A Retailer’s Guide to Marketplace and Wholesale Models with Expert Annie Rizvi

The retail industry is facing a significant shift. With pressure from fast-moving competitors and the rapid evolution of consumer demand, traditional production cycles and rigid inventory systems are now becoming liabilities. 

For retail teams looking to boost sales while safeguarding margins, finding the right operational model is no longer just a plus — it’s essential.

Annie Rizvi, Head of Fashion at Namshi, knows these pressures firsthand. With over a decade in e-commerce, she’s seen how successful brands combine both marketplace and wholesale models to stay agile. In this guide, Annie shares her key strategies to refine business models, manage inventory, and protect cash flow with a hybrid wholesale-marketplace approach.

Why retailers are on edge — and how they’re adapting to the pressure

Keeping pace with consumer trends and lightning-fast production cycles has left many retailers — especially small and medium-sized businesses — struggling to stay competitive. 

“Fast-paced brands are setting the tempo now,” Annie Rizvi explains. “Whether it’s fashion, tech, or consumer goods, the sheer volume and frequency of new product drops make it nearly impossible for traditional brands to keep up.”

Previous retail cycles, where products are designed, manufactured, and distributed months in advance, simply don’t match the speed of today’s market. As Annie notes, “For smaller brands, committing to production months ahead is risky. By the time those goods hit the shelves, consumer interest may have already shifted.” On top of this, high minimum order quantities (MOQs) often force brands into heavy upfront investments, leading to surplus stock and tied-up cash if products don’t sell as quickly as anticipated.

To adapt, many retailers are exploring a mix of wholesale and marketplace models. While wholesale provides stability through bulk orders and established partnerships, marketplaces allow brands to react in real-time by adjusting prices, controlling inventory, and selling directly to consumers. The most successful brands today aren’t choosing one approach over the other — they’re blending both.

What is the wholesale model?

Following the wholesale model, brands sell products in bulk to wholesalers, who then distribute them to retailers at a markup. Retailers, in turn, sell these products to end consumers at a higher retail price. This model provides brands with the consistency of bulk purchasing and access to established retail channels, both online and offline, where consumers can discover their products.

Wholesale also allows brands to form strong partnerships with retailers. By committing to larger orders, retailers invest in a brand’s success, often providing premium placement and dedicated sales support. This structure builds brand presence as retail partners actively promote products, reaching consumers in ways that an individual brand may not be able to do alone.

While the wholesale model is often considered more traditional, it remains effective — even in today’s shifting retail landscape. And brands like Mizzen, with a portfolio of luxury retail concepts in fashion, beauty, and eyewear, are a prime example of how this model can be adapted to stay efficient and scale.

Powered by Kingpin’s order management platform, Mizzen upgraded its manual wholesale process, creating a shoppable online collection that’s now accessible to retailers with a single click. With this automated wholesale approach, Mizzen has saved over 200 hours across teams, increased order processing efficiency by 60%, and achieved a 254.5% ROI. 

While the wholesale structure provides stability, it limits flexibility, often requiring brands to predict demand months in advance. To better adjust to fast-moving trends, many of these brands turn to the marketplace approach. 

What is the marketplace model?

The marketplace model flips traditional wholesale on its head. Instead of committing inventory to specific retailers, brands use platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy to connect directly with consumers. Sellers maintain control over their inventory, pricing, and fulfillment, while the platform charges a fee or commission — rather than purchasing stock outright.

This marketplace approach allows brands to keep a central pool of inventory, moving stock to whichever channels are performing best. “With the marketplace model, you’re working closer to the season, so you can adjust quickly,” Annie Rizvi explains. They’re no longer guessing trends a year ahead — with this model, brands can react in real-time by adjusting pricing, promotions, and product allocation as demand shifts.

The marketplace model also brings major improvements to cash flow “because you’re getting paid every week,” Annie notes, contrasting this with wholesale’s extended payment terms, which can stretch up to 120 days. This shift in payment frequency frees up essential capital for smaller brands.

However, the advantages of the marketplace approach don’t fully outshine the value of wholesale. 

The case for the marketplace-wholesale hybrid model

The marketplace versus wholesale debate misses a key point: brands don’t need to choose between each camp. More brands are combining both models, recognizing they work better in tandem.

Wholesale offers stability for core products, with retailers purchasing in bulk to provide dependable revenue and partnerships that help brands scale. Meanwhile, marketplace channels are ideal for seasonal and new collections, giving brands the flexibility to test styles and adapt in real time. 

As Annie Rizvi puts it, “The hybrid approach lets brands stay both grounded and responsive. You get stability without sacrificing agility.” High-growth brands like Caraway, Maude, and OLLY show how this hybrid approach drives results: 

• Caraway uses wholesale to build credibility through major retail partnerships while using the marketplace flexibility to experiment with new colorways. 
• Maude keeps bestsellers in wholesale to ensure steady sales but tests new categories through marketplaces. 
• OLLY combines both — expanding reach in the supplement space and using marketplace data to guide wholesale decisions.

But to Annie, Puma’s strategy is the ultimate masterclass of how impactful this dual approach can be.

Proof of concept: Puma’s tailored wholesale-marketplace model

Rather than shifting entirely to a marketplace model, Puma keeps core products in wholesale channels, including high-demand and evergreen items. This strategy maintains strong relationships with retail partners, securing predictable volumes and reliable sales.

Puma then reserves their seasonal or trend-driven lines for the marketplace model, placing these collections in a shared inventory pool accessible to multiple retailers. This setup allows Puma to allocate inventory based on real-time demand. As Annie notes, “They can move inventory to where it’s needed most, instead of being locked into big orders for one retailer.”

The results? “We’ve seen their sales pick up almost 2x what they were,” Annie shares. 

By favoring wholesale for stable, high-volume products and using marketplace distribution for flexible, trend-driven items, Puma has created a balanced and agile model for sustainable growth.

What’s more, brands of all sizes can replicate Puma’s success — and platforms like Kingpin make the hybrid shift even more accessible. 

With tools to streamline inventory, automate orders, and unify data, brands can combine wholesale and marketplace channels to grow revenue, build stronger partnerships, and reach new audiences. Plus, brands using Kingpin report an average 45% increase in sales, freeing up time for growth rather than manual tasks. All while maintaining the flexibility to pivot with the latest trends.

Modernize your wholesale model with Kingpin

Kingpin simplifies wholesale for modern brands and retailers — without the headache of juggling multiple spreadsheets. Designed with input from industry experts like Annie Rizvi, Kingpin unites wholesale access and order management into one seamless AI platform where you can:

• Import thousands of products in minutes
• Create collections for in-stock and pre-order items
• Rely on real-time updates to keep every sales channel in sync
• Discover and connect with new buyers

And with Kingpin’s AI-powered matching, brands connect with the right retail partners based on product fit, pricing, and target market, expanding reach without the heavy lifting. Ready to leave the traditional wholesale model behind? Book a demo today.