its proactive approach to RangeMe’s Immediate Opportunities.

Following are some of the best practices recommended by Sneakerasers Co-Founder Kevin Consolo. You’ll find my full interview with him in the video below!

1. Align Your Brand with the Retailer’s Sourcing Mindset

To win at …

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