Do you know a unicorn startup from India in the wholesale business segment? There are many. My favourite is UDAAN. And inspired from UDAAN’s success flight, I’m sharing with you an exclusive list of wholesale business ideas for 2024. You can pursue all or at-least a few of these wholesale startup business opportunities anywhere in India, USA, UK, Canada, France, Netherlands, Japan, China, Pakistan, Russia, Germany, Australia, UAE, Italy, Spain, or anywhere in the world.
Here’s a sneak peek into the list of wholesale business ideas that we shall discuss in this insight:
- Home improvement products
- FMCG products
- Electronic products
- Textile- fashion & clothes
- Hospital equipments
- Agricultural products
- Furniture products
- Building and construction materials
- Fitness and equipments product
- Leather products
The state of wholesale business ideas in 2024
Retail and wholesale business digitization has given rise to new industry trends in 2024. The economy has evolved. Today, villages in India offer as strong wholesale business proposition as cities, thanks to the internet proliferation. And thanks to the the accelerated growth of digitization, today, B2B wholesale transactions are only a click away.
Automation, inventory management, e-commerce expansion, retail globalisation, and omnichannel are some of the evolving trends in the $850Bn+ retail & wholesale business market in India. And all these factors makes India a favourable destination to start your wholesale business ideas in 2024. But, as mentioned earlier, you can start these wholesale business ideas just anywhere in the world. Here are a few motivating wholesale businesses stats from around the world:
- Wholesale & retail market size in India is $850 Bn
- Net wholesale goods transaction account for USD 8 trillion
- Net turnover in the wholesale and retail segment in the EU is USD 10.4 Bn
Wholesale business ideas in 2024
wholesale business ideas
There are so many wholesale business ideas and opportunities in Japan, Germany, Netherlands, India, USA, and the UK market. You can start a wholesale business in 2024 in any of these countries (while Ukraine stands like a wall in front of Russia). The question is, where exactly should you start which wholesale business idea? Because timing and location does play a role (sometimes even if the business is online).
In this insight, I’m sharing with you an awesome collection of wholesale business ideas that you can get inspired from. I’ll also share my personal opinion and insights (tips) to help you start your own wholesale business in 2024 (ASAP).
What all types of wholesale business ideas am I going to share with you? On a broad level, the wholesale business ideas list that we discuss in here can be categorized into-
- Wholesale business ideas with low investment
- Online wholesale business ideas 2024,
- Wholesale business ideas in village area
These are many opportunities in this list. And these can can be started in both cities and village areas of India, UK, USA, Japan, Netherlands, and other countries. So, we refrain from categorizing these wholesale business ideas based on village or cities. Instead, we directly list these wholesale business ideas in a random order.
1. Home improvement products wholesale business ideas
home improvement products
One of the largest wholesale business ideas in this list is to sell ‘home improvement products’. This may include a wide range of products. It’s not all about home fashion. It could be more, and may include home safety equipment like CCTV security cameras, smoke alarms, gas detectors, fire extinguishers, etcetera. More usual products could be wall coverings, pillows, bed skirts, cushion covers, table runners and so on. All these products are awesome for you if you are looking for best wholesale business ideas in the home related market.
Go-to-market strategy for home improvement wholesale business ideas
To try these home improvement wholesale business ideas in villages or small towns of India, you need a capital of INR 5 -50 Lakhs or above depending on the product you choose. There is no shortage of wholesale business ideas in India, it is just that we are not well trained for marketing. And that’s why we have very few wholesale brands out there in the market. But with this amount you can launch a small wholesale business store in India.
If you’re in USA and wants to get into wholesale then you USD 10k – USD 50k should be good enough to start your investment. In the upcoming sections, I’ll share a few more wholesale business ideas with low investment that you can run profitably out of United Kingdom (UK), USA, Philippines, India, or your favorite country.
Some more product ideas to sell profitably as a wholesaler:
The rise in number of new house owners in India (thanks to Pradhan mantri awas yojna), and the rising housing and residential needs of Indian citizens make wholesaling home improvement products one of the best and lucrative online wholesale business ideas to try in 2024. Some more product ideas to give wings to your wholesale dreams:
- HVAC products also fall under the home improvement category and consist of air cleaners, fans, heater, thermostats, ventilation, etcetera.
- Lighting parts and plumbing materials are another vertical in the home improvement wholesale business.
- CCTV security camera manufacturing, distribution, installation, and maintenance is definitely one of the most profitable business ideas in recent times. Branching wholesale business ideas related to this trend could be selling CCTVs to government and municipal bodies responsible for public security.
