Are you looking to alleviate some of the stress of selling your products? Virtually everyone would love to have an easier way to sell their goods in the general marketplace. Seldom, however, do people have a good idea of how exactly to go about this. If you’re in this predicament, then there are ways that you can leverage the work of others to get your products into the marketplace and move your inventory. Companies have found that they can do exactly just that – buy your products for relatively little money and then sell them in the local economy for an inflated markup. There are two primary types of these companies: a distributor and an agent. This article will discuss these two types and conclude with a short discussion on which one to choose.

 The differences between the two are subtle but noteworthy. The first difference between the two is that a distributor purchases the products up-front. By contrast, an agent essentially looks for a way to get your products into the marketplace but does not buy the inventory upfront. As such, it should come as no surprise that a distributor generally pays for the goods upfront, whereas an agent typically pays a percentage based upon the total amount sold. Distributors often also have warehouses whereas agents typically do not.

Corporations who are looking to decide on whether or not to go with a distributor or agent often have a challenging time picking between the two. On the one hand, a distributor basically equates to guaranteed money while the agent does not. On the other hand, distributors generally require much deeper discounts than agents. Since they are taking the risk of storing and being unable to offload the inventory, distributors typically will not result in as high income as an agent. However, that money is guaranteed which might be a big bonus for a company. Sometimes it is not in a company’s advantage to wait for the bigger payoff – they may need money immediately to cover bills or just may feel that their product will not move as fast as they may need it to. In these cases the advanced payment works out well.

In conclusion, ideally the best company would be one that offers both options. That would give you the necessary tools to distribute your products in the most advantageous way into the marketplace. The distributor part of the company could buy products immediately, while the agent part of the company could sell your goods while continuously taking a percentage. This would allow you to get your goods out there in the most effective way possible – buy having some lump-sum capital for your products you can purchase advertising, R&D, more goods, etc. which will make subsequent distribution by the agent much easier. Never having that initial capital or never being able to continuously sell your goods spells disaster in some ways. In the long run, you want to make sure and pick a company that is flexible and does both.

By Joseph Marando - Impulse Products