Cash and carry wholesalers form a special segment of the wholesale sector. These businesses combine the most important features of wholesalers with features that are more common for retail businesses – here is how they operate:
- Cash and carry wholesalers usually operate from large warehouses that are usually not located in the city center, which is one of the factors that allows them to maintain their prices relatively low;
- Customers usually buy the products they want by walking around the store and picking the items from large shelves, but modern cash and carry wholesalers are nowadays offering the possibility to order products online, using the catalogs published on their websites, they offer wholesale bar supplies, chef tools, and so much more;
- Their customers are not only other wholesalers, institutional buyers, caterers, retailers and other professional buyers, but individuals as well;
- The buyers settle the invoice that represents the products they have bought on the spot, in cash and then they carry away the goods they have bought – hence the name. However, many cash and carry wholesalers offer transport and delivery services, but these services are usually not free;
- Cash and carry wholesalers buy their inventories directly from manufacturers – another feature that allows them to keep their prices lower than retailers.