How to Set Up Your First Wholesale Price List in 2026

When transitioning from Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) to B2B, creating your first wholesale price list in 2026 is often the biggest hurdle. Pricing your products incorrectly can result in squeezed margins or lost retail partnerships.

To succeed in wholesale, you need a pricing strategy that protects your profitability while giving retailers enough room to make their own margins. Relying on scattered spreadsheets to manage custom pricing tiers is a recipe for invoicing errors.

In this guide, we will break down exactly how to calculate your wholesale margins, structure pricing tiers, and easily set up a wholesale price list in VNDLY.

Understanding Retail vs. Wholesale Margins

Before creating a price list, you need to establish your Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) and your wholesale price.

Retailers typically expect a keystone markup, which means they want to sell your product for double what they paid you. If a retailer buys a product from you for $50, they expect the MSRP to be $100. This gives them a 50% gross margin.

Industry Averages for Profit Margins (2026 Data)

Depending on your sales channel, your margins will look vastly different:

If your wholesale margins dip below 30%, you need to either negotiate better supplier terms or increase your MSRP.

Structuring Your B2B Pricing Tiers

You rarely have just one wholesale price. Most businesses scale by offering volume-based incentives. Common tier structures include:

• Tier 1 (Boutiques): Standard 50% off MSRP. Low minimum order quantity (MOQ).
• Tier 2 (Key Accounts): 55% off MSRP. Requires a higher quarterly spend.
• Tier 3 (Distributors): 60-70% off MSRP. Buying by the pallet or container.

Managing these tiers manually is where most brands stumble. Entering the wrong price on a sales order eats directly into your bottom line.

How to Set Up a Price List in VNDLY

VNDLY makes price list management completely effortless. Whether you need a sales price list for wholesale customers or a purchase price list for your suppliers, VNDLY handles it securely.

Here is the step-by-step process for creating your first wholesale price list:

Once assigned, every time you create a new Sales Order for that retailer, VNDLY will automatically pull the correct pricing from their assigned list. No more cross-referencing PDFs or Excel sheets.

From the Founder: The Spreadsheet Nightmare

Best Practices for Maintaining Price Lists

1. Review Landed Costs Quarterly: Freight and raw material costs fluctuate. Use VNDLY's Landed Cost tracking to see your true margins. If your landed cost creeps up, your wholesale price needs to adjust.
2. Use Purchase Price Lists: Don't just track what you charge; track what you pay. Set up supplier price lists in VNDLY so your Purchase Orders automatically populate with negotiated rates.
3. Audit Customer Assignments: Twice a year, review your B2B customers. Did a "Tier 1" boutique stop ordering? Move them to standard retail. Did they double their volume? Promote them to a better tier to reward loyalty.

If you are currently evaluating operations software, check out our guide on how VNDLY compares to alternatives like Katana MRP to see if our B2B features are right for you.