Mid-year wholesale review: what's working and what's not

We're more than halfway through the year. I intended to write and publish this a month ago, but this is what happens sometimes in a small business, and mine is no different. Our intentions, time, and priorities don’t always align. But as we step into the busiest part of the year for most retail brands, this is a good time to stop, take stock, and review what’s worked, what’s fallen off the to-do list, and what actually needs to be done.

A proper wholesale audit, where you look at what's working, name what isn't, and make a plan for the second half of the year. It doesn't need to take a whole day. It needs an hour, a cup of coffee, and a willingness to look at the parts you've been avoiding.

Why a mid-year wholesale review matters

Wholesale is a long game. You don't get instant results the way you might with a viral reel or a flash sale. You plant seeds, you nurture stockist relationships, and the reorders come in over months, not minutes.

That's exactly why a mid-year sales reflection is so useful. Six months is long enough to see real patterns. Which stockists reorder without you chasing. Which ones went quiet after the first order. Which products fly off the shelf and which ones are gathering physical or emotional dust.

If you only ever look forward, you keep repeating the same things and hoping for a different result. A wholesale review lets you make decisions based on what actually happened, not what you assumed happened.

Start with the numbers you've been avoiding

Right, deep breath. Open your sales records for January to June and get the real picture.

• How much of your revenue came from wholesale versus your other channels. What does it look like in comparison to the same months last year?

• How many active stockists you have, meaning ones who've actually ordered this year, not ones who bought once in 2023 and vanished. And who ordered in 2025, but haven’t ordered this year?

• Your reorder rate, what does it look like? How often and how many times do stockists re-order? Is there a pattern for your best stockists? Do they stock a particular range or product? What can you learn from it?

• Then look at your best sellers and your slow movers. What does each have in common? Are you talking enough about each? Are the quality of the images better for your bestsellers than your slow movers, or are they the same? If you talk about them an equal amount and your assets are just as good, maybe it’s time to discontinue some of the slow movers?

Gather all the key information, try to keep it the same each review and it will get quicker to collate each time. 

What's working: do more of it

Once you've got the numbers in front of you, the wins usually jump out.

Maybe a certain type of shop keeps reordering. Independent gift shops love you, but the bigger chains never quite landed. Maybe your email pitch to a particular kind of retailer gets replies while your Instagram outreach goes nowhere. Maybe one collection does all the heavy lifting.

This is the good stuff. When something's working, the temptation is to leave it alone and go chasing the shiny new thing instead. Resist that. Your best-performing stockists and products are telling you where your wholesale momentum lives. Pour more energy there. Reach out to more shops that look like your happy stockists. Reorder the products that sell. Build on what's already proven rather than starting from scratch.

What's not working

This is just as important, not so you can feel rubbish, but you can learn a lot form looking at what’s not working. 

Look for the things you've been carrying out of habit rather than results. The stockist who takes hours of your time and never reorders. The product line you love that nobody buys. The trade show that cost you a fortune and brought in one order. 

None of this makes you bad at wholesale. 

Every product business has dead weight it's been dragging along because letting go feels like admitting something didn't work. But nothing changes if nothing changes, and every hour you spend propping up the stuff that isn't working is an hour you're not spending on the stuff that is.

So review the things that are currently not working and then decide if there is a reason for it, and if you think trying to change it will make a big enough difference, or if letting go, is the better solution. 

Check your foundations while you're here

A mid-year review is also the moment to check the boring things that quietly cost you money.

Look at your wholesale pricing. Are your margins actually where they need to be, or have your costs crept up while your prices stayed still? A lot of brand owners are working from a wholesale price they set years ago, and it no longer covers what it should. If you're not sure, run the numbers again properly rather than guessing.

Look at your line sheet or catalogue. Is it current, easy to order from, and does it show your best sellers? Look at your payment terms and your minimum order. Small friction points like these are often the reason a keen buyer doesn't quite get over the line.

Refocus for Q3 and beyond

Now you turn the review into a plan. You don't need fifty actions. You need three or four that actually matter.

Pick the one thing that's working best and decide how you'll do more of it. Pick the one thing that isn't working and decide to stop, fix, or replace it. Set yourself a realistic stockist target for the Q3 and 4, not a fantasy number, a real one you can plan around. And block the time for Christmas now, because retail buyers place festive orders between now and end of September, and Q3 is when that groundwork gets laid.

That's it. A wholesale review isn't about doing more. It's about doing the right things and about giving you strategic focus using the evidence you've now got in front of you.

You don't have to work it out alone

If you've done your mid-year sales reflection and you can see the gaps but you're not quite sure how to close them, that's exactly the kind of thing a fresh pair of eyes helps with.

I run drop-in calls for exactly this. You bring your numbers, your worries, and the bit you keep going round in circles on, and we spend focused time working out your next steps together. No long commitment, no faff. Just practical, straight-talking help to get your wholesale moving with confidence into the second half of the year.

Book your drop-in call here and let's get your Q3 sorted.

Therese x

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FAQ:

What is a wholesale audit? 

A wholesale audit is a review of your wholesale business where you look at your sales, stockists, reorder rate, pricing, and best sellers to see what's working and what needs to change. Doing one mid-year helps you refocus for the rest of the year.

How often should I review my wholesale business? 

I would review your wholesale every month, with a more in-depth review and plan session every quarter. This is what I teach inside my program, Sales Growth Lab. 

What is a good wholesale reorder rate? 

There's no single magic number, but reorders are the clearest sign of a healthy wholesale business. If most of your stockists only order once and never come back, that's a signal to look at your products, your follow-up, and your stockist relationships rather than just chasing new shops.

Why isn't my Faire shop making any money? 

Usually it comes down to listings, visibility, and follow-up rather than the platform itself. 

How do I refocus my wholesale for the next quarter? 

Do more of what's already working, stop or fix what isn't, set a realistic stockist target, and plan your seasonal orders early. Keep your action list to three or four things so it actually gets done.

About the author

I’m Therese, and I’m a wholesale mentor for product-based businesses. I’ve spent the last 18 years in the home and gift industry, helping hundreds of founders move from "guessing" to getting their products onto the shelves of major retailers like Selfridges and Liberty. If you’ve just finished your mid-year review and realised there’s a gap between where your wholesale business is and where you want it to be, you don’t have to figure it out alone. Click here to see how I can help you build your wholesale strategy inside Sales Growth Lab.