Whether it’s digital or printed, your wholesale catalog is your “silent salesperson” to retailers and shops that could (and should) carry your products. These days, since nearly every person with a computer or phone researches products and services and then purchases online, we’ll focus on the digital catalog. Digital catalogs can easily be converted to print if you need both (think: trade shows and industry events or retailers who prefer print).

Why a wholesale catalog?

A digital catalog is a showcase of all the products you sell. It enables you to provide deeper details about your products than you would want to share on your website. A catalog gives you the chance to highlight everything that makes each product special and to remove any question a buyer might have. Whether you’re prospecting new customers or increasing conversion of existing customers, a wholesale catalog is a critical tool in your sales arsenal.

Building your digital wholesale catalog

File Size:

Always try to keep the size under 8MB for convenient email purposes. Email servers sometimes kick out larger files so 8MB keeps your catalog safe. If your file must be larger, you could share a Dropbox link with your retailer so that they can download the file as a PDF directly.

Design:

Unless you have masterful design and layout skills, we recommend hiring a graphic designer to bring your vision to life—you could try and DIY it on Canva, but this tends to be a big project worth outsourcing. If you don’t have any graphic designer contacts in your network, consider hiring a creative mind via Fiverr or Upwork.

Design Details:

First, let’s consider this statistic in case you have any doubt about the power of a digital wholesale catalog.  A recent study has shown that 72% of people said that browsing a company’s catalog made them more interested in purchasing. That’s because catalogs are highly visual if done correctly - and people are inherently visual when it comes to buying. With “visual” as the driver, that brings us to the first ingredient of a good catalog recipe - photography.

Photography:

• Invest in a good photographer, or if you plan to take your own photographs, a good camera and light source
• Make sure products are shot on the same color background with the same lighting (well lit). If you have a white sheet or styling mat you can put under and behind the product, try that but watch for shadows. It may take some trial and error and moving the light around to get it right—staying out of hard/direct light and setting up near a window for natural light is best
• Lifestyle photography is the best way to evoke emotion around your products or services. Use photography that reflects the end benefit and the joy you’ll bring potential customers or retailers. Lifestyle photographs liven up product catalogs so intersperse people using your product among the product photos
• Use a captivating cover (or hero) photo on your catalog—something that appeals to your audience. Like a book, it should encourage people to want to turn the pages

SKUs (Stock Keeping Units):

You’ll need to assign each of your products an alphanumeric code to keep track of your current inventory. This helps with product segmentation and invoicing. Here are some basic tips for getting started.

• Keep track of your codes in an inventory system, or if your business is really small with only a few products, an updated Excel spreadsheet should work. Also, many website platforms that allow product sales, like Shopify or Squarespace, have inventory systems built in
• Keep your SKUs short - 4 to 12 characters max
• Using uppercase letters, numbers, and dashes is best practice and is easily exported to a spreadsheet

More details

You want potential retailers to have as much information about the products as possible. If it makes sense you can consider including:

• Product measurements/materials/colors available
• Contact details on the footer on every page and the last page of your catalog
• Payment terms and/or minimum order requirements. This is mainly applicable if you are selling to retailers
• About us. Adding a paragraph about your business with a photo personalizes the catalog
• Pricing. Listing your prices is helpful but not necessary. For catalogs going to retailers, a separate price sheet is smart so that they could show your catalog to customers without the wholesale prices shown

Getting into retailers:

Call the store or make an appointment to meet with the buyer, manager, owner, etc. Have your sales pitch ready. If they agree to take a look at your catalog, send them a follow up email with your catalog or a Dropbox link for downloading.

A well-designed wholesale catalog is a must have for businesses trying to get into retail stores. Use our guide to build yours so that you can find your incredible products on the shelves of your favorite shops in the future!

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