What a distributor expects from a new supplier (and why the first e-mail is usually the last)
Distributors reply to suppliers who arrive ready to list: local-language data, margin-ready prices, Incoterms, payment terms, certificates, EAN/EDI and samples.
Marta Zielińska · Market research
Updated 16 October 2026 · 5 min read
Most first e-mails to a distributor get no answer. Not because the product is bad, but because the person reading it is a buyer with a listing process, and the e-mail gives them nothing they can put into that process. "We are a manufacturer of office chairs, please find our catalogue attached" is a request for the buyer to do your homework.
Putting it simply: a distributor is not evaluating your product first. It is evaluating how much work it will take to sell your product. The supplier who arrives with that work already done is the one who gets a reply.
What the buyer is actually checking
A distributor earns its margin by turning your goods into orders from its own customers with as little friction as possible. Before anything is listed, someone has to load your products into the ERP and the web shop, price them, train the sales team, order stock, and deal with the first complaint. Each item below is one of those tasks. If you have done it, the buyer sees a quick listing. If you have not, they see a project, and projects wait.
The checklist, in the order buyers ask
Catalogue and product data in the local language
Product names, descriptions, dimensions, weights, materials, colours, packaging units and images, in the language of the market, in a structured file (not only a PDF). A distributor's system needs one row per sellable item. If your catalogue only exists in English, the buyer has to budget for translation before you have sold anything.
Price list and margin structure
Distributors think in margin, so give them a distributor net price, a recommended resale price and the volume or annual bonus steps. A price list that only shows list prices "minus a discount to be agreed" tells the buyer you have not decided how you want to be sold. Make sure the structure leaves room for the route you are entering: a buying group typically expects a group bonus on top of the member's margin.
Incoterms
The Incoterms rules, published by the International Chamber of Commerce, define "the tasks, costs and risks involved in the delivery of goods from sellers to buyers". The current set, Incoterms 2020, has eleven rules. Distributors want to know on which rule your price is quoted, because that decides whether they have to organise transport and clear customs themselves. EXW (collection at your factory) pushes all of that onto them; DAP to their warehouse keeps transport with you but leaves import clearance and duties to the buyer; only DDP keeps both with you. State the rule and the named place in the price list.
Payment terms
A distributor extends credit to its own customers, and public buyers in the EU typically pay at 30 days or more under Directive 2011/7/EU. So the distributor expects credit from you in turn. The Directive sets the frame for business-to-business terms: if nothing is agreed, interest runs 30 days after the invoice; a contractual period may not exceed 60 days unless expressly agreed and not grossly unfair to the creditor. Say what you offer for the first order and what you offer once the account is established.
Certifications and test reports
The buyer needs to know that the product can legally be sold and specified in their market. CE marking is required only for products covered by harmonised EU rules (lighting, protective equipment and medical devices are examples; plain furniture is not on that list). Where it applies, the manufacturer affixes it and holds the technical documentation. Beyond the law, tenders and specifiers in each market ask for particular test reports, environmental labels or national marks. Collect them in one folder and list them in the price list.
EAN codes (GTIN) and EDI
A GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is the number under the EAN barcode that uniquely identifies a trade item, assigned under a company prefix from a GS1 member organisation. Distributors need a GTIN per sellable item to receive goods and sell them through their systems. Larger distributors also exchange orders, despatch advices and invoices electronically; the common European EDI standard is GS1 EANCOM, a subset of UN/EDIFACT with messages such as ORDERS, DESADV and INVOIC. You do not need EDI for a dealer, but a head office will ask.
Samples
Expect to supply samples, and expect them to be used: shown to customers, tested, sat on, washed, installed. Decide in advance whether samples are free, at cost or credited against the first order, and ship them with the same documentation as a real delivery.
Minimum order quantity and lead time
A distributor will test you with a small first order. A high minimum order quantity signals that you only want big customers; a long lead time signals that it will have to hold stock. State both honestly, and say what you can do for the first order.
After-sales
Who handles a warranty claim in the local language? Where do spare parts come from and how fast? What is the return policy for damaged goods? Distributors that sell to institutions are judged on service by their customers, and they pass that pressure to you.
Why the first e-mail is the last
The buyer reads your e-mail against the list above. If the answer to most points is "we will provide on request", the e-mail is filed, because replying would start a conversation the buyer has to manage. The supplier who writes "our price list is on DAP terms to your warehouse, 30 days net after the first prepaid order, product data in French in the attached file, GTINs assigned, test reports attached, samples on request" has removed the work. That e-mail gets a reply, even when the answer is "not now".
What this means for a manufacturer
Prepare a supplier pack per market before you contact anyone: structured product data in the local language, a margin-ready price list with Incoterms and payment terms, a certification folder, GTINs for every item, a sample policy, MOQ and lead time, and a one-page after-sales commitment. It is a few weeks of work and it is reusable for every distributor in that country.
Then write to the right person with the pack, not a catalogue. In Cresques, a market built from a country and your CPV categories shows the companies already selling your category there, with the public contracts they have won as evidence; the supplier pack is what you bring to the ones you choose.
