How to Create an Online Wholesale Catalogue Without Maintaining Another Website
Publish clothing and footwear inventory to a shareable MLS wholesale catalogue with shop-wise availability, optional prices and WhatsApp enquiries—without entering products twice.
A clothing or footwear wholesaler can create an online catalogue without maintaining another website by publishing selected Inventory Manager products to the business's My Local Shops page. Product photos, variants, prices and shop-wise availability come from the same inventory used for daily operations, so the owner does not enter every design in two different systems.
The MLS catalogue is designed for discovery and direct enquiry, not automatic ecommerce checkout. Retailers browse the public shop, open a product, share its link and ask the wholesaler on WhatsApp before the actual sale is confirmed and billed.
At a glance
| Seller's question | MLS catalogue behaviour |
|---|---|
| Must I add products again on a website? | No; the catalogue uses Inventory Manager's buyer-safe product listings |
| Can I choose which products appear? | Yes; Publish on MLS and listing visibility remain under owner control |
| Can I show a design but hide its price? | Yes; buyers see Price on request |
| Which branch shows a product? | Only a public shop currently holding positive stock for at least one SKU |
| Does godown stock appear as shop stock? | No; godowns remain private operational locations |
| What happens when one size sells out? | The design remains visible if another type is available; that type is marked Out of stock |
| What happens when every type sells out? | The design leaves normal public browse lists |
| Can buyers enquire about an exact item? | Yes; WhatsApp opens with the product name and link |
| Can I share the full shop? | Yes; share the shop URL or its QR code |
| Does the catalogue accept online payment? | No; the buyer and seller discuss the transaction directly |
| Is it a custom standalone website? | No; it is a public catalogue and shop page inside My Local Shops |
| What happens after subscription expiry? | The shop profile can remain public, while products are hidden until renewal |
The problem with maintaining products twice
A traditional wholesale catalogue is often spread across:
- photographs in the owner's phone gallery;
- WhatsApp messages sent to different retailers;
- a PDF that becomes outdated;
- an Excel stock sheet; and
- a separate website or social page that someone must update manually.
Every additional copy creates another place to forget a change.
Suppose a wholesaler publishes a shirt as available on a separate website. Later, the final Red / M quantity is sold from Shop 1. If the employee updates only the inventory book, the website still invites enquiries for stock that no longer exists.
My Local Shops follows a simpler principle:
Maintain operational inventory once
↓
Create a buyer-safe catalogue listing
↓
Show it only at shops with current stock
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Let the retailer enquire directly
The public catalogue is a controlled view of inventory, not a second product database for the owner to maintain.
What the owner maintains once
Inventory Manager remains the operational source for:
- product name and description;
- supplier item code;
- category;
- colour and size variants;
- system-generated SKU;
- product and variant photographs;
- selling price;
- HSN code and GST rate;
- quantity at each shop or godown;
- public product visibility; and
- public price visibility.
The owner already needs most of this information for stock control and billing. Publishing reuses the permitted buyer-facing part instead of asking the owner to recreate it in a website editor.
Private operational information—such as landed cost, supplier details, exact internal movements, profit and owner reports—is not part of the public listing.
Step 1: create the shop and inventory structure
The owner first creates the business's shops and godowns according to the subscribed location limit.
A shop can have a public profile and catalogue because buyers can visit or contact it. A godown is an internal stock location and does not become a public storefront.
When a product is created manually or received from Trade Manager, its stock is assigned to the actual location. Transfers, sales, restocks and write-offs continue changing those same shop-wise quantities.
This location truth is what prevents seller-wide stock from appearing at every branch.
Step 2: create a product buyers can understand
A useful catalogue entry needs more than an internal SKU.
For a garment or footwear design, add:
- a clear product name;
- an item code when the business uses one;
- the relevant category;
- a representative photograph;
- individual variant photos where colours or styles differ;
- all colours and sizes;
- the selling price for each SKU when prices differ; and
- the quantity held at each location.
One grouped design becomes one public catalogue card. The detail page can then show its individual colour and size types.
For example, a printed shirt with three colours and four sizes is not shown as 12 unrelated products. Buyers see one design and can inspect the 12 SKU options below it.
Read How to Create a Product with Colours, Sizes, SKUs, Images, HSN and GST for the complete product workflow.
Step 3: choose whether the product is public
Inventory Manager separates internal product history from customer visibility.
When Publish on MLS is enabled and the listing remains visible, the design is eligible for normal public browsing if a public shop has stock. When it is disabled or hidden, the owner can still manage the product internally but buyers do not see it in normal catalogue results.