You can definitely start wholesale business ideas online by launching an app/website, then you can also consider running it in a hybrid mode with a store as well. But it could be tricky to find if you should target for both retail and wholesale buyers. Be careful when brainstorming on it.
Anyway, I believe in this idea, because every house would need home safety HVAC, Lighting & Plumbing products at some stage. Agree? Then that means the demand is good. And when demand and profitability is awesome, what’s stopping you from pursuing home improvements wholesale business ideas in India? Get started, Set the wheels in motion, and on fire.
Also, do read a few retail business ideas as well.
2. Wholesale FMCG products
wholesale business ideas
I think, in the offline wholesale business world, this is one of the most popular and active wholesale business ideas in India.
What makes me recommend FMCG wholesale business ideas for you?
- Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) business is the fourth largest sector in India.
- The FMCG market in India is estimated to more than double in the next four years, and would surpass $220Bn + in value by 2025.
- The growing disposable income of Indians throughout the country, especially in the rural areas, where development was way too slow in the last decade, is the major factor driving this FMCG growth.
- Government has also enabled 100% foreign investment in equities for single brands and 51% for multi-brand retail organizations in India. This in turn helps drive inflow of investment and accelerates the rate of innovation as well as growth.
These facts convinced me that FMCG products wholesale business ideas is perfect for Indian wannabe entrepreneurs in 2024. Besides, if you are looking for wholesale business ideas with low investment in India, this is one of them! You can start this with as low as INR 50k to 3L or more.
The brick and mortar shops culture is same in almost every developing country. In countries like USA, UK, you will find more structured shopping infrastructure where you find more sales happening in shopping complexes and less in small mom n pop stores. So, it is a bit tricky to go after FMCG wholesale business ideas in USA, UK, and the developed nations. But you can always partner up with store chains and shopping complexes to be their vendor. There are startups that are lately catering to this domain.
What products can you sell if you start in the FMCG wholesale business ideas segment?
To get going in the FMCG wholesale business ideas industry, you can sell biscuits, soaps, mixtures, namkeens, detergents, oil, cleaning, chips, milk, tea, coffee and other beverages, etcetera. Of course, these opportunities belongs to both offline and online wholesale business ideas.
Read more food related business ideas. The third opportunity in this collection of wholesale business ideas for 2024 is from the electrical & electronics industry.
3. Electronic products wholesale business ideas
electronic products
I would discuss multiple electronics related wholesale business ideas with you but before that I wanted to ask you something.
Did you know that India is the second largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world?
I didn’t know this a few days back. I mean, the IT minister claimed something like this back in 2019 itself, I remember that, but it was hard to believe as these days we can’t really trust anyone, be it from any industry (including politics).
Now I do trust because multiple agencies have claimed and declared the same. It’s not a matter of trust in the government, it’s a matter of discovering whether the probability of the stats being true is more towards 0 or 1. But what’s the point of sharing this here? I shared this fact to gain your confidence that India has the potential to be a leader in the electronic products manufacturing, retailing, and wholesaling.
Market-strategy for electronics wholesale business ideas
- Electronic products wholesale business ideas is not for Villages in the UK, USA, India, or Philippines.
- You should start these only in cities or small towns with good crowd density.
- But yeah, to target villages as well and not leave any money on the table, you can consider starting an online platform to sell electronics products to small vendors in the village & rural areas.
- Online marketplaces and hybrid is a good approach to maximizing the revenue out of any wholesale business ideas.
Indian governments’ aspirational goals of driving $1 Trillion in revenue from the digital economy has given a boost to launch of government initiatives, and the results could easily be observed in terms of traction in the manufacturing and assembly activities across consumer electronic goods in India.
The reason why I brought up these stats is to give you the proof that digital is yet not done in India. We have a long way to go. So, take a deep breath, a leap of faith and dive into the electronic ocean.
What can you wholesale in electronics domain?
You can wholesale all the high-demand electronics products in India, including but not limited to:
- Laptops
- Lights
- Wires
- Tvs,
- Power banks,
- Home theatres,
- DSLRs,
- Drones,
- Projectors,
- Gamepads,
- Keyboards,
- Electric trimmer,
- Hair dryers,
- UPS,
- Desktops,
- Mobile cables,
- Smart door locks,
- Smart watches,
- Keyboards, and
- External hard drives
Not just new but used electronic gadgets too could be appealing wholesale business ideas in 2024.
You can go after electronic wholesale business ideas with low investment or you can infuse high capital. It totally is dependent on the products you chose, the sourcing leads, and the location where you ship/wholesale electronic products.
