Making wholesale easier is easier said than done, but software developers like Handshake are making it happen

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Making wholesale easier is, or at least should be, the goal of every single wholesale business out there. But efforts to make wholesale easier are not just confined to the realm of wholesale businesses, but to entrepreneurs and innovators that understand the system and see ways to improve it.

That’s why it’s good news to see that one of the newest crop of business-facing apps, Handshake, has received a new round of funding to help grow its business. Created by a former sales rep, Handshake is a mobile app designed to simply make wholesale easier.

Handshake, designed by Australian Glen Coates, has its impetus in the frustration he found working as a sales rep for a retail chain. He found himself doing things like taking orders by hand and phoning them in, despite the fact that it is already well into the 21^st century. Coates realized that there has to be a way of making wholesale easier, and devised this app which allows retailers to make wholesale orders more quickly and easily.

The app has already proven to be very successful, and is heading into its second round of funding, this time for $8 million USD. Handshake wants to not only expand upon its current mobile app and software and find other ways in which it can make wholesale easier.

The goal of this blog post is not to sell you on the merits of Handshake. I’ve never used the app personally, although I have heard that it is extremely useful and well-designed. My goal in highlighting the success of Handshake is that it demonstrates how far the wholesale industry still has to come when it comes to embracing technology and making wholesale easier.

I’ve talked before about how wholesalers seem to be blissfully unaware of how difficult it can be for retailers to actually find them; many wholesale companies still don’t have active websites or social media pages. It’s amazing that any business can possibly still exist in 2014 without a web presence.

Even for those companies that have an online and social media presence and persona, they might be woefully behind in using other aspects of technology. Glen Coates started his business because he had to take orders with a pen and paper in 2010. From my own personal experience owning a bar, I had to order alcohol by leaving a message on a voice mail the night before I wanted it. That was 2012.

Using technology properly is a wonderful way to make wholesale easier. Some companies are starting to use warehouse robots and mobile apps in order to take and fulfil orders faster. Others are still taking orders over the phone with a pen and paper. Given the relatively low cost of a couple of tablet computers and a subscription to a service such as Handshake, that is almost inexcusable.

So let’s celebrate the fact that people like Glen Coates and Handshake have gotten the funding the need to continue to make wholesale easier. Because many wholesalers desperately need it.

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