A wholesale order from a retailer is the best problem an online brand can have — and a cash trap. Production must be paid for months before the retailer's invoice settles. The funding answer usually comes in two parts: money to produce, then money against the invoice once goods are delivered.
The two gaps in every wholesale deal
Gap one: order to delivery. The retailer's PO is a promise, not cash — production, freight and packaging are paid from your side. Gap two: delivery to payment. The invoice runs on the retailer's terms, commonly 30 to 90 days. Two different gaps, two different funding shapes.
Read the retailer's terms before pricing either gap: routing guides, compliance chargebacks and early-payment discounts all move the real number. An invoice nominally worth $50,000 that settles at $46,500 after deductions changes what the deal is worth funding at.
Funding production
Funding here is advanced against your existing sales deposits rather than the PO itself — so the D2C side's steady payouts are what carry the file. Working capital sized against monthly deposits covers production for orders in proportion to the business; an order many times monthly revenue needs a harder conversation about deposits, staging, or the retailer's own terms.
Funding the invoice
Once goods are delivered and invoiced, invoice factoring fits exactly: an advance against the invoice, priced on the retailer's credit rather than yours. Strong retail names make strong factoring files — the invoice is the asset.
Together the two structures let a brand accept an order that would otherwise be declined for cash reasons alone.
Protecting the store while you produce
The classic wholesale mistake is draining the D2C inventory budget to fund the PO — winning the order and starving the store. Keep the funding for the wholesale deal ring-fenced from the reorder cycle, and keep the store's own rhythm funded on its own line. Two problems, two facilities, no cross-contamination.
Read next: Invoice factoring · E-commerce funding · Inventory funding
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