Let me know if you need any support to start your own electronic wholesale business ideas in India in 2024. When I’m in USA, UK, then maybe I’ll be able to help out the entrepreneurs there start as well. For now, if you are an entrepreneur from UK, USA, Australia, Philippines, then I can help you in setting up the website, app, and in marketing.
Ready for a list of electronics and electrical business ideas?
4. Textile- Fashion and Clothes wholesale business ideas
textile
Textile related wholesale business ideas in India can be started in Villages and of course in cities. Kids, Men, Women, and Home Furnishing are the top 4 clothing verticals where you can start your own clothing wholesale business in India. This too is one of the simple and easy-to-get-in wholesale business ideas to try in 2024. This is a very profitable industry but the trick here is that you need to have a knack about colors, trends, and style.
- GoFashions from Tirupur in India recently had an amazing IPO, where they kind of doubled the investor money. The founder has built an empire worth 3000+ crores in 10 years.
Things are always evolving in the fashion world. New trends are born every week/month in the fashion, apparel, and home furnishing business. The faster trends are born, the faster it dies too. Some do stay for long but most trends lose their shine in no time.
What can you wholesale in the textile segment?
Here are some of the products which are in high-demand across textile markets in India, and abroad as well:
- curtains,
- bedsheets,
- pillow covers,
- floor coverings,
- crochets in the home furnishing vertical,
- kurta,
- sarees,
- jeans,
- shirts,
- kurti,
- salwar,
- lehenga,
- dupatta,
- palazzos,
- shararas,
- trackpants,
- shorts,
- ethnic wears, etcetera .
Thanks to technology, today you can start your online wholesale business ideas from the comfort of your home and ship to UK, USA, Philippines, and 100+ countries right from India. Look at Alibaba. What they do is phenomenal.
Let me know if you need my help in starting an e-commerce store for clothing & textile related wholesale business ideas in India, UK, USA, Philippines.
Usually, these are already popular wholesale categories, but there are a few more wholesale business ideas that many aren’t aware of. For example, the wholesale opportunity in the pharma & healthcare industry… wait, why not let’s add one of the wholesale business ideas from the medical world itself. I’ll discuss one right away, but before that I’ve an appeal to make checkout business ideas for Bihar, and Kolkata and if you know anyone from these states in India, ask them to try entrepreneurship.
5. Hospital equipment(s) wholesale opportunity
hospital equipments
This wholesale business idea might be new to a few of you. We are so lost among all the distractions that we fail to spot business opportunities around us. Medical sector is one such area that we all interact with but never think about starting a business in it. So, here I’m sharing with you some of the common hospital and healthcare related products that we can consider to start hospital equipment related wholesale business ideas in India:
- Baby care equipments,
- MRI scanner machines,
- Medical imaging system,
- Laryngoscopes,
- Microscopes,
- Diagnostic instruments,
- Surgical needles,
- Weighing scales,
- Hospital furniture,
- Hospital clothing,
- Bone screws,
- Microtomes,
- Projectors,
- Sterilization equipments,
- Syringe, and
- Needle destroyer
Manufacturing hospital equipment is also an opportunity but would be a high cost intensive business, and is suggested only if you have > 2-5 crores money to invest. Syringe manufacturing would be a comparatively low budget project but still that too would need an investment of 30–50 Lakhs. But yeah, you can definitely sell syringes in wholesale 😉
The theme of this post is wholesale business ideas, so we would refrain from further detailing any healthcare equipment manufacturing business ideas. But you can check some good manufacturing business ideas on the dedicated blog.
Where to start hospital equipment(s) wholesale business ideas?
Hospital equipment(s) sales, by default, falls under b2b wholesale business ideas. So, when you run after any wholesale business ideas catering to the medical equipment, do make sure that it is in a locality with high number of hospital density.
So far we have discussed Home, Healthcare, Fashion, Electronics, and FMCG related wholesale business ideas in India. Next, we shall discuss Agriculture, Furniture, Real-estate, Leather, and Fitness focused wholesale business ideas for 2024. By the way, I’ve an interesting story (news) that you must be aware of if you’re chasing any of fitness products wholesale business ideas. Wanna hear? Head to idea 9 on this list 😉
6. Agriculture related wholesale business ideas
Agriculture & farming
India is primarily an agriculture dependent country but that’s changing fast with development in the fields of IT, communication and manufacturing technology. We, at a point had 70% population working in the agriculture sector but that stat has now come down to 60%. It’s slowly shifting to more affluent economy. It’s not like we would totally stop engaging in agriculture. That’s probably impossible as long as humankind is gonna be in existence.
