<h2>New Brands Are How Stores Stay Relevant — and How Cash Gets Trapped</h2>
<p>Your customers notice when the shelf feels stale. They also notice when you markdown the same dead SKU for the third month in a row. Evaluating new wholesale brands is the balance between those two outcomes.</p>
<p>This checklist is designed for independent retailers ordering from brands they have not carried before — especially in a marketplace where discovery is easy but diligence still matters.</p>
<h3>1. Margin after all costs</h3>
<p>Wholesale price is not margin. Calculate:</p>
<ul>
<li>Land cost (product + inbound freight if not included)</li>
<li>Expected shrink and returns</li>
<li>Staff time to receive, tag, and merchandise</li>
<li>Payment terms impact on cash (net 30 vs. prepay)</li>
</ul>
<p>If you cannot hit your target margin after those lines, the brand needs a different role — limited drop, online-only, or pass.</p>
<h3>2. Sell-through story, not just aesthetic</h3>
<p>Ask: <em>Who buys this, how often, and at what velocity in stores like mine?</em></p>
<p>Look for:</p>
<ul>
<li>Similar retail formats carrying the line (not just DTC hype)</li>
<li>Clear use case for your customer (gift, staple, impulse, destination)</li>
<li>Seasonality that matches your floor calendar</li>
</ul>
<h3>3. MOQ and case pack fit</h3>
<p>Before you fall in love with the line sheet, confirm the minimums work for your square footage and risk budget. A great product at a 48-unit MOQ is a bad experiment for a single-door shop.</p>
<h3>4. Lead time and reorder reliability</h3>
<p>First orders are marketing. Reorders are operations. Confirm:</p>
<ul>
<li>Standard lead time and rush options</li>
<li>Backorder policy</li>
<li>How they communicate delays (email, portal, nothing — red flag)</li>
</ul>
<h3>5. Connection terms and support</h3>
<p>On Ordrly, brand ↔ retailer relationships run through approved connections — pricing tiers, MOQ rules, and ordering history in one place. That transparency reduces the "surprise invoice" problem that makes retailers hesitate to try someone new.</p>
<h3>6. Exit plan before you buy in</h3>
<p>Every experiment needs a kill criteria:</p>
<ul>
<li>If sell-through is below X units by week 4, markdown or return if allowed</li>
<li>If the SKU needs permanent discounting to move, do not reorder</li>
<li>Cap experiment spend as a percent of open-to-buy for the season</li>
</ul>
<h3>Putting it together</h3>
<p>Discovery should be fast. Diligence should be structured. Ordering should respect MOQ, case packs, and lead times without a chain of emails.</p>
<p><a href="/marketplace">Browse brands on the Ordrly marketplace</a> or <a href="/retail/register">create a retailer account</a> to connect, compare terms, and reorder winners without friction.</p>