This is useful for:
- samples not ready for sale;
- reserved stock;
- products awaiting better photographs;
- internal or test entries;
- designs the owner does not want to advertise; and
- discontinued items retained only for history.
Publishing is therefore a deliberate business decision, not an automatic leak of everything in inventory.
Step 4: decide whether to show the price
Product visibility and price visibility are separate controls.
| Public product | Show price | Buyer sees |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | Yes | Product and current public selling price |
| Yes | No | Product with Price on request |
| No | Either | No product in normal catalogue browsing |
Wholesale pricing can depend on quantity, customer relationship, payment terms, transport or negotiation. A seller may therefore want retailers to see the design without treating one rate as a promise for every order.
Turning off Show price to buyers supports that workflow. The product remains useful for discovery, and WhatsApp asks the shop to share pricing and availability.
Step 5: let shop-wise stock control availability
The website uses the current positive stock at each public shop.
Consider one product across three locations:
| Location | Type | Quantity | Public result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shop 1 | Blue / M | 8 | Available at Shop 1 |
| Shop 2 | Blue / M | 0 | Not available at Shop 2 |
| Godown | Blue / M | 50 | Kept private until transferred to a shop |
The 50 godown pieces do not make the product appear available at both shops. If the owner transfers 20 pieces to Shop 2, Shop 2 becomes eligible after the shared listing is updated.
This gives the buyer a more useful answer than a seller-wide total that does not say where the goods can actually be supplied.
What happens when a colour or size sells out
Fashion inventory needs variant-level behaviour.
Suppose one shirt has:
| Type | Quantity at selected shop |
|---|---|
| Red / S | 0 |
| Red / M | 18 |
| Blue / S | 12 |
| Blue / M | 7 |
The design stays in the shop catalogue because three types remain available. Red / S stays visible on the detail page with a clear Out of stock state.
Keeping that type visible tells the retailer that the variant exists and allows a conversation about restock or alternatives. It is not presented as available for sale.
When every SKU reaches zero at the shop, the design leaves that shop's normal catalogue list. This prevents a fast-fashion wholesaler's page from gradually filling with hundreds of old sold-out designs.
An old direct product link can still provide context and a route to contact the shop when the listing and shop remain available. It does not falsely present the product as current stock.
Read How Product Visibility, Price Visibility and Out-of-Stock Display Work on MLS for every visibility combination.
What buyers see on the public shop page
An eligible shop page can include:
- shop name and business profile;
- address, location and directions;
- phone or WhatsApp contact;
- product categories;
- customer reviews;
- published products currently available at that shop; and
- links to individual product details.
The catalogue is paginated and provides Load more rather than downloading an unlimited product history in one request. Small cards prefer thumbnail images and lazy loading to reduce initial mobile data usage.
The owner can share one shop link instead of sending every retailer a different collection of loose photographs. A QR code can also be placed at the counter or included in printed material.
Product pages make enquiry specific
On a product page, a retailer can inspect available types, price information permitted by the owner, the shop and product photos.
Two actions help the buyer continue:
- Share — send the exact product page to another person; and
- Ask on WhatsApp — open a message to the shop that includes the product name and current page link.
When the price is hidden, the prepared message asks for price, availability and delivery information. When price is visible, the buyer can still ask about required quantities, colour-size combinations and dispatch.
This is more precise than receiving a message saying only “shirt chahiye” with no design reference.
What the catalogue does not automate
The MLS public catalogue does not:
- add products to a shopping cart;
- accept the retailer's payment;
- reserve stock merely because someone opened a page;
- promise that a negotiated quantity is available until the seller confirms it;
- create an invoice from a WhatsApp message;
- replace GST or non-GST billing; or
- provide a custom standalone website or custom domain for each seller.
After the conversation, the owner or authorised staff confirms the actual order in Order Manager or Staff Bill. The final invoice transaction checks current stock before deducting it.
The catalogue helps the right buyer discover and discuss the product. The seller remains in control of the wholesale transaction.
How catalogue updates reach the website
Inventory Manager maintains a separate buyer-safe listing for each public product design. The listing groups variants and contains only the information required by the catalogue, including public shops where stock is currently positive.
Normal stock actions update this shared listing along with the private product record:
- a restock can make a sold-out type available;
- a transfer can move public availability from one shop to another;
- a sale can remove the final stock from a shop;
- a write-off can remove damaged pieces from availability;
- a price edit can change the displayed price; and
- a new versioned image reference can make a changed photo available across connected apps and the website.
