For just about every brand under the sun, getting into more stores is the goal. It’s one of the most sure-fire ways to grow your wholesale business. To that end, a B2B marketplace can look like a straightforward way to make it happen: upload the catalog, get in front of buyers, and wait for new accounts to come in.
The appeal of a marketplace makes sense! Finding retailers takes time, and a marketplace offers access to buyers who are already looking for products. It can introduce your brand to a store you might never have found through your own outreach. Some of those introductions might even turn into valuable accounts.
But putting products in front of buyers only addresses part of the work. The retailer still needs a reason to make room for your brand, and an opening order leaves plenty to do before that account becomes a dependable part of your business.
In our experience, the relationships between retailers and brands are always built through direct efforts and genuine interactions between people. Attending a trade show creates opportunities to meet buyers and walk through the line. Independent reps and rep groups bring established connections, while agencies can help brands enter unfamiliar markets. Referrals and thoughtful outreach open conversations that a catalog listing may never start.
Marketplaces can support that effort, but expecting them to be the foundation of your entire wholesale channel puts too much weight on exposure and too little on the relationships that help a brand earn its place in a store.
A retail buyer has a limited budget and a finite amount of space. Bringing in your brand means committing some of both, often at the expense of another product or an existing vendor. Your catalog has to give them a reason to consider that decision, but they may need more help before they feel comfortable making it.
Consider a specialty footwear buyer looking at a new line. A marketplace can inform the buyer if the product might be a good fit, but that marketplace can’t help the buyer understand how it will sit alongside the brands already on the wall, or how to smartly choose an opening assortment, or instill confidence that the brand can replenish key sizes during the season.
For that you need a rep, someone whole can build a real relationship based on trust and mutual success. A rep who can work through the questions a marketplace can’t answer. They can explain where the line fills a gap and recommend an initial commitment that makes sense for that account. These conversations give the buyer something useful to work with beyond a product page.
The same work continues after the first order. Helping a retailer succeed with the product gives them a reason to reorder and consider a larger commitment next season. If your growth strategy stops at getting discovered, you will leave much of that opportunity unattended.
Recent B2B research shows that established relationships carry significant weight with retailers. Forrester found that 79% of B2B buyers trust vendors they currently work with as a source of information. Familiarity gives those vendors an advantage over a marketplace discovery, because buyers have experience to draw on when deciding whose guidance to use.
Forrester’s 2025 Buyers’ Journey Survey also found that 68% of B2B buyers had a preferred vendor at the beginning of their purchasing process. That preferred vendor won the business 80% of the time.
For wholesale brands, the practical lesson is to make connections face-to-face and build genuine relationships with retailers. Marketplaces can be a place to be discovered, but they aren’t an effective tool for building a fruitful partnership with a new retailer. Useful conversations at a trade show, or a rep that follows up with an assortment suited to the store, or an in-store clinic to educate the staff are the kind of interactions that give retailers confidence about choosing to carry your brand.
Being on a marketplace can serve a purpose, as it gets your name in front of the retailer and creates some familiarity. The more consequential decision is whether that marketplace becomes the main place an established retailer interacts with your brand. But don’t allow that marketplace to become the primary method of your retailer relationships and account acquisition.
In a shared marketplace, your products sit within an environment built to serve many brands. The operator sets the rules for discovery and controls much of the buying experience. Depending on the platform, your team may have less flexibility over how collections are presented or how much supporting content appears alongside them.
That’s a loss of critical control when the way you present the line is part of how you sell it. An outdoor brand may need to explain the intended use of technical products before a buyer can build a sensible assortment. An apparel brand may want to merchandise a seasonal collection together so the retailer understands how the pieces work on the floor.
Ultimately, when you become part of a marketplace, your merchandising and storytelling are limited, the retailer is interacting with someone else’s platform instead of your brand, and the relationship between the salesperson, your brand, and the buyer becomes less direct.
It is nearly impossible to maintain a strong, mutually beneficial relationship with your retailers under those conditions.
Retailers have good reasons to want self-service. A store owner catching up on buying after closing should be able to check availability and place a re-order without waiting for someone to return an email. Making those tasks easier respects the buyer’s time.
Research on digital buying and sales reps from Gartner reflects that preference. In a survey of B2B buyers, 70% preferred a completely digital, self-service buying experience. But the same research found that 69% preferred to validate AI-generated insights with sales reps, suggesting that buyers still seek human input when they need confidence in the information they are using.
A digital experience delivers convenience and much needed autonomy for buyers. Reps deliver advice, collaboration and shared goals, building trust between the brand and the retailer. A marketplace can only potentially fulfill a small part of that need, but your brand needs to deliver both.
The aim should be to make buying easier while keeping help close at hand. A retailer should be able to move forward independently and bring their rep into the conversation when the decision needs more attention.
Once you have established a retailer relationship, give that buyer a clear place to work directly with your brand. The experience should feel like a continuation of the conversations they have already had with your team.
Your merchandising should help the buyer understand the line, with relevant product content available as they shop. Their account pricing and applicable programs should be clear, so they can build an order with confidence. When they need support, they should know how to reach the person who understands their business.
For a seasonal brand, that might mean a buyer starts with a collection their rep recommended and builds a prebook around the store’s needs. Later in the season, they return to the same destination to replenish available products. And your rep needs to be able to see all of that activity (and more) inside of your B2B platform, because it’s critical information the rep can use to make the next conversation more useful..
Owning that destination does not require building software from scratch. But it does mean choosing a wholesale platform that gives your brand appropriate control over the experience and lets your team manage its retailer relationships directly. Unfortunately, marketplaces fall short in this regard.
At Envoy B2B, we believe digital wholesale should strengthen the relationships brands work hard to build. Our approach brings retailer self-service and rep support into the same wholesale environment, helping buyers work independently while keeping the sales team connected to the account.
We know that Marketplaces can have a role in that broader business by introducing new retailers to your brand. But brands should evaluate that contribution through the quality of the accounts and their repeat business, rather than assuming that access to a large buyer audience will deliver growth by itself.
Getting into the right doors still takes deliberate work. As such, those connections are best made in person, and trade shows remain one of the best ways to connect with new retailers. Grassroots Outdoor Alliance has the discovery marketplace at their show, where retailers can find new or emerging brands in person. The Running Event has Switchback, another opportunity for emerging brands to connect with retailers. Ultimately, there are plenty of opportunities for brands to connect with new retailers in person, in a meaningful way
And after that connection is made, your team has to earn the buyer’s interest and help the store succeed once the product arrives. A marketplace listing cannot carry that responsibility for you, and doesn’t create the opportunity you need to develop a genuine opportunity.
Once you have earned a retailer’s trust, give them a reason to keep working directly with your brand. Make everyday buying convenient, and keep your sales team involved where they can help the account grow. That gives the relationship a stronger foundation for the next season and a clear place to continue.