Buying a wholesale distribution business in South Florida

• Exclusive or authorized distribution rights, in writing, that a new owner can keep.
• A broad customer base with repeat orders, not one big retailer that sets the terms.
• Products customers can't easily buy direct from the manufacturer or online, or service (fast delivery, small minimum orders) they can't get elsewhere.
• Inventory that sells through steadily, with little obsolete stock.
• For importers, clean customs records and a good customs broker.
• Systems that track inventory, landed costs (the full cost including freight and duties) and margins by product and customer.
• Trademarks or private-label brands owned by the company, not the owner personally.
• Suppliers who know other people at the company besides the owner.

• Supplier agreements, and how dependent the business is on one or two suppliers or one country. Ask whether a supplier could start selling direct.
• An inventory count, its age, and how it's valued. Old stock is often worth far less than the books say.
• How much of sales goes to the biggest customers, and how long customers take to pay.
• Import costs: tariffs, freight, customs records and any open customs issues.
• Trademarks, domain names and marketplace accounts registered to the company. Marketplace accounts can be hard to transfer, so check each platform's rules.
• Product liability insurance and any recalls or safety complaints. An importer can be treated as the maker of a product it brings in.
• Sales tax filings, including sales into other states.

• Which suppliers would you need to introduce me to personally?
• Are any of your distribution rights exclusive, and are they in writing?
• How much of your inventory is more than a year old?
• How have tariffs and freight costs changed your margins?
• Do any of your products need special permits?
• What share of sales goes to your top five customers?
• How do customers find you, and how do they place orders?

South Florida covers Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties: Miami, Hialeah, Doral, Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood, Pompano Beach, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Jupiter, and the Florida Keys down to Key West. It's the state's largest metro area and its most international. PortMiami, Port Everglades and Miami International Airport tie the region to Latin America and the Caribbean, which supports a deep base of wholesalers, freight forwarders and logistics firms, many of them near the airport. Tourism and cruises, finance and wealth management, health care, real estate and construction carry much of the rest. Palm Beach County adds wealthy seasonal residents and, out west near Lake Okeechobee, sugarcane and vegetable farms. In the Keys, nearly everything turns on visitors, fishing and boating.

Companies that serve homes, condo buildings and other businesses do well here: the building trades, property services, insurance agencies, medical and dental practices, and professional firms.

Costs run high: commercial rent, wages and, above all, property and windstorm insurance. Price the insurance before you make an offer, not after. Miami-Dade and Broward make up the Florida Building Code's High-Velocity Hurricane Zone, with stricter rules for roofs, windows and structures. That raises building costs, and it also gives steady work to the contractors who know those rules well.

Much of the workforce and many customers speak Spanish as well as English, and a company that works well in both languages has an edge. The winter season matters more in Palm Beach County and the Keys than in Miami. In the Keys, the cost of housing makes hiring and keeping staff one of the hardest parts of running a company. Ask any seller there how they find workers and where those workers live.