Having a good wholesale catalogue or a wholesale line sheet to start to sell your products is really important, view it a little bit like your shop window, it's worth taking the time to do it well, but that doesn't mean that it has to cost the world. In this blog post, I will share what information needs to be in your wholesale catalogue or line sheet, so you can design yours and start to sell your products wholesale.
Line-sheet vs. Catalogue
A line-sheet is a scaled-back version of a catalogue, and would work well if you don't have very many products or if you need to put together something relatively quickly without using any particular design software as you could put this together in Microsoft Word if you wanted to, or you can use free online software such as Canva.
A catalogue will allow you to tell your story and brand values in more detail and really show off your products so as your range grows you might want to invest in creating one.
I've created an Issuu stack with a few examples of catalogues, mostly from big companies as these were the ones I could find. I find it helpful to look at other examples when deciding on what to include and what look I would like.
What to include in your wholesale catalogue
Your cover
Your logo and or company name
Lifestyle image, illustration, or product image.
The Season the catalogue is published, buyers receive lots of catalogues and will clear out the old ones each season so make sure the season is on the cover.
Welcome page
This is a space for you to talk a little bit more about your business, its values, and/or behind the scenes, anything to create more of a story about you and your brand. This could be done as a personal letter to the reader from you as a small business owner.
Product pages
Clear photography, same size, same angle with the same amount of white space so that the images look uniform and professional.
Lifestyle images where appropriate, these can really help you tell a story about your products.
Product name
Product description, including any key selling points.
Recommended retail price (RRP)
Cost prices (CP), if you're looking to use your catalogue as a lookbook for retail shows etc., or if you would like to publish it online, either do one with and without your cost prices or leave them out and only keep them on your price list (if you're unsure about how to price your products for wholesale, have a look at this post).
Pack size
Product number/SKU
Barcode
Product dimensions or sizes available (if relevant)
How to order
Don't forget to tell the reader how they can order and include all your contact details including your website and social media handles.
Wholesale Terms and Conditions
(I've done an episode about this too and you can read this blog post here)
Minimum order
Carriage
Carriage paid
Payment terms
I suggest that you say that all orders are firm sale, this means that once they order they can not return their orders, unless something is faulty. This is different from offering sale or return terms.
Back cover
Lifestyle image, logo, and maybe your website or if your catalogue ended up with odd pages you can use the back cover to put your order information and terms and conditions here. Another idea is to use the back cover to encourage shops to share your products or their displays of your products on social media and to remember to tag you.
