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It\u2019s no secret that small businesses are under pressure in the current economic environment \u2014 tight margins and shorter sourcing timelines make independent retailers even more susceptible to the tides of trade than their larger counterparts<\/strong>, so every extra cost hurts and every penny counts.<\/p>\n For example, \u201cshipping is just an absolute killer for small businesses,\u201d shared Max Rhodes, Co-founder and CEO of B2B marketplace Faire<\/strong> in an interview with Retail TouchPoints<\/em>. \u201cMuch larger retailers often are ordering in bulk, so on average their shipping costs are maybe 1% to 2%<\/strong> of the total wholesale cost. For a small retailer, where they\u2019re ordering $100<\/strong>, $200<\/strong> at a time, shipping costs can end up being, on average, almost 10%<\/strong> of the wholesale costs. It just crushes their margins, and it can often end up being really unpredictable. They don\u2019t typically know how much it\u2019s going to cost until after the order has shipped.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n These pressures on small businesses go a long way toward explaining the impressive milestone that Faire has just reached \u2014 more than 100,000<\/strong> retailers are now members of the Faire Insider program, which, in addition to other benefits, offers free shipping on thousands<\/strong> of brands. Just six<\/strong> years after the program\u2019s launch, Faire members now account for the \u201cvast majority\u201d of the order volume on the marketplace, according to Rhodes, and there\u2019s a reason for that \u2014 these Insiders are saving a good chunk of change. Over the course of the program, members have saved more than $200 million<\/strong>. For most merchants the savings average around $175<\/strong> per month ($2,100 <\/strong>annually), for a membership that costs $19.99<\/strong> a month.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many expenses that go into running a small business, so any time we can cut costs, we take it \u2014 Faire\u2019s Insider membership has helped us do that, especially with free shipping,\u201d said Mia Sakai, Owner of the \u00c1ndale Market<\/strong> neighborhood corner stores in Chicago. \u201cThe margins on food products can be slim, and the cost of shipping can really eat away at them.<\/strong> With Faire Insider free shipping, we\u2019re able to offer our customers fair market prices while still maintaining our margins.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s also made it easier to take chances on new brands, which is huge for us<\/strong>,\u201d added Sakai, who has been a Faire Insider since 2021, in comments shared with Retail TouchPoints<\/em>. \u201cWe\u2019re a curated bodega, and our customers expect to discover fresh, unique products they won\u2019t find at a typical market.\u201d<\/p>\n In many ways, Faire is well positioned to serve retailers in today\u2019s economic climate. Rhodes said that the platform has seen an inflection point in its growth over the last couple of months that he believes is driven by retailers actively looking for alternative suppliers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re looking at who they bought from in the past, and maybe prices have gone up a bunch, and I think that is leading them to come to Faire,\u201d he said. \u201cMore and more and more retailers are turning to Faire as a way to navigate that uncertainty. <\/strong>We\u2019re uniquely positioned to make it easy to find new suppliers, to get the best value, to protect their margins and to save time as well. Retailers are always really pressed for time; finding new suppliers is tiring, managing all that complexity is tiring, and we make it really easy.\u201d<\/p>\n Interestingly, the Faire customer also appears to be largely immune to some of troublesome purchasing behaviors currently prevalent among today\u2019s cost-conscious consumers, such as subscription fatigue<\/strong> and the instinct to stockpile<\/strong>.<\/p>\n In the first place, Rhodes said most independent retailers simply aren\u2019t able to stockpile even if they might want to, because of their limited access to capital.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve looked at what\u2019s happening with things like the Made in China products and others where tariffs might become a factor, and we haven\u2019t seen any real changes,\u201d said Rhodes. \u201cThe main thing that we\u2019re seeing is retailers doing more discovery and bringing out more new brands, and I think that is a reflection of the fact that they\u2019re adapting.<\/strong> One advantage that small retailers have is they haven\u2019t bought way in advance, so they can respond quickly to things like price increases. One thing we have seen is our Made in America business growing faster<\/strong> over the course of the last couple of months than it had in the past, which is interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n And given that Faire Insider offers businesses the one thing they most want right now \u2014 cost savings \u2014 the program hasn\u2019t seen membership declines like many consumer-facing subscriptions. \u201cActually, the opposite,\u201d said Rhodes. \u201cI think the reason is, with import costs going up, retailers are looking to save money.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, among the other benefits of the Insider program is free<\/strong> import duties on cross-border orders for European retailers, which will certainly rank higher on the list of benefits following the recent conclusion of trade negotiations between the U.S. and EU.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been spending a lot of time talking to retailers, and to be honest, I think that they\u2019ve just been through so much over the last 20<\/strong> years, especially the last five<\/strong> years, that they\u2019ve developed this resilient mindset: \u2018We\u2019re gonna get through it; we\u2019re gonna figure it out<\/strong>,\u2019\u201d said Rhodes. \u201cThere\u2019s definitely a little bit of, \u2018Here we go again\u2026\u2019 but there\u2019s also this attitude of, \u2018We survived Walmart, we survived Amazon, we survived COVID and we\u2019re going to survive this. It\u2019s just the nature of life running a small business.\u201d<\/p>\n Faire\u2019s ultimate goal is to help these entrepreneurs do just that, which is why, to mark the milestone of 100,000<\/strong> members, the company is adding additional features to the Insider program.<\/p>\n In addition to free shipping and the free import duties for European retailers, Insiders already also get net-60 payment terms<\/strong>, free returns<\/strong> on opening orders (their first order with a new brand), early access<\/strong> to Faire Markets (a series of virtual trade shows) and new brand launches, and dedicated phone support<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Now, Insiders also will get:<\/p>\n \u201cOur ultimate vision is, we want to make it as easy as possible for retailers to discover great brands; we want to make it as easy as possible for them to get the best possible value on every single order from those brands \u2014 free shipping, generous payment terms, exclusivity \u2014 and then we want to make it as easy as possible for them to place those orders all in one place,\u201d explained Rhodes.<\/p>\n In fact, Faire is so dedicated to this mission that the cost to offer free shipping is covered largely by the platform.<\/strong> After accounting for the membership fees, Faire still expends a sizeable chunk of its commissions on funding the free shipping offering. However, the more members it has, the more buying power that gives Faire to negotiate better rates, and Rhodes said that technology advances now also make it possible to easily surface brands for retailers that will be less costly to ship (for example those located in the same region).<\/p>\n For Faire, Rhodes sees this membership milestone as \u201ca signal of commitment. It represents an important step in their relationship with Faire. They\u2019re kind of saying, \u2018I want to do as much buying as I can on Faire.\u2019\u201d And that they do \u2014 Insider members typically buy 2X to 3X<\/strong> more on Faire than non-members. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have hundreds of thousands of retailers buying on Faire, and now that we have over 100,000 of them subscribed to our membership program, where they\u2019re ordering more, that\u2019s going to mean more growth for our brands,\u201d said Rhodes. \u201cAnd that\u2019s growth that we are helping to fund, like we want. We want to be the ones that are driving costs down for retailers and therefore driving growth for our brands<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"\u00c1ndale](\"https:\/\/www.retailtouchpoints.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Lincoln-Park-Shop_2-960x1280.jpg\")
Small Retailers\u2019 Purchasing Trends Running Counter to Those of Consumers<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Small Retailers\u2019 Advantages: Adaptability and Agility<\/strong><\/h2>\n
More Insiders Means More Savings and More Growth<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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