E-commerce B2B: Acquiring Wholesale Partners and Retail Partnerships
You've built a great D2C brand. Your website converts, your reviews are strong, your repeat purchase rate is healthy. Now the question every successful e-commerce founder faces: how do you get into retail, wholesale, and B2B channels?
The traditional answer (trade shows, retail buyer databases, and cold calling procurement offices) costs $20,000-50,000 per season and yields inconsistent results. According to NRF's 2025 Retail Partnerships Study, 71% of retail buyers say they discover new brands through personalized outreach, not trade show booths.
The brands landing on shelves at Target, Reliance Retail, or in corporate gift catalogs aren't just great products. They're great at reaching the right buyer at the right time.
The Wholesale Channel Problem
| Challenge | Reality |
|---|---|
| Finding retail buyers | Procurement contacts are closely guarded |
| Trade show ROI | $15K-30K per show, 2-4 qualified conversations |
| Generic product pitches | Buyers see 200+ brands per category per year |
| No follow-up system | 70% of trade show leads go cold within 30 days |
How IngageNow Opens Retail Doors
Buyer Discovery
The platform identifies retail and wholesale decision makers across categories: category managers, procurement heads, assortment planners. Not from stale directories, but from real-time professional data and organizational mapping.
Category-Relevant Positioning
Your outreach speaks their language: "Your natural personal care shelf at [Retailer] has strong velocity in the $8-15 range but gaps in the $15-25 premium segment. Our hero SKU fills that exact whitespace with a 68% repeat purchase rate on D2C. Worth a category review?"
Multi-Channel Follow-Through
Reach buyers across email, LinkedIn, and industry platforms. Track engagement and follow up precisely when interest signals appear, not on an arbitrary 7-day drip schedule.
Partnership Acquisition Results
| Metric | Before | With IngageNow |
|---|---|---|
| Retail Buyers Contacted / Quarter | 30-50 | 300-500 |
| Intro Meeting Rate | 5% | 18-25% |
| New Retail Partners / Year | 3-5 | 15-25 |
| Cost per New Partnership | $8,000+ | Under $600 |
| Time from Contact to First Order | 6+ months | 8-12 weeks |
Perfect For
- D2C brands expanding into retail and wholesale
- FMCG companies building distributor networks
- Specialty food and beverage brands seeking grocery placement
- Corporate gifting companies building enterprise client lists
Start Opening Wholesale Channels
- Define your ideal partner: Retailer type, category, geographic coverage, price positioning
- Build your retail pitch: Category performance data, margin story, marketing support offer
- Launch partner outreach: Targeted, retailer-specific, backed by your D2C performance data
The shelf space is waiting. The buyer just hasn't heard from you yet.