Product sourcing is the work of finding the products you will sell, choosing who makes or supplies them, checking that supplier and agreeing price, minimums and lead times before the first order. For an online store there are six common routes: buy direct from a manufacturer, buy from a wholesaler or distributor, dropship, sell a private or white label product, meet suppliers at trade fairs, or find them on B2B platforms.
Most sourcing guides stop at the purchase order. This one goes one step further, to the part that decides how fast a new product goes live: the product data you ask the supplier for while you still have leverage. GTINs, specifications with units, images you are allowed to use, compliance documents, the customs code and pack sizes are far easier to get before you pay a deposit than after the goods arrive. The product data sourcing entry in our dictionary covers the data side in short; this guide covers the full sourcing process.
Six sourcing models for an online store, compared
The models differ in who holds the stock, how much you commit up front and how much control you get over the product and its data. Many stores mix them: a private label core range, wholesale brands around it and a few dropshipped products to test demand.
Product sourcing models side by side
| Manufacturer direct | You | High: production minimums | High: specs, packaging, labels | The brand owner (the manufacturer, or you for your own brand) | Spec sheet, factory photos; you often write the content |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesaler or distributor | You | Medium: case packs and order minimums | None: you sell the brand as is | The brand owner, already on the pack | A price list or catalog file, often with brand images |
| Dropshipping | The supplier | Low: you pay per order | None | The brand owner | A feed or CSV, quality varies a lot |
| Private or white label | You | High: minimums plus branding | High (private) or low (white label) | You, as the brand owner | Whatever the factory has; you build the rest |
| Trade fairs | Depends on the deal | Varies | Varies | Depends on the model you agree | Brochures and samples; data follows later |
| B2B platforms and directories | Depends on the supplier | Varies; minimums are listed per product | Varies | Depends on the model | Listing text and photos, rarely complete |
Manufacturers and wholesalers
Buying direct from a manufacturer gives the best unit price and the most say over the product, at the cost of production minimums, longer lead times and more quality control. A wholesaler or distributor buys from many brands and sells in smaller quantities, so you pay more per unit but can order a few case packs at a time.
Dropshipping
With dropshipping the supplier ships each order to your customer, so you hold no stock. It is a cheap way to test a product, but you depend on the supplier for stock levels, shipping speed and packaging, and the product data in a dropship feed is shared with every other store selling the same item. Expect to rewrite titles and descriptions if you want to rank.
Private label and white label
A private label product is made to your specification and sold only under your brand; a white label product is a generic item that several sellers rebrand. The difference matters for exclusivity, minimums and who carries the compliance duties, and our white label vs private label guide goes through it in detail.
Trade fairs and B2B platforms
Trade fairs are where you meet suppliers in person, handle samples and compare a dozen factories in one day. B2B platforms and supplier directories let you search and message suppliers from your desk, which is faster but makes vetting harder: a listing says little about who actually makes the product. Treat both as a way to build a shortlist, not as the decision. Some stores hire a sourcing agent in the supplier country to visit factories and inspect goods; that saves travel, but the agent works on your behalf only as far as the contract says, so the vetting below still applies.
Picking a model by budget, control and catalog size
Three questions narrow the choice quickly: how much cash you can tie up in stock, whether you need a product nobody else sells, and how many SKUs you plan to carry. The flow below is a starting point, not a rule.
Which sourcing model fits
Minimums are usually the deciding number. A factory quote of "MOQ 500" can mean 500 units, 500 per color or 500 cartons, which changes the order by a factor of three or more; the minimum order quantity guide shows how to read and negotiate it. Compare quotes on landed cost, not on the ex-works price: freight, duty and import VAT can add a large share on top of the invoice, as the landed cost worked example shows.
Vetting a supplier before the first purchase order
A good price from a supplier you cannot verify is a risk, not a deal. Before you pay a deposit, check these points and keep the evidence with the supplier record:
- The company exists and is who it says. Check the registration in the national company register and, for an EU supplier, the VAT number in the Commission's VIES service. A trading company is fine, but you should know whether you are talking to the factory or a middleman.
- References and track record. Ask for two or three current customers in your market and call one of them.
- Compliance capability. Ask whether they can supply the EU declaration of conformity and test reports for products that need CE marking, and the safety information your product page has to show. A supplier who has never heard the question is a warning sign for an EU seller.
- Payment and delivery terms in writing. Deposit, balance, Incoterm (EXW, FOB, DDP), lead time from order or from deposit, and what happens if a shipment is late or fails inspection.
- Data delivery. Ask how they send product data (spreadsheet, XML feed, a link to a catalog) and whether updates come as a full file or only the changes. You will receive that file every season.
What to check in a sample order
Order samples of every variant you plan to sell, paid if necessary, and test them as your customer would. A sample is also your first chance to capture product data you can trust, because you are measuring the real item rather than copying a spec sheet.
