Breadth against depth
A wholesaler sells to shops, sports clubs, event suppliers, smaller online sellers and regional distributors. Each of them wants a few items, quickly, and in the size and colour their own customers ask for. That pushes the assortment wider. Minimum orders, freight cost and warehouse space push it the other way: every extra style is another minimum, another carton size and another slow seller left at the end of the season. The aim is the narrowest assortment that still answers the common requests, bought deep enough that the popular items never run out.
In tents and canopies that usually means a small number of structures, each offered in the sizes customers actually buy, in two or three colours. Novelty belongs at the edges of the range, bought shallow. The core is bought deep and reordered.
Depth also depends on how fast a style can be replenished. A canopy style with 20-50 sets per order and a short production run can be bought shallower and reordered within the season. A camping tent style with a 300-500 unit minimum and a longer fabric lead time has to be bought closer to the full season's need. The wholesalers page shows how the desk plans depth per line.
Sizes that earn their place
Wholesale customers rarely want every size. In camping tents, the four and six person dome carry most of the volume, with a two person model for festivals and an eight person model for large families. In canopies, the 10x10 ft size (300x300 cm) is the standard, with 10x15 and 10x20 ft for market stalls and events. In beach products, a two to four person pop-up shelter and a four-pole stretch shade cover most requests. The table shows a starting assortment on three lines; quantities are illustrative and set per order.
| Line | Core sizes (deep) | Edge sizes (shallow) | Colours | Typical starting quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pop-up canopy | 10x10 ft, 40 mm hex aluminium | 10x15 and 10x20 ft, steel consumer frame | White, black, one brand colour | 20-50 sets per style |
| Beach | 3-4 person pop-up shelter, 274x274 cm stretch shade | 2 person shelter, umbrella style | Two neutral, one bright | 300-500 per style |
| Dome camping | 4 and 6 person | 2 and 8 person | Two | 300-500 per style |
Typical starting quantities are those quoted by partner factories for existing styles with your branding, confirmed in writing for each order. A style is usually one structure and size; colour variants of one style can sometimes share the minimum when they share a fabric order, which the desk confirms per factory.
Colour: fewer, better chosen
Colour is the least costly way to make a range look broad and the easiest way to strand stock. Each colour of fly fabric is a separate dyed lot with its own minimum, and slow colours sit in the warehouse long after the best seller has gone. Most wholesale ranges run two core colours per line: a neutral that sells everywhere and one stronger colour that photographs well. Canopies often add white for events and black for markets, because they suit printed walls and banners. Custom colours belong to customers who will buy the whole lot, not to the open assortment.
Grades: one good, one better
Wholesale buyers often need two price points on the same product. In canopies the split is clear: steel square-tube frames for consumer use, 40 mm hexagonal aluminium legs with about 1.1-1.2 mm walls for commercial use, and 50 mm hex for heavy-duty rental fleets. In camping tents the split is usually fibreglass against 7001 aluminium poles and a PE floor against a 150D-210D oxford floor. Keep the grades visibly different on the carton and in the product sheet, so a customer who buys the cheaper grade knows what they bought. See pop-up canopy tents for the frame grades and dome camping tents for pole and floor options.
Cartons, mixed loads and freight
Tents ship by volume, so carton size decides freight cost more than weight does. A 10x10 ft commercial canopy set typically packs into one long carton of about 158x27x27 cm; dome tents pack into shorter cartons of several units; beach shelters pack flat and light. Container fill is calculated per order from the actual carton sizes, and the desk does not quote a standard count per container. Two practical rules help wholesalers:
- Standardise carton counts: a fixed number of units per master carton per style makes picking and reordering simpler for you and your customers.
- Consolidate across factories: canopies from a Linhai partner factory and camping tents from a Jinhua or Ningbo factory can be consolidated into one shipment, with one inspection plan covering each style.
Mark every master carton with style, size, colour, quantity and barcode on at least two faces, and agree pallet patterns with your warehouse before the first load. The packaging and palletizing page covers carton strength and ISTA 1A drop testing.
Spare parts and repeat business
Wholesale customers come back when after-sales is easy. Keep a small stock of spare parts for the core styles: canopy legs, truss bars, top covers and feet; tent pole sections, stakes and guy lines; repair patches for beach shelters. Spare parts ordered with bulk cost far less than parts ordered later, and they turn a complaint into a quick fix for your customer. The spares note lists what to stock.
Reviewing the assortment each season
At the end of each season, rank every style and colour by sell-through and by returns. Styles that sold through early are candidates for deeper buying. Colours that sat are candidates for removal. Returns that cluster around one part, a zip or a leg joint, point to a spec change before the reorder. A wholesale range that changes ten percent of its styles each year, and keeps the rest consistent, is easier for customers to reorder than one that resets every season. Keeping the same structure, poles and carton across the core sizes also protects your customers, who can reorder a familiar product and fit it into shelves, catalogues and listings they have already built.
Typical lead times for existing styles are 30-45 days of production after sample approval, confirmed in writing for each order; see MOQ and lead time. Send a draft assortment through the quote form and the desk will map each style to a partner factory and carton plan.