A distributor buys from a brand in volume and supplies retailers across a territory, a wholesaler buys in bulk and resells to other businesses, and a retailer sells to the end consumer. Getting distributor vs wholesaler vs retailer straight matters, because each one buys differently, expects a different margin, and needs a different pitch.
This is the brand owner’s version — you make the product and you’re deciding who to sell it to, not who to buy it from. Here’s how each buyer type actually works.
The supply chain in one paragraph
Your product moves from you down a chain to the shopper. A distributor buys big and carries your product to lots of businesses across a region. A wholesaler buys in bulk and resells to other businesses (often smaller resellers). A retailer buys to sell directly to the end consumer. The further down the chain a buyer sits, the smaller their orders and the higher the margin they need to make it worth stocking. That single rule explains almost everything below.
Distributor: the reach play
A distributor is a business that buys your product in large volume, warehouses it, and sells it onward to many retailers or businesses in a territory. Think of them as an outsourced sales-and-logistics arm.
- How they buy: Big orders, often with the largest MOQs of any buyer type. They want product they can move through an existing network.
- Margin they need: The deepest discount off retail — they have to leave margin for themselves and the retailers they sell to. Expect them to want a meaningfully lower price than a retailer would.
- What they care about: Reorder rates, margin, and whether their accounts will actually take it. A distributor won’t stock a slow mover.
The upside of landing one distributor is reach — one deal can put you into dozens of stores you’d never reach yourself. The downside is you give up the most margin and the most control over how your product is sold and priced.
Wholesaler: the bulk-reseller
A wholesaler also buys in bulk and resells to businesses, but usually to smaller resellers and shops rather than running a full distribution operation. In practice the line between "wholesaler" and "distributor" blurs — many buyers are a bit of both. The useful distinction is that a wholesaler is typically closer to a pure "buy low, sell to businesses" middleman without the deep territory logistics.
- How they buy: Bulk orders, MOQs smaller than a big distributor but larger than a single retailer.
- Margin they need: Substantial, since they’re reselling to businesses who also mark up.
- What they care about: Price, availability, and consistent supply. They’re volume-driven.
For a brand, a wholesaler is a middle path: more reach than selling store-by-store, less margin loss and less loss of control than a full national distributor.
Retailer: the highest margin, smallest orders
A retailer sells directly to the end consumer — a shop, a boutique, a gym pro shop, a clinic front desk. When you sell to a retailer, you’re one step from the shopper, so this is the buyer type where you keep the most margin per unit.
- How they buy: Smaller orders, lower MOQs. A boutique might take a single case to test.
- Margin they need: The classic retail markup — often "keystone," meaning they double your wholesale price to set their shelf price. So your wholesale price is roughly half their retail. We cover this math in how to price wholesale products.
- What they care about: Whether it’ll sell to their customers, packaging that looks good on a shelf, and easy reordering.
Retailers give you margin and control, and they’re the easiest to start conversations with because there are so many of them. The tradeoff: you need a lot of retail accounts to equal one distributor’s volume, and each one is a separate relationship. If retail is your first target, how to approach retail buyers walks through the pitch.
The tradeoff in one line each
- Distributor — most reach, least margin, least control, biggest MOQ.
- Wholesaler — solid reach, middling margin, moderate MOQ.
- Retailer — most margin, most control, smallest orders, most relationships to manage.
There’s no "best" buyer type. There’s only the one that fits where your brand is right now.
Which should a brand target first?
For most Amazon brand owners opening a wholesale channel, start with retailers — specifically regional, independent ones. Three reasons:
- They’re reachable. There are thousands of them, and small-shop owners answer their own email. A national distributor has gatekeepers and wants proof you can supply at scale.
- You keep margin while you learn. Retail deals let you test pricing, packaging, and terms without giving away half your margin to a middleman.
- They become your proof. "We’re already in 30 shops across the Midwest" is exactly the sentence that makes a distributor take your call later.
Land a batch of retail accounts, learn what pricing and terms actually work, then use that track record to pitch wholesalers and distributors for reach. Trying to sign a big distributor cold, before you’ve proven the product moves off shelves, usually stalls.
