How Surf Brands Sell Wholesale

1. The brand shows the new line to shop buyers, often months ahead of the season.
2. Shops place orders for future delivery, sometimes called prebooks.
3. Orders specify styles, sizes, quantities and a ship window.
4. The warehouse picks and packs the order to the shop's or retailer's rules.
5. The order ships as parcels for a small shop or as freight for a large one.
6. The brand invoices, often on payment terms rather than up front.
7. Shops reorder fast sellers during the season.

Surf shops buy ahead of their busy season, so wholesale demand often lands before direct-to-consumer demand peaks. That timing matters for inventory: stock committed to shops is stock you cannot sell online. See allocating stock between DTC and wholesale.

A prepack is a carton with a fixed size ratio, for example one small, two mediums, two larges and one extra large. Larger retailers often order in prepacks so every store gets a sensible size spread. If a buyer asks for prepacks, agree the ratio in writing before the order is picked.

Larger accounts usually come with a routing guide and EDI. Read those before the first purchase order arrives.

Accessories change the picture a little. Hats, stickers, bags and other small goods often sell well at the register in a surf shop, and they are usually ordered alongside apparel. Keep them on the same order and in the same shipment where you can. A shop would rather receive one complete delivery than several partial ones, and one shipment costs you less to send. If a buyer wants display units or counter displays, agree how they are packed before the order is picked, because a display that arrives damaged cannot go on the counter.

The hardest part is not the wholesale order itself. It is keeping both channels supplied from one inventory without running a size out online because a shop took it, or holding back stock for a shop that never reorders.

• Decide how much stock to hold for wholesale before the season starts.
• Keep wholesale ship windows on one calendar with your drops.
• Track sell-through at shops to plan reorders.
• Use one warehouse for both, so stock is never split across buildings.

At OC3PL, direct-to-consumer orders and wholesale purchase orders ship from the same warehouse and the same inventory, with retail-compliant labeling, ASNs and palletized freight for stores. Small wholesale orders can ship as parcels. See surf brand fulfillment and surf-shop wholesale operations.

Wholesale often runs on payment terms, which means the shop pays some weeks after receiving the goods rather than when it orders. That is normal, but it affects cash. Plan for the gap between paying your factory and getting paid by shops, especially in the months before summer when both production and wholesale shipments peak.

Shops reorder from brands that ship complete, on time and as promised. A short shipment, a late delivery or a carton of mixed-up sizes is remembered. Accurate picking and on-time shipping are part of how a surf brand earns its place on a shop wall.

• Ship within the agreed window.
• Ship complete orders, or tell the shop early about anything short.
• Pack sizes the way the shop asked.
• Include a packing list in every carton.
• Follow up on sell-through and offer reorders on what is working.