For Firebase cost and mobile performance, public catalogue reads use a short cache rather than requesting Firestore on every repeated visit. In production, the shop product list and product detail use a 15-minute cache window for ordinary visitors. A recent update may therefore take up to roughly that period to appear on a returning device, while the owner view requests fresh listing data.
This is a deliberate balance: stock operations stay connected while repeat public browsing avoids unnecessary reads and data transfer.
Complete clothing-wholesale example
Aliana Garments receives a new shirt design with four colours and three sizes.
- Inventory Manager creates the 12 SKUs under one product listing.
- The owner adds a representative image and selected type-specific photos.
- Sixty pieces stay in the godown, 30 move to Shop 1 and 30 move to Shop 2.
- The owner enables Publish on MLS.
- A standard line displays its price; a premium line uses Price on request.
- Each shop page shows only the types with current stock at that shop.
- A retailer opens Shop 1's catalogue, shares one design with a partner and asks about 24 pieces on WhatsApp.
- The owner confirms the available sizes and negotiated price.
- Staff Bill creates the actual invoice from Shop 1.
- Sold quantities reduce from Shop 1 and update the buyer-safe listing.
- When Shop 1's final type sells, the design leaves that shop's normal catalogue while remaining available at Shop 2.
The owner maintained inventory and completed a normal wholesale sale. There was no separate website product list to reconcile afterward.
What happens when the subscription expires
An expired subscription should not erase the wholesaler's established public identity. The shop profile can remain public and indexed with basic business and contact information.
Products are hidden from visitors until renewal because operational stock should not continue appearing live when the connected seller tools are no longer active. After the subscription becomes active again and the shop is restored, eligible products can return.
See current plans and location limits for the applicable subscription options.
Common mistakes to avoid
Treating a godown as a public shop
Godowns are private inventory locations. Transfer stock to the actual shop that will supply the buyer.
Publishing unclear photographs
A product name alone may not identify a fashion design. Use a clear representative photo and variant-specific images where they materially differ.
Showing a rate that always requires negotiation
Keep the product published and turn off price visibility. Hiding the entire design is unnecessary when only its rate is private.
Expecting an immediate ecommerce order
The catalogue starts an enquiry. Confirm availability, quantity, price, payment and dispatch before billing.
Assuming every website visitor sees an edit instantly
Public catalogue data uses a 15-minute cache window to reduce Firebase cost. Allow that short refresh period for ordinary returning visitors.
Keeping sold-out fashion in normal results
Old products remain useful internally, but fully sold-out designs should not dominate active customer browsing. Use Inventory Manager's Out of stock or All filter when the owner needs historical access.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to buy hosting or build another product website?
No separate catalogue website is required. Published products appear within the seller's My Local Shops shop page. It is not a custom standalone site or custom domain.
Must I enter products again after adding them to Inventory Manager?
No. The public listing is derived from the permitted product and shop-stock information already maintained in Inventory Manager.
Can I hide the price but show the product?
Yes. Keep the product public and disable Show price to buyers. The website displays Price on request.
Will one sold-out size hide the whole design?
No. The product remains visible while another SKU has stock at that shop. The sold-out type is marked clearly.
Will a fully sold-out design keep filling the shop page?
No. It leaves normal public browse lists when no SKU has positive stock at that shop.
Can Shop 1 and Shop 2 show different availability?
Yes. Each shop page follows current positive stock at that specific location.
Does WhatsApp enquiry reduce stock?
No. It only starts a conversation. Stock changes after an authorised invoice, transfer, adjustment or other inventory operation is saved.
How quickly does a catalogue change appear?
The shared listing is updated with the inventory operation. Ordinary public visitors may reuse cached catalogue data for up to about 15 minutes in production.
Can buyers see landed cost or profit?
No. The public listing does not contain the owner's private landed-cost, supplier-payment or profit-report view.
Does My Local Shops guarantee a sale or Google ranking?
No. It provides a public, shareable catalogue and nearby discovery. Demand, product quality, pricing, shop details and buyer trust still determine results.
Publish once and keep working from inventory
View and download Inventory Manager to manage products, variants, photographs and shop-wise stock. Read Create a Real-Time Digital Wholesale Shop from Your Inventory for the complete feature guide.
New sellers can follow How to Subscribe, Download the Apps and Set Up Your First Shop, compare current plans, or browse nearby wholesale products to see the buyer experience.