For many business owners, there are few models more effective than buying wholesale online. The digital world simplifies the process of sourcing products both near and far. Plus, thanks to the wide selection of suppliers on the web, it’s easier to choose a unique selection of products today than ever.
The biggest challenge is figuring out where you’re going to get the items you need, for a price you can afford. Online wholesalers like Tundra are all about bridging the gap between retailers and their suppliers. Tundra knows that sourcing amazing products can be difficult, with a lot of complicated paperwork and multiple admin steps often involved.
That’s why Tundra decided to offer a different kind of wholesaling experience. The modern marketplace assists independent retailers and business owners in finding and stocking up on products from Canadian and US brands quickly and affordably.
Let’s take a closer look.
What is Tundra?
Defined by the husband-and-wife founders (Arnold and Katie Engel) as the place where wholesale happens, Tundra originally launched in 2017. The platform, designed to improve the buying process and limit inefficiencies, allows today’s business owners to buy directly from leading brands, without paying a huge price tag.
There are no transaction fees, and you get a fantastic business-to-business deal that can save you a lot of cash on stock. If you pay for the PRO package, you’ll also get access to free shipping. To access this package, you’ll need to spend around $500 per month on Tundra.
The team who created Tundra previously ran a supply chain business known as Vox Supply Chain, but they understand that the wholesale market is usually an inefficient place. Disorganized shopping experiences and transaction fees often scare would-be retailers away.
Tundra, on the other hand, allows suppliers to showcase their products on the platform, which looks and feels just like a standard B2C marketplace. You can visit the platform to shop for products by choosing specific segments or tags. You can also search for keywords to find the products you want and check the quality of items with ratings.
Each item comes with a unique wholesale minimum to consider, and you can check things like supplier performance metrics before you sign up.
How Does Tundra Work for Buyers?
For business leaders looking to build an online store packed full of unique products, Tundra is a dream come true. There are more than 3,000 brands to choose from, and each offers the lowest fee available. The brands are either US or Canadian based, so you know you’re getting good quality. You also get free shipping that’s fast enough to ensure you never run out of stock.
To improve your bottom-line earnings, Tundra guarantees prices below standard wholesale costs, combined with fantastic free transactions.
The Tundra guarantee applies one of two badges to any available wholesaler on the platform. The Gold badge guarantees best price and lowest minimum possible,
To ensure that you can get the best deal possible, Tundra has eliminated all needless fees for suppliers, and they get their revenue from advertising instead. This allows brands to pass on the savings of a non-commission process to you.
You can shop with confidence from hundreds of thousands of products (about 800,000), and many of the top brands offer around 10%+ off standard wholesale prices. The process works like this:
- Sign up for an account with Tundra
- Use #tags and filters to find products for your business
- Choose the items you want from independent brands at the lowest price
- Place your order with automatic freight checkout calculations
- Access optional extras like prepaid duties and taxes, or insurance
- Enjoy ultra-fast delivery with real-time notifications and updates.
How is Tundra Different for Buyers?
Tundra promises to offer the cheapest prices from the widest range of reputable suppliers, and you get free shipping included. Free shipping will be available on all brands marked with the corresponding icons.
Free shipping does have some limitations from Tundra. For instance, you can only order a maximum of $150 in shipping costs, or around 10% of the product cost for the shipment. You will also get a standard shipping service (not a premium option).
Additionally, free shipping is only available if you’re on the PRO user package. PRO memberships are free to access if you’re paying more than $500 per month on Tundra. Once you unlock the free shipping service, you’ll get free shipping on purchases over $150 with a single brand.
Here are a few other terms you’ll need to know when using Tundra:
- Net Terms: This is a feature you can apply for with Tundra. Net Terms are free when you pay before the due date. With approval, you can place an order with Net Terms when moving through the checkout process.
- Lowest direct pricing: Users are buying directly from the supplier for their products, so there’s no commission, markup or cut of the order to keep in mind. This means that you get the lowest direct price, particularly with free shipping.
- Samples: You will need to be a PRO member to try a sample of any product. This happens when you spend more than $500 during one month on a single product.
- Placing orders: You’ll be able to place orders for any product you like online, using the dropdown menus for the configuration, delivery, and quantity requirements. When you visit the shopping cart, you’ll be able to review product selections and finish the checkout process, with the option to enter credit card details. If you don’t pay during checkout with a credit card, you will need to pay via invoice.
- Reselling: You can sell products on your own website, but you won’t be able to buy third-party products on other marketplaces like Amazon or eBay. Tundra will block any user attempting to do this.