Wholesaler vs reseller
A wholesaler buys in bulk from brands or distributors and sells to other businesses, not to shoppers. A reseller is anyone who buys a product in order to sell it again, so every wholesaler and every retailer is technically a reseller. In everyday use, though, the word usually means a small retailer or an online seller who buys finished goods and sells them on.
For a brand, the difference shows up in the order. A wholesaler buys many cases at a time and needs a price low enough to resell to stores. A reseller in the everyday sense orders a case or two, sells through a shop, a marketplace storefront, or their own site, and needs room for a retail markup. Either one should be able to show a resale certificate before they get wholesale pricing.
Dealer vs distributor
A distributor buys from the manufacturer and supplies dealers and retailers; a dealer sells to the end customer, often within a defined territory. The distributor sits one step closer to the maker and deals in volume, while the dealer sits one step closer to the buyer and deals in individual sales, service, and local relationships.
"Dealer" is most common in categories where the sale involves advice, installation, or after-sales service: equipment, tools, vehicles, appliances, bicycles. A dealer is often authorized by the brand, which means agreeing to standards for display, service, and pricing in exchange for the right to sell in an area. In food, beauty, or gifts, the same spot in the chain is simply called a retailer.
The practical question is who you invoice. Sell to a distributor and they supply the dealers. Sell direct to dealers and you keep that margin, along with the sales, shipping, and support work.
Types of distributors
Distributors are usually grouped in two ways: by how much coverage a brand gives them and by the scope of what they carry. By coverage, distribution is exclusive, selective, or intensive. By scope, distributors are national or regional and full-line or specialty, and some are redistributors that sell to other distributors rather than to stores.
- Exclusive. One distributor has the sole right to sell your product in a territory.
- Selective. A few chosen distributors per territory, so you keep some control over who represents the brand.
- Intensive. As many distributors as will carry it. Common for low-priced, everyday products where being everywhere matters most.
- National vs regional. A national distributor covers the whole country and wants proof of demand at scale. A regional one covers a few states or a metro area and is more open to a newer brand.
- Full-line vs specialty. A full-line distributor carries a broad range across a category. A specialty distributor focuses on a niche, such as natural foods or salon products.
- Redistributors. They buy from manufacturers in large quantities and sell to smaller distributors that can’t meet a brand’s minimums on their own.
For a young brand, a regional or specialty distributor is usually the realistic first step. How to find distributors for your product covers the search.
Frequently asked questions
Is a wholesaler the same as a reseller?
Not exactly. A wholesaler is one kind of reseller: a business that buys in bulk and sells to other businesses. Reseller is the broader word and covers anyone who buys a product to sell it again, including retailers and online sellers. In everyday conversation, reseller usually points to a small retailer or marketplace seller, while wholesaler points to a bulk supplier that sells to stores.
Is Costco a wholesaler or a retailer?
Costco is a retailer. Despite the word wholesale in its name, it’s a membership warehouse club that sells in bulk sizes to consumers and small businesses, and it sells to them directly rather than through other stores. For a brand, selling to Costco means pitching a retail buyer who manages a category, not supplying a middleman who resells to shops.
Is Amazon a wholesaler or a retailer?
Amazon is mainly a retailer and a marketplace. As a retailer, it buys products wholesale from vendors and sells them to shoppers itself. As a marketplace, it hosts third-party sellers who list and sell their own inventory to the same shoppers. A brand can work with Amazon either way: as a vendor selling wholesale to Amazon, or as a seller on the marketplace.
Finding and reaching the right buyers
Whichever type you target, the work is the same shape: identify real companies, find the actual buyer contact, and send a message that gets read. That’s the hard part, and how to find wholesale buyers for your Amazon products covers the sourcing in depth.
It’s also the part WholesalePilot automates. You paste your Amazon ASIN, and WholesalePilot finds matching buyers — distributors, wholesalers, and retailers that fit your category — write the outreach in your voice, send it, and book the calls. You decide who to say yes to.
Distributor, wholesaler, retailer — they’re not ranks, they’re roles. Pick the one that matches where your brand is today, prove the product moves, then trade up for reach.
Not sure which buyers fit your product? Start with your ASIN and let the agents surface the right mix.