A distributor buys your product in pallets, warehouses it, and resells it by the case to hundreds of stores that would never order from you directly. For an Amazon seller, a distributor is the bridge between a listing and a shelf in a chain the brand could not reach on its own. Getting one to carry a brand comes down to three things: a product that fits the accounts they already serve, a margin structure that leaves room for them, and evidence that stores will pull it through. This article covers how they operate, what they cost, and how to get the first one to say yes.
The thing to understand first is that a distributor is not a customer. They are a logistics and sales layer. Their customer is the store.
What does a distributor actually do?
Picture a regional grocery or specialty chain with sixty doors. The chain does not want sixty brands each shipping six cases to sixty stores. It wants one truck a week from one supplier with everything on it. That supplier is the distributor.
So the distributor does four jobs the brand would otherwise have to do itself:
- Aggregation. They hold your product alongside thousands of others and ship mixed pallets to each store or to the chain's warehouse.
- Sales coverage. Their reps already call on the stores. Your product becomes one line in a catalogue the buyer already opens.
- Credit. The distributor pays you, then extends net terms to stores. The brand does not have to run credit checks on sixty accounts.
- Compliance. Case labelling, EDI ordering, chargebacks, retailer routing guides — the distributor absorbs most of it.
The trade-off is that the brand loses direct contact with the store and gives up a slice of margin for each of those jobs.
What a distributor takes, in arithmetic
Work from the shelf price down, because that is how a distributor thinks. Take a product that sells for $28 on Amazon and should sit at $28 in stores.
- The store buys from the distributor at roughly $14 to $16. Call it $15.
- The distributor buys from the brand at a discount off that, commonly a quarter to a third. Call it $11.
- The brand's landed cost is, say, $6.
So the brand nets $5 a unit through a distributor versus perhaps $14 on Amazon after the referral fee, fulfilment fee and ads. That looks like a bad deal until the units are counted. An Amazon listing moving 1,400 units a month is doing well. A distributor with 300 stores each pulling four units a week is 5,200 units a month, on one invoice, with no ad spend and no fulfilment fees.
The margin is thinner per unit and fatter per month. Before pitching one, the brand needs to know its own cost stack can survive $11. The detailed pricing model is in wholesale economics for an Amazon brand.
The kinds of distributors, and which one fits an Amazon brand
Distributors are specialised by category and by the accounts they serve, and the wrong type will not return the email no matter how good the product is.
Category specialists serve one kind of store: natural grocery, gift and stationery, pet, outdoor, beauty. They are the usual starting point for a brand with one product family, because their reps know exactly which stores would take it.
Broadline distributors carry everything for a channel like convenience or foodservice. They rarely pick up an unknown brand; they add lines their accounts are already asking for.
Regional versus national. A regional distributor covering three states is far more likely to take a first meeting than a national one. National distributors often require a regional track record, slotting or promotional fees, and a broker.
Master distributors and importers exist in some categories as a layer above the others. Unless the product is imported and the brand has no US presence, this layer can be skipped.
For most Amazon brands the right first target is a regional category specialist whose reps already sell to the independent stores the brand could name.
How does an Amazon seller get a distributor to say yes?
A distributor adds a line when they believe their stores will order it. So the pitch is not about the brand; it is about pull-through. The elements that move the decision:
- Store demand you can show. The strongest version is a list of stores already buying direct. Six independents reordering monthly is worth more than any ranking. It tells the distributor there is demand they can pick up at once.
- Amazon proof, translated. Units per month, review count, category rank, and the search terms the product wins. Presented as "this is what customers are already asking for," not as a screenshot of Seller Central.
- A distributor-ready price list. Wholesale price to the store, distributor cost, suggested retail, case pack, pallet configuration, case UPC, lead time. If the brand has to work these out during the call, the call is over.
- Marketing support. A launch promotion (an introductory discount to stores on the first order, funded by the brand), a plan for demos or samples, and any consumer marketing that will drive customers into stores.
- Price discipline on Amazon. A distributor checks the listing before the meeting. If the brand runs deep coupons, the distributor knows its stores will complain, and passes.
The way in is usually a category manager or buyer at the distributor, reached by email with a short note and the price list attached, or through a store that already stocks the product asking their rep to add it. The second route is underrated: a store request carries weight because it is the distributor's own customer asking.
What a distributor agreement asks for
The paperwork is heavier than a store's purchase order, and a few clauses matter more than the rest.
Exclusivity. A distributor may want to be the only one in a territory. Reasonable for a region, dangerous nationally, and worth limiting to a term with volume targets.
Allowances and chargebacks. Freight allowances, promotional allowances, damage allowances and slotting are all ways the effective price drops below the number on the agreement. Model the net price, not the list price.
Terms. Net 30 to net 60 from receipt, sometimes longer. A first pallet order at net 60 means the brand finances two months of a large order. Plan the cash before signing.
Returns and guaranteed sale. Some distributors want the right to return unsold stock. Push back, or cap it.
Brand control. Confirm the distributor will not sell into Amazon or to sellers who do. A distributor's stock turning up under another seller on the brand's own ASIN is the most common way an Amazon brand regrets its first distribution deal, and the reseller policy in an Amazon brand's wholesale program is where that clause lives.
Distributor or direct: which comes first?
Direct, almost always. A brand that goes to a distributor with no store accounts is asking the distributor to create demand. A brand with twenty stores buying direct is asking the distributor to serve demand that exists. The second brand gets a meeting.
There is also a practical reason. Selling direct to a dozen stores teaches the brand about case packs, lead times, damaged shipments and how buyers really talk, all at small scale. Making those mistakes on a distributor's first pallet is expensive. The direct route is covered step by step in Amazon FBA to retail and the relationship side in retail partnerships for Amazon sellers.
Finding the distributors that already serve your category
Distributors are quiet companies with sparse websites, and the right one for a given product is the one whose accounts already stock the competing products. The fastest way to see that map is to paste the product's Amazon page into WholesalePilot — the preview shows which distributors, retailers and wholesale buyers carry products like it, which is the shortlist to approach rather than a directory of every distributor in the country.
From that list, pick two or three regional category specialists. Build the store book first, send the price list second, and let the stores ask for the product third. A distributor that gets the request from its own customers is one that says yes.