Many people recognise the benefits and savings of shopping in wholesale stores. Buying bigger quantities often means lower prices and fewer trips to the store, reducing the potential of picking up unnecessary items and providing guaranteed savings.

But wholesale buying isn’t always the optimal solution for everyone. In addition, getting in the habit of buying groceries and other products in larger quantities can increase waste, which offsets the savings goal.

So if you decide to go for wholesale shopping, you need to think about the following to make sure that you’re getting the best bang for your money.

Consumption

The size of your family or small business makes a huge difference in whether wholesale shopping makes sense or not. Even one or two family members who are travelling or moved out of the house can make wholesale shopping no longer viable. This is particularly critical when you’re buying perishable items or items with short shelf life.

In all cases, make sure you check the expiration dates to make sure that your purchase is likely to be consumed before it expires, because this is one of the most common ways of wasting resources. In addition, plan for your purchases. For example, if you’re going away for two weeks, going shopping ahead of your vacation simply reduces the amount of time you have until you consume these products.

In addition, plan for what you need to buy in large quantities. For example, buys 12 rolls of kitchen towels may never go wrong even if it takes you a year to go through them, unlike food, vitamins, etc.

Membership fees

Some wholesalers will require you to pay an annual membership fee. If you hardly shop at this store, you need to make sure that you at least will be able to retrieve the membership cost and save. Many stores will allow you to take a tour and look around without membership. This can be helpful to determine which stores carry brands that you’re likely to buy in such big quantities.

And many of these stores carry their own brands as well, which may be offering a higher margin of savings. If you’ve a friends or co-worker who is a member, you may like to go shopping for a couple of times ahead of buying your own membership to make sure that you will be able to make the best out of your shopping experience.

Prices

Everything may seem to be a lot cheaper when bought in bigger quantities. Despite this, most wholesale stores carry much fewer options in terms of products, brands, etc. So what you will need to really compare is not the saving you’re making on the available products, but if the savings are significant compared to other brands that you can get in any grocery store.

These limitations in terms of products also may mean that you will be driven to buy products that have limited warranty, service or features. So make sure that you always make your comparisons carefully. The biggest risk of shopping in one place is settling for whatever being offered because it is easy and accessible.

Stick to a shopping list

It is the golden rule for any shopping experience. Because larger quantities come with a higher price tag, make sure you don’t pick up additional items unnecessarily that offset your savings. In particular, items that you’ve not tried before. Unless it is a store brand, you probably can find the same item in a much small quantity somewhere else. Try it first, before committing to a big purchase.

If some of your shopping-list items are unavailable at your wholesale store, try to get them somewhere else rather than trying a new product in a larger quantity. Some stores may offer you samples for trial or accept returns, but be sure this is the case before you just into buying a 36-carton case of juice or 10-kilogram bag of rice.

The writer, a former Gulf News Business Features Editor, is a Seattle-based editor.

Shopping wholesale

— Check the quantities

— Verify expiration dates

— Weigh in costs of membership

— Compare prices and variety of products

— R.O.