A consignment offer can look more profitable because the supplier receives a larger share of each retail sale than under wholesale. The missing denominator is the stock placed in the store: only the units sold trigger the consignment payment, while the supplier has financed the whole placement.
Delivery is not the payment trigger
Under a consignment arrangement, the retailer holds goods for sale while ownership stays with the consignor until the agreed sale event. Sending a cooking robot to the store therefore does not mean the retailer owes the full wholesale price for it.
A firm wholesale purchase creates a different obligation: the retailer buys the goods on the agreed terms. Those terms may include credit, so wholesale does not automatically mean cash on delivery. The distinction is whether payment depends on the retailer finding an end customer. A sale-or-return arrangement must be evaluated on its own terms rather than treated as an unconditional purchase.
Compare the placement at the same settlement date
Hypothetical example — figures illustrate the calculation only; they are not our quotation or market prices.
Assume a brand places 20 robots costing it $180 each. Under a hypothetical consignment offer, the brand receives $280 per unit sold; under a hypothetical firm wholesale offer, the retailer pays $240 for every unit by the comparison date. Ignore tax, delivery and other charges, and assume no returns.
If the retailer has sold eight consigned units by that date, the brand receives $2,240. It originally committed $3,600 to all 20 units, and still owns 12 units with an inventory cost of $2,160. Under the firm wholesale offer, it receives $4,800 for the placement.
The unsold consigned stock is not automatically a loss: it may sell later. But it has not produced cash yet. The higher $280 receipt per sale does not make the whole placement finance itself sooner than the $240 firm purchase.
For each offer, calculate the cash due by the same date using the expected number of units sold, then show the cost of any stock you still own beside that cash figure.