High street discounter Poundworld has recently launched a wholesale website to cater for smaller retailers.
At a time when the high street is in decline, Poundworld’s success has been exceptional: it now has more than 180 stores and earlier this month announced that its grocery sales increased by 87.7 per cent over the 12 months to May 2012.
The retailer has now launched www.discount-wholesale.co.uk in the relatively ‘untapped’ discount wholesale market, by offering approximately 2000 of its products online to bulk-purchasing retailers, such as independent shops, market traders and eBay sellers.
Although Poundworld already sells some of its store stock on a wholesale basis, the retailer believes that its online venture could see its wholesale revenue increase from £1m to £5m.
It will be interesting to see how successful the wholesale website is; the disproportionate costs involved with selling low-priced goods has hindered the growth of other such websites in the past, with, for example, Poundstretcher closing its similar website earlier this year after just two years of operation.