How We Source Unique Brands for Our Catalog

At Meridian Trade, we’re not just another ecommerce seller slapping products on Amazon and eBay. We’re a small brand aggregator with a mission: to find, refine, and deliver unique brands that you won’t stumble across in every big-box online store. Our catalog is our pride—carefully curated to reflect quality, value, and a little bit of that “I didn’t know I needed this” magic. But how do we do it? Today, we’re pulling back the curtain on how we source the brands that fill our warehouse shelves and, eventually, your carts.

Step 1: Scouting the Hidden Gems

We start where many don’t bother to look—small makers, independent creators, and niche producers who’ve got something special but haven’t cracked the ecommerce code yet. Think of us as talent scouts for products. Our team spends hours digging through online forums, social media marketplaces, and even trade shows (when they’re not virtual!). In 2023, for example, we noticed a surge in small businesses pivoting online after the U.S. Small Business Administration reported a record 5.5 million new business applications that year. Many of these were one-person operations with brilliant ideas—like the handcrafted kitchen gadget brand we onboarded last fall—but no clue how to scale on Amazon or eBay. That’s where we come in.

Step 2: Testing the Market Fit

Finding a cool product isn’t enough. It has to sell. With our ecommerce roots, we’ve got a knack for spotting what moves. We lean on data from our own sales across platforms—Amazon’s algorithm shifts, eBay’s buyer trends, and even what’s popping on our personal website. Take 2024’s holiday season: after Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days in October saw a 10% uptick in home goods sales (per their own reports), we doubled down on a quirky modular storage brand we’d been eyeing. We ran small-batch tests through our warehouse, tracked clicks, and tweaked listings. By December, it was a top performer. That’s the Meridian Trade edge—years of trial and error distilled into a gut instinct backed by numbers.

Step 3: Bringing It In-House

Here’s where we differ from the big aggregators. Once we find a brand, we don’t just slap our logo on it and call it a day. Because we control production, marketing, fulfillment, and customer service, we work hand-in-hand with these brands to polish their offerings. Maybe it’s tweaking packaging for faster shipping (those 2023 USPS delays taught us a hard lesson), or adjusting a product based on customer feedback from our support team. Last summer, we partnered with a skincare brand that had a killer formula but terrible branding. Our marketing crew reimagined it, our production team streamlined the bottles, and now it’s a steady seller on our site. It’s not just sourcing—it’s sculpting.

Step 4: The Final Filter—Does It Fit Us?

Not every brand makes the cut. We ask: Does it align with our promise of quality and value? Can our warehouse handle it? Will our customers love it? In early 2024, when supply chain hiccups from the Red Sea shipping disruptions jacked up costs (thanks, Houthi attacks), we passed on a trendy gadget brand with unreliable suppliers. Instead, we pivoted to a U.S.-based artisanal toolmaker. It wasn’t flashy, but it was steady—and our buyers appreciated the reliability. That’s a lesson from the past two years: in ecommerce, consistency beats hype every time.

Wisdom From the Trenches

Sourcing unique brands isn’t glamorous—it’s a grind. But it’s a grind we’ve mastered over years of selling online. The past two years have thrown curveballs, from 2023’s small business boom to 2024’s shipping chaos, and each one’s sharpened our process. We’ve learned that the best brands aren’t always the loudest; they’re the ones that solve a problem or spark a smile. And with our hands on every lever—production to delivery—we can take a rough gem and make it shine.

Next time you browse our Amazon store, eBay listings, or meridiantrade.com, know that every product has a story. It’s not just stuff in a box—it’s the result of late-night searches, hard-won lessons, and a team that’s obsessed with getting it right. Got a favorite from our catalog? Drop us a line—we’d love to hear what you think.