Level Up Your Retail Game: 5 Proven Ways to Win with Wholesale

Whether you’re growing your store or just looking to make smarter buying decisions, knowing how to make the most from your wholesale network can transform your retail business.

In Lightspeed’s newest wholesale webinar we cover:

• How to build strong brand relationships
• How to buy smarter with data
• How to streamline POs and inventory
• How to protect your margins
• How to stand out with a curated product mix

Watch the webinar below to see our expert panel share real-life tips to level up your retail game or keep reading for a full breakdown of their insights.

Building brand relationships that work

Your wholesale partners are a key part of your business and your brand. That’s why it’s crucial to view them as collaborators, not just vendors. When you treat your partners like part of your team, the relationship naturally becomes stronger but also more strategic, especially when challenges come up.

One of our webinar speakers, Lightspeed customer Ashley Doll believes that when it comes to wholesale partnerships you get what you give.

Take tariffs, for example—that’s been a massive challenge across the supply chain. But if you’ve built a strong relationship with your supplier, you’re more likely to come out of it with creative solutions: things like flexible alternatives, substitutions or even discounts to help keep both sides afloat.

Not only do stronger relationships help make your life easier when building your inventory, your wholesale partners are a goldmine of industry intel. When there’s trust, they’ll often share insights on what similar retailers are buying, what’s performing well or what new trends are picking up.

This kind of information can help you build a product line that stands out and sells. Stronger relationships can mean early access to launches, more flexible terms or even extra support when your brands roll out new lines.

The best brand relationships happen when both sides understand who you’re serving. If you can clearly explain your customer personas (lifestyle, price sensitivity, sizing needs, seasonal trends), that context helps brands recommend products specifically for you. The best brands will actually use that to tailor recommendations.

Buying smarter using data

Wholesale orders can become very large and fast, so it’s critical to lean on real-time and seasonal data to forecast demand accurately and avoid stockouts or overbuys.

In the fashion retail world, it’s impossible to eliminate all risks, but the best thing you can do is use a blend of insights and intuition for your buying decisions. That means using both industry-wide insights, like buying trends from similar stores, and your own store data, like current top performers, sell-through rates and slow movers. Combining these perspectives helps ground your buying decisions in both strategy and instinct, giving you a more confident, informed path forward.

For those looking to speed up purchase orders and get closer to their wholesale network, Lightspeed NuORDER is the place to look. This closed-loop B2B trade network of 500,000 buyers allows you to manage, report and automate workflows.

A lot of retailers who use Lightspeed NuORDER use data during the buying process, not just after. When you place an order, you can immediately analyze your buy across multiple dimensions:

• Product category, color, and type
• Quantities by size (not just pre-set packs)
• Delivery windows
• Future and real-time inventory

This helps retailers build smarter assortments, reduce order errors and avoid back-and-forth with suppliers. For individual retailers on the free plan, there are tools like working orders and dynamic carts to help you visualize and track your buys as you go.

For the multi-store and advanced users, our assortments feature lets you slice and dice orders across brands, plan assortments by location or season and fine-tune every detail before submitting. At the end of the day, it’s about making sure you keep things strategic from the start.

Streamlining POs and inventory

Great inventory management starts with streamlining your purchase orders. You want to save time while keeping your shelves stocked with what your customers actually want. The key is consistent product availability, especially when it comes to your bestsellers.

One of our webinar speakers Marie Baldauf-Lenschen, Director of Supplier Network Partnerships at Lightspeed has seen firsthand how understanding your inventory can make a big difference.

To order the right quantities, you need to look at your past sales and spot trends. You should be asking yourself things like: What happened in previous months or seasons? Was there a spike or a drop and why? What was popular and when? What time of year did it take off?

Lightspeed Insights is a powerful tool that can help you streamline your orders. You can generate suggested reports or build custom dashboards to fit your store’s unique needs. Retailers using Lightspeed Insights experience 26% fewer days out of stock for top-selling items.

As a retailer, it can be really difficult to avoid unnecessary reorders, which is where clear communication and visibility come in. Lightspeed NuORDER and self-service tools can give you the power to track, plan and fill inventory gaps on the fly.

You need to take the time to train your staff to read inventory data and get them synced with your marketing and sales strategies. For example, if a popular product is arriving soon, start building hype early. Make sure you’re partnering very closely with your brands and coordinating delivery timelines that align with demand.

Lightspeed Scanner is also a key tool that gives your floor staff instant access to product info and inventory right from their mobile devices. That means faster answers for customers and fewer mistakes at the register or stockroom, giving your team real-time visibility and control.

Protecting your margins

When it comes to protecting your margins, it all starts with having full visibility into your costs. Understanding your total landed cost (including shipping fees, duties and markdowns) gives you the confidence to price your products properly and protect your margins. This is especially crucial if you’re buying in bulk or working with tight wholesale deals.

Lightspeed Capital is a powerful tool retailers can use to receive advances to place orders and pay gradually based on their actual sales. Ashley had a difficult experience trying to obtain business funding but Lightspeed Capital came when she needed support the most. She’s been advanced two additional times with Lightspeed Capital which has allowed her to expand into three locations. The process was quick and easy and remittances are automated and flexible based on her sales volume.

Standing out with a curated product mix

Buying is part science, part art. The key is to think beyond individual products and look at how items can work together. That kind of intentional assortment can drive higher average order values and a smoother customer experience. It’s crucial to take the time to understand what your competitors are stocking and avoid carrying the same exact items.

When it comes to your product mix, it all starts with being intentional and selective about what you bring into your store. It’s about striking the right balance between bold “window dressing” items that attract attention and drive traffic, and reliable or practical core products that deliver consistent revenue. And don’t forget: each store location likely serves a slightly different customer. Tailoring your assortment to reflect those nuances can make a big difference.

NuORDER has a great feature called “whiteboarding” sessions. If your brand offers them, you can use these to collaborate directly on merchandising strategies. They help you and your team understand how products work together and how they can be positioned online and in-store. You can also get 24/7 access to our wholesale marketplace—meaning you can discover new products, source more efficiently and quickly respond to changing trends.

Buying isn’t just a seasonal activity anymore. To keep up with fast-changing consumer demand, you need a healthy mix of pre-orders and ATS (Available to Sell) inventory. With NuORDER, you can do both. You can even nominate your favorite brands to be featured on the platform.

A recap on how to win with wholesale

Mastering wholesale strategies is key to staying competitive as a retailer. Building strong brand partnerships and using data-driven buying strategies can set your store up for success. Streamlining your POs and inventory ensures you always have what customers want. Protecting your margins keeps your business healthy in a competitive market. With the right approach, you can stand out with a curated product mix that truly reflects your brand.