- Compare the sample with the spec sheet. Dimensions, weight, material, capacity, wattage: measure them. Differences now become wrong product pages and returns later.
- Check the markings and labels. CE marking where it applies, the manufacturer's name and address on the product or packaging, type or batch number, and warnings in the languages of the countries you sell in.
- Photograph it. Even if the supplier provides images, your own photos show the real color and finish and give you images you fully own.
- Agree a reference sample. Keep one signed or sealed sample as the standard the bulk order is inspected against.
The product data to request from a supplier at sourcing time
Ask for the data in the same message as the price request, and make delivery of it part of the order. The checklist below is what a webshop, a marketplace listing and an EU compliance check need between them.
Supplier data request: what to ask for before you order
GTINs: the brand owner assigns them
Under GS1's rules the brand owner, the organization that owns the product's specifications, normally allocates the GTIN, whoever manufactures it. That can be the manufacturer, an importer or wholesaler that sells under its own brand, or a retailer selling its own brand, according to GS1. For a branded product you buy wholesale, the GTIN already exists and you should get it from the supplier, not invent one. For your private label range, the GTINs come from your own GS1 company prefix, and the factory prints the barcodes you give them.
Compliance documents and GPSR details
Since 13 December 2024 the EU General Product Safety Regulation requires online offers to show the manufacturer's name and postal and electronic address, an EU responsible person when the manufacturer is outside the EU, information that identifies the product including a picture, and any warnings or safety information, according to Article 19 of Regulation (EU) 2023/988. Article 12 also asks distributors to verify, before selling, that the manufacturer and importer have met their labeling duties. The checklist above covers the fields to request.
For products that need CE marking, the manufacturer drafts and signs the EU declaration of conformity and keeps it with the technical documentation for at least 10 years after the product is placed on the market, according to the Commission's Your Europe page. As an importer or reseller you will be asked for it, so request a copy per product before you order, not after a marketplace blocks the listing.
Customs code and country of origin
Suppliers often give only the 4- or 6-digit HS heading. The EU's Combined Nomenclature adds two digits to the 6-digit HS subheading, and the 8-digit CN code is what most goods are classified under when they are declared to EU customs, according to the European Commission. Ask the supplier for their export code and country of origin, then confirm the import code yourself; the HS code guide walks through it.
Worked example: what an LED desk lamp supplier sends, and what you need
An illustrative case: a store sources an LED desk lamp in black, white and sage green from a manufacturer, three variants, 200 units per color minimum. The first supplier reply is typical. Here is what it contained and what the store had to chase:
- GTIN: the factory offered to print "any barcode you like". The lamp is sold under the store's own brand, so the store assigns three GTINs from its own GS1 prefix, one per color.
- Specifications: "10W, 3 color modes, USB-C" in one line. The store needs power (10 W), color temperatures in kelvin, luminous flux in lumen, cable length, and dimensions and weight in separate fields with units.
- Images: six renders on white from a supplier catalog, no license. The store asks for written permission covering its webshop, marketplaces and ads, and shoots lifestyle photos from the samples.
- Compliance: a CE logo on the box artwork but no declaration. The store requests the signed EU declaration of conformity and test reports, and checks the box and leaflet show the manufacturer's address and warnings in Dutch, French and German.
- Customs: HS heading 9405 only, which covers luminaires and lighting fittings. The store's customs broker confirms the full CN code and duty rate for the origin country.
- Pack and logistics: 20 lamps per carton, carton dimensions and gross weight, lead time 35 days from deposit. These feed the freight split and the order multiples in the webshop.
None of these were hard to get. They were hard to get after the deposit was paid, because the supplier's attention had moved to the next customer. With the list in the first request, the answers come back with the quote instead of after weeks of follow-up emails.
Getting supplier files into your catalog without retyping them
Supplier data arrives as a spreadsheet, an XML feed or a website, and it arrives again every season. WISEPIM imports CSV, Excel and XML files, uploaded or fetched from a URL the supplier keeps current, and you map each supplier column to your own attributes. A saved supplier profile reuses that mapping for the next delivery and shows what changed between files. WISEPIM does not import PDFs: a catalog that only exists as a document has to be exported to a spreadsheet first, or imported from the supplier's web pages, where AI extracts each product. The import page lists the formats.
Once products are in, AI enrichment can pull specifications such as material and dimensions out of supplier description text into separate attributes, and translate the content for the countries you sell in. Brands and wholesalers on WISEPIM can also publish a Brand Portal: a live, read-only catalog that retailers browse, download as CSV or Excel, or import into their own WISEPIM project when the brand allows it. Suppliers do not edit your data there; you receive their current catalog instead of last season's file.