At any time, we shall be producing more staples than we are consuming, so agriculture is always going to be there. Esp, in a country of vegetarians, agriculture will not just be surviving but thriving as long as we are on the planet. It’s just that the sector will become more digitized and will operate more efficiently. And digitization & efficiency should and must attract an entrepreneur’s eyeballs which is on a lookout for wholesale business ideas.
Start your own agricultural products distribution and wholesaling business
- Start a agricultural machinery wholesale outlet – Sprayers, transplanters, diggers, shredder, harrow cultivator, stub /7 chaff cutter, etcetera
- Start a seeds & fertilizers wholesale business
- Become a crop produce’s wholesale distributor in India – cereals, pulses, coconut & coir, dairy, vegetables, etcetera
- Launch a tobacco products wholesaling business
- Start spices wholesale business in India. This is a popular agriculture related export opportunity as well. More on that in the article on Agriculture related business ideas.
Here’s a list of business ideas for small towns, villages, and rural areas.
7. Wholesale furniture business ideas
Furniture products
Do you know of an office, house, kitchen, hospitals, or amusement park in India which doesn’t make use of furniture? Nope, right? I don’t either. No matter which section of the economy a person belongs to they definitely have wooden, plastic, or steel furniture. They buy it from retail businesses. And retail entrepreneurs buy it from you i.e., distributor businesses. Wholesalers or distributors are b2b businesses that source products from manufacturers in bulk and supply them to retailers. So, do you aspire to get into furniture wholesale business ideas in 2024?
Market-status for furniture wholesale business ideas
Furniture wholesale is a big market in India, and getting into furniture wholesale business ideas in India in 2024 could be highly profitable as consumers have more disposable income then they ever had. Because of the 2020 surprise, most of us have to spend our year indoors, and so we have started spending a lot on home interiors of which furniture is a big part.
Now, once we start re-visiting friends and family, the ripple effect will take place. What do I mean?
Remember, earlier how ads used to come that Sharma’s wife bought a new fridge (I guess the whirlpool ad), so I need it to.
Same logic will now apply as “Mishra’s wife bought a 3 seater sofa, I need it in our house too!”. Lol. I have seen this happening. It happens when a neighbor buys a Car, TV, Washing machine, Sofa, or even when they go on a vacation or a trip. Envy is real, and kinda good too. Jealousy is bad. BTW, do read our collection of online business ideas. We have some good eCommerce business ideas as well.
You can start the following furniture wholesale business ideas in India in 2024:
- Living room and plastic furniture – Sofa set, furniture sofa, Chair, Designer sofa, Table
- Wooden sofa, wardrobes, and furniture wholesale business
- Metal furniture, steel almirah, metal table, steel chair, etcetera. Basically, metal/steel furniture wholesaling business.
- Kitchen and dining furniture
- Furniture racks and shelves wholesale business
- hospital and medical furniture, beds, mattresses, medical trolley
- Door, window frame, panel and shutters wholesale store
- Trade show and exhibition equipment.
Furniture wholesale business ideas will be as affluent as the real-estate businesses. Let’s talk about wholesale business ideas related to the real-estate sector 🙂
8. Building and construction material wholesale business ideas
construction material
Some of the high volume building and construction materials that you can consider to try real-estate related wholesale business ideas-
- PVC drip mould,
- Aluminium formworks,
- Ceramic bricks,
- Concrete admixture,
- Concrete blocks,
- Gray robo sand,
- River sand,
- Cement,
- Waterproofing additives,
- Plaster chips,
- Marbles,
- Paints,
- Limestone chips,
- Road concrete,
- Metal bars,
- Plaster ingredients – plaster of paris materials.
Other than these materials, there are machinery too to make these products.
If you are more of a machine person then you may also consider venturing into building & construction machinery wholesale business ideas.
Construction machinery or construction material wholesale business?
But I think, if it’s your first time in the construction business and if you are not that acquainted with the industry then it’s better to first start as a construction material wholesaler than a machinery wholesaler. This would help you get a first hand experience of what exactly is in trends, you will understand the nuances of the construction industry and that would help you in the machinery business if you start it in the future.
The obvious counter for the last line would be, you can learn that from books and by hiring the right talent too. You’re right. You can. If you feel comfortable that way, I’m not stopping you, Instead I’ll be your cheerleader 😀
Check our collection of upcoming business ideas.
9. Fitness products and equipment wholesale business ideas
fitness products
The wholesale business ideas in this segment are very sensitive in terms of human lives. Because if the products that we consume are not human friendly or interfere with natural human body functioning, then it could be life-threatening.
