Discover the Top 15 Wholesale Distributors of 2025 – Your Key to Success on Shopify!

Wholesale distributors form a crucial part of your business. They affect your ability to deliver products on time, compete on price, and respond quickly to customer demands.

With reliable distributors powering the back end of your shop, you can reduce shipping costs, offer competitive pricing, and improve your order fulfillment processes. In other words, your business will only be as good as the wholesaling partner you choose.

Explore 15 of the best wholesale distributors and how to vet them, so you can decide where to purchase products that fit your niche and margins.

15 best wholesale distributors

1. Magnolia Fashion Wholesale
2. Image Beauty
3. Worldmakeup
4. Sysco
5. Dot Foods
6. Cardinal Health
7. GTS Distribution
8. Petra
9. Costco
10. MSC Industrial Supply Co.
11. Reydon Sports
12. Faire
13. IndiaMart
14. Wholesale Central
15. Shopify Collective

💡 Skip the research. Discover the best wholesale apps for your Shopify store.

1. Magnolia Fashion Wholesale

If you’re looking to start a clothing business, Magnolia Fashion Wholesale is a great option. The wholesale distributor sells boutique clothing—including dresses, t-shirts, and swimwear—at cheaper prices and with no minimum order amount. Use its broad product line to test new trends without committing too much capital.

📚 Read: Top 12 Best Wholesale Men’s Clothing Vendors (2024)

2. Image Beauty

Beauty products are highly popular among retailers, and the possibility of earning a profit is constantly growing in line with their surging demand.

Take advantage of this business opportunity and buy wholesale products through Image Beauty’s wholesale store. It distributes all types of beauty products, including cosmetics, hair care, personal care, skin care, and fragrances, which you can resell through your own online store.

3. Wordmakeup

Wordmakeup is a wholesale distributor that lists more than 100,000 brand-name cosmetics and merchandise on its website. You can source makeup from designer brands like Charlotte Tilbury, Gucci, and NARS from its wholesale storefront.

4. Sysco

Food is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and we all need to eat every day, two factors that spell a near-infinite audience for food products. Sysco is one of the world’s largest food wholesaler distributors. It delivers high-quality meat, seafood, and imported foods to grocery stores, restaurants, and other food businesses.

5. Dot Foods

Dot Foods is another wholesale food distributor delivering items in most states in as few as two days. You can source over 123,000 products from over 1,500 suppliers, making it a great option if you’re looking to sell a variety of food-based products through your own online store.

6. Cardinal Health

Cardinal Health is a wholesale distributor that sells health care and pharmaceutical products. If you’re selling medical supplies through your own online store, you can source wholesale quality products from this distributor for less than the recommended retail price (RRP).

7. GTS Distribution

GTS Distribution has been around since 1976 and distributes wholesale games, sports equipment, toys, and entertainment collectibles. It’s a great option if you’re looking to make money from your hobbies. You could source your favorite games from the distributor and resell them with a higher markup through your online store.

8. Petra

Petra is a wholesale electronics distributor and a fantastic place to source fitness watches, cellphones, and kitchen equipment at wholesale prices.

Read more: How This Founder Scaled a Fitness Business to Over $20 Million in 2 Years

9. Costco

Costco is one of the world’s largest wholesale distributors. It buys general merchandise directly from the manufacturer and resells the items in bulk to other trade customers. You’ll find over 4,000 SKUs in multiple categories—from home décor to food products—available to buy online or in one of its 897 stores worldwide once you have a membership.

10. MSC Industrial Supply Co.

If you’re selling machinery or appliance parts online—or even manufacturing your own machines using wholesale parts—MSC Industrial Supply Co. is a high-quality wholesale distributor. MSC sells power tools, automotive parts, adhesives, and hand tools through its B2B ecommerce wholesale store.

11. Reydon Sports

Reydon Sports is a leading wholesale distributor of sporting goods. It sells sports equipment across different categories—including golf, football, and basketball—through its wholesale online store.

Reydon also offers a dropshipping service that can pick, pack, and ship orders directly to your customers once they place orders through your online store.