- Order tracking: You can find real-time updates of your order delivery by clicking into your account and visiting your Purchases page. All updates regarding production, payment and shipping are available. Tundra ships to 106 countries, so you should have no problem getting the items you need.
- Business only: You’re not able to buy any items from Tundra as a customer. This is a business-only wholesale provider.
How Does Tundra Work for Suppliers?
There are two ways to join Tundra, either as a buyer, or a supplier. If you’re a supplier of wholesale products, then you can apply to list your items alongside some of the top market leaders in the world. Tundra allows you to create your own storefront for selling, and you keep 100% of your revenue, because there aren’t any transaction fees or commissions to worry about.
The Tundra system runs around the clock to continue supplying you with orders and reorders, and uploading your products into the system is extremely straightforward. Since you already have a ton of exposure through the Tundra platform, it’s easy to get started. Premium features for sellers include:
- Free shipping to help accelerate your sales
- Exposure to an existing audience with a custom storefront
- Analytics dashboard for tracking key metrics
- Preferred product order placement
- Email marketing functionality
- Endless scalability
- 0% commissions and additional fees
To get started, all you need to do is set up your storefront on the Tundra platform. Upload the products for your wholesale marketplace storefront, just like you would on a site like Faire. You can also upload products to Tundra from Shopify, or send the company a CSV download of everything you have to sell.
Small business buyers will then find your store on Tundra.com, just like customers would find sellers on an online marketplace like Etsy. The buyer places the order through Tundra, and the supplier gets paid within 1-2 days of shipping. It’s a pretty straightforward process.
To make things even better for store owners, shipping is free for a lot of people on this zero-commission site. You just need to print and attach your Tundra wholesale label, and Tundra will handle the rest.
Why Do Suppliers Like Tundra?
Tundra is great for suppliers who usually showcase their products through trade shows and want an easier way to reach a wider audience.
Tundra definitely gained a lot of attention last year during the pandemic, as a way for companies to find a wider range of buyers.
You can get set up on the platform in a matter of minutes, and there aren’t any long-term fees to worry about. Fulfilment is much easier for the average distributor than with many e-commerce sites, and Tundra takes all of the hassle out of shipping.
Another major benefit is that Tundra blocks all Amazon resellers from buying, so you know that other companies won’t be able to sell your products on third-party marketplaces. All of the buyers who purchase through Tundra are also screened.
Although this might be a pain for buyers, it means that you’re less likely to be exposed to fraud if you decide to use Tundra to increase your profit margins. You won’t always get the same protection from other solutions like Redpoint.
You’ll always know exactly who is buying products from your supply chain company, and you can manage everything from the same wholesale platform. It’s even easy to add MAP to your product and Tundra.com will enforce it with buyers for you.
Quick Questions about Tundra
If you still have questions about Tundra, even after reading the product reviews online, and our insights here, it might be worth reaching out to the company. The brand has an FAQ page where you can find the answer to some common questions like “what do I do if my order arrives damaged?” The answer to this is simple: connect with the help team and don’t accept the goods.
Here are some other things you might want to know about Tundra:
Is support available?
Yes, you can contact Tundra if you have worries about damaged products arriving at your retail store or payment terms. PRO buyers get a dedicated text and phone support line.
How are orders shipped?
Tundra works with the leading logistics partners around Canada and the US to get items to buyers as quickly as possible. Most shipments arrive with DHL, FedEx or UPS. Larger shipments arrive with trucking, air or ocean..
What shipping options are there?
You can choose from a range of shipping speed options when making your purchase. Most of the free shipping solutions will be ground shipping, so keep this in mind.
How does Tundra make money?
A bit like social media websites, it can be difficult to determine how Tundra makes a living at first. The company doesn’t charge any subscription fees or markups. Instead, the cash the brand gets comes from advertising services. Brandscan pay for additional brand exposure and promotion features, as well as expedited shipping and other features.
Does Tundra ship everywhere?
No, but it does ship to around 206 countries, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a solution. You can contact the brand if you have trouble finding a shipping option suitable for your company.
Do I pay via invoice?
You can make payments for your orders through a wire transfer or credit card. Banking details will be supplied on an invoice emailed to you with an order confirmation.
Can I get a pro-forma invoice?
Pro-Forma invoices are available for any products added to your basket when you click the “Download Quote” option. You will need to be signed into your account to add products to a basket and get a quote.
Do I need a website to place an order?
Tundra is available exclusively for business buyers. However, that doesn’t mean that you need a website to make a purchase. You’ll be able to complete a transaction provided you can prove you’re a business or an organization. You can include a link to your company’s social media page when signing up to prove your status.
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