Just a few days back, I was reading about a cartel that got exposed in the Muzaffarnagar area of Uttar pradesh district in India. The cartel was into protein powder manufacturing and supply business. But the problem is that they manufacture using cheap and poisonous materials which can claim human lives or give birth to serious health ailments. Plus, they were not selling it as local or their own brand instead they were into counterfeiting popular international brands from USA, UK and Indian fitness product brands. The material that was seized from them was worth more than INR 2-3 Crores. So, you can imagine the scale of crime and how many people would have got affected because of fake products in all these years.
There are many more such cartels that are into counterfeiting goods – from electronic and textiles to all the way down to skincare products and health consumables. Fitness equipment brands are no exception. So, beware of your source – make sure that before you venture into wholesale business ideas in the fitness industry, you personally visit and verify the manufacturing unit and the practices that they follow.
Top products in the fitness products & equipment wholesale business
- Gym equipment wholesale product ideas – treadmills, step climbers, exercise bikes, benches, multipurpose fitness training machines, dumbbells, kettlebell, medicine ball, resistance bands, leg, chest, shoulder press machines, pilates, massage gun, ropes, etcetera. New fitness stores are coming up in almost every tier 2 and tier 3 cities in India. And so, this is a perfect wholesale business idea to consider for 2024 in India.
- Protein & health consumables wholesale ideas – protein powder of different brands, protein cakes, multivitamin products, hair care products, peanut butters, packaged nutritious food subscription boxes, etcetera.
- Fitness apparels wholesale business ideas – gym bags, bottles, wrist bands, trackpants, sweat shirts, specs, towel, shorts, mat, etcetera
If I had the right amount of money, and if I was not a tech freak, then I would have definitely opened a gym. Yes, I love gym business, and my gym would have been next to a beach or if I was opening it in North India, then it would have been next to a big, big, really big pool. Fantasies 😀
Find some more profitable business ideas for 2024.
10. Leather products wholesale business ideas
leather products
The fitness related wholesale business ideas we discussed is something close to my heart – fitness equipment and products. After education, books, and technology – fitness and creative art is something I love which also includes fashion business. But I really dislike anything related to the leather products business. I mean, it involves killing or taking leather out of dead animals’ bodies – and so I find it really disturbing, especially because I care about how we treat animals. Anyways, lots of people do buy the leather products and the luxury experience that comes with it. And many would consider my thoughts as dumb and not mature as ultimately we all are hunting in some way or the other, and the only way of not hunting is go dead (which is so dumb and shameful). So, I thought of mentioning leather related wholesale business ideas as well but in short.
Strategy for leather products wholesale market
- You can start a wholesale business of leather bags and apparels.
- South India is a hub of leather manufacturing in India, so you may consider sourcing products from south India and wholesale it in different Indian cities.
An out of topic appeal but dear Non-vegetarian guys, please stop questioning vegetarians to try meat. Here’s my why: Initially, when I was a kid, I was forced not to eat non-veg because we are brahmins. But when I grew up and went away from my parents to receive higher education, I had an option to eat non-veg. Plus, if you are a vegetarian you would know the peer pressure that your friends create for you to become non-vegetarian. Still, I chose not to eat meat because hurting animals is something that I would never do until it’s a question of my own survival. BTW – it’s not like I never ate meat – I did chew 1 each of fish and chicken pieces but that was just once. I made it clear to myself that no, I am not gonna succumb to peer pressure, I am not someone who can hurt animals to fill my stomach. I was an eggholic person but I stopped eating eggs too. Non-vegetarians would be like -> “Toh khata kya hai tu?”. Lol. You can continue creating peer pressure, I will stay loyal to my principles.
Anyways, we can always discuss this in detail later. Here are a few innovative business ideas for you.
Tada ..but here are some more wholesale opportunities for 2024:
Let us know if you need help in starting any of the wholesale business ideas in India. I love entrepreneurs. Let’s make the world safer and better. I’ll conclude this list of wholesale business ideas for India, UK, USA, Philippines with some more haute opportunities 😉 Here they are-
- Wrapping products like fancy ribbons, sheets, eco-friendly bags, poly bags, paper bags
- Seasonal wholesale products like Christmas lantern
- Event supplies
- Shop products
- Food packaging materials
- Gardening & exterior products
- Nursing care products
- Stationery and craft
- Interior plants
- Shoes wholesale
- Books wholesale business
With that list a I would like to bid adieu. Keep hustling towards a better you!
Tada, Nishant.