12. Faire

Faire is a modern wholesale marketplace that connects retailers with over 100,000 unique wholesale vendors and artisanal brands. Through Faire, you can source everything from home décor and jewelry to clothes and gifts.

The marketplace lets you manage vendor relationships from one place. Plus, you can pay for inventory up to 60 days after you order it, and get free returns on the first orders you make with a brand so that you can test products with minimal risk.

13. IndiaMART

IndiaMART is one of India’s largest B2B marketplaces with more than 8.4 million vendors. The platform offers millions of products across categories like textiles, industrial equipment, electronics, and handicrafts. If you want products from Indian suppliers at an affordable price, IndiaMART gives you a great platform with built-in supplier verification systems.

14. Wholesale Central

Wholesale Central is a free B2B directory that connects retailers with 1,400+ verified suppliers offering more than 700,000 products in 50-plus categories, including apparel, electronics, and gifts.

Because it operates as a directory, you negotiate prices, minimum order quantities (MOQ), and shipping terms with each supplier.

15. Shopify Collective

Shopify Collective is a curated marketplace made for Shopify merchants. You can discover and source everything from fashion and beauty products to home goods and more. Shopify Collective stands out for its zero-inventory business model, where retailers can import and sell products from top Shopify brands without having to hold stock in their own warehouses.

When customers make a purchase, orders are automatically routed to suppliers for direct fulfillment. The platform includes built-in features like multi-brand checkout, real-time inventory syncing, and automated revenue sharing.

Currently available to eligible US-based Shopify stores, Collective offers a risk-free way to expand your product catalog with established brands like Fear of God, True Classic, and Bala, while only paying for products after they’ve sold.

Wholesale distributors versus dropshipping suppliers

Businesses compare these two sourcing models when they’re deciding how much capital and control they want over inventory.

• A wholesale distributor sells you products in bulk at a discount. You store, pick, pack, and ship those products yourself or through a 3PL.
• In dropshipping, the supplier holds the stock and fulfills orders one by one under your brand.

Let’s take a look at some pros and cons of each model.

Wholesale distributor

Pros:

• Better margins because you buy at bulk pricing.
• Control over packaging, unboxing experience, and post-sale service.
• Faster delivery times if the inventory is close to customers.
• Can bundle items or white-label products.

Cons:

• Requires upfront cash and minimum order quantity (MOQ).
• A longer onboarding process before products go live.
• Can charge carrying costs for holding inventory over long periods.

Dropshipping supplier

Pros:

• Doesn’t cost much to start. Pay only after a customer orders.
• Virtually unlimited catalog when working with AliExpress dropshipping apps like DSers.
• No warehouse, staffing, or shipping overhead.
• Easy to expand into new markets with local suppliers.

Cons:

• Lower per-unit profit margins.
• No control over quality checks or transit times.
• Harder to build a premium brand without direct inventory handling.

How to vet new wholesale distributors

Unfortunately, not every wholesale distributor is a good one—and the last thing you want is for a customer to complain about your products being low-quality or late to arrive.

Fortunately, there are ways to fact-check a wholesaler’s claims to ensure you get quality products and top service from their end. Use this checklist to vet new wholesale suppliers and distributors:

1. Evaluate business operations

A good distributor should have well-organized warehouses and a solid system for managing inventory.

Pay attention to whether they handle their own shipping or work with established shipping companies. Either can work, but they should have a clear strategy that they can explain to you clearly. Set aside time with a sales rep to ask questions and get a solid understanding of their operations.

2. Order samples

Ask for a few items from the distributor and evaluate their quality before you make a bulk order.

When they arrive, check them carefully for quality and authenticity. Don’t be shy about this. Any reputable distributor will understand that you need to verify their product quality.

3. Place a small trial order

Order from the distributor and observe how they handle everything from start to finish. Ask yourself (and track the answers if you’re vetting multiple distributors):

• How quickly do they respond to your communications?
• Do they provide tracking information promptly?
• What’s the condition of the package when it arrives?
• How do they handle any issues that come up?

4. Check their track record

A distributor’s reputation can tell you a lot about their reliability. Most distributors showcase their client relationships on their website, usually in the About Us or Who We Serve section. Follow up with previous clients and ask about their experiences directly to verify the testimonials are accurate.

5. Look at their credentials

Any legitimate wholesale distributor should have proper business registration and relevant licenses.

You don’t need to go overboard here, but do some basic checking to make sure everything’s in order. Their physical business location should be verifiable, and they should be willing to provide any necessary documentation.

Tips for finding the best wholesale distributor

If you’re still stuck on finding the best wholesale distributor, here are seven tips to ensure you choose the right one:

Run a thorough Google search

To increase your chances of finding the best wholesale distributors online, use different search terms, such as “supplier,” “reseller,” “distributor,” “wholesaler,” etc., to increase your odds and cast a wider net. You can also combine these terms with a specific product you want to sell and the region you’re in—like a reliable wholesale supplier for vegan shoes in New York—to narrow your search to the most relevant results.

For example, if you’re looking for high-end clothing suppliers, a good search would be “boutique clothing wholesale distributors in New York, USA.” Or if you’re searching for food suppliers, search “food distributors in Texas.”

Check wholesale marketplaces

Wholesale marketplaces connect retailers like you with manufacturers and wholesale distributors of various items. Platforms like Wholesale Central and Faire give you access to tons of vendors so you don’t have to restrict yourself to just one.

Marketplaces like Faire have many suppliers with low minimum order amounts to help shop owners buy wholesale without draining their budget.

Most wholesale marketplaces also allow you to search by location to find a supplier close to home. If you’re in California, for example, filtering products from a distributor in or near your state (rather than somewhere further afield like China) can help reduce your shipping costs while allowing for faster deliveries.

When sourcing internationally, be sure to understand tariffs and customs requirements to avoid unexpected costs and delays.

Subscribe to industry publications

Online newsletters and blogs give you a wealth of updated information about your industry. For example, if you’re looking for wholesale clothing distributors, you could subscribe to top fashion publications like:

• Women’s Wear Daily
• Harper’s Bazaar

Besides online publications, trade magazines and other industry-specific publications are some of the best places to find wholesale suppliers and distributors.

Check out magazine ad sections to find a list of vetted manufacturers and distributors along with their up-to-date contact information. Subscribing to relevant publications makes product sourcing easier by giving you hundreds of wholesale contacts to connect with.

Read the label

One of the most straightforward ways of finding wholesale distributors is by contacting the manufacturer. Almost all manufacturers include their contact information on a product’s label, which you can use to inquire about distributors.

This strategy can also help you cut out middlemen who may eat into your profits. For instance, some buyers tend to pose as legitimate distributors of certain items, but they actually get the products from wholesalers and sell them with a markup to earn a higher profit margin. Ask the manufacturer for an official list of distributors to weed out such parties.

Join online communities and associations

Sometimes, the best wholesale distributor recommendations come from other online business owners. You can source these recommendations by joining online groups where owners usually hang out—like LinkedIn communities or Facebook groups.

Professional associations can also help you identify relevant distributors for your products. Typically, an association will give you access to a list of wholesalers that serve your industry and locality. You can find a list of member associations pertaining to your industry through the National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW).

📚 Read: Wholesale vs. Retail: What’s the Big Difference? (2025)

Attend a trade show

A proven way to find wholesale distributors is to attend trade shows in your industry. You can meet dozens of manufacturers and product distributors within a day. Plus, face-to-face communication offers an opportunity to develop a good working relationship and negotiate the best prices.

While at the trade show, analyze the quality of the products and prices offered by the different wholesale distributors. Figure out which ones are the most suitable for your online business and make an offer for bulk purchases.

To make the best out of a trade show, research the exhibitors beforehand to know more about their business—and be ready to answer questions about yours.

Ask for referrals

Make friends in the industry when attending trade shows and joining online groups. Even if you’re already working with a distributor, it’s always smart to learn about other wholesalers (in case you need another wholesale supplier to meet a sudden spike in demand).

There are also events organized to allow business owners like you to meet like-minded people. One of these is the Small Business Expo, which bills itself as America’s largest business networking and educational event.

The event takes place in multiple cities throughout the country, and you can use the opportunity to create business relationships that could uncover more selective distributors.