A World without Wholesalers
Without wholesalers our lives would be very different, our diet, entertainment and clothing would be nowhere near as varied as it is today. The reason for this is simple; bulk buying is what makes it viable to ship goods halfway around the world. Look back to the history books, when things we consider staples like tea, coffee, rice and spices, were luxuries that only the rich could afford. Wholesalers can order in huge containers of bananas, knowing that they can easily sell them on and because of the nature of competition, will keep the price low enough to ensure that their company will not be left with tons of overripe fruit.
Even things that could be manufactured in the UK get shipped in. This is because the products can be made more cheaply elsewhere, where labour costs are lower than at home. This results in a product that can be retailed for much less than a similar home produced item, even allowing for shipping costs. This though, is a double edged sword, since it results in fewer jobs and exports for the home market. This is not the fault of the wholesalers though, they are simply responding to market forces, if they couldn't sell them they wouldn't bring them in.
There are varieties of fruit and vegetables that could not be produced at home, or at least not year round, unless they were grown under glass. For a single retailer, even one with a moderately large outlet, to try to import the amount they could sell off, the prices would be extortionate. You would never be able to buy the ingredients to make that exotic dish you first tasted on a foreign holiday. So while we wouldn't exactly be on a diet of potato and turnip, our options would be a lot more restricted than they are now.
As everybody knows, brand new electronic entertainment systems cost a lot more when they are first released than they do just a couple of years later. Take video recorders and DVD players for example, the initial cost of these where prohibitive, today you can buy them for a fraction of that cost. This is because of the economies of scale, whereby the volume of goods being produced reduces the price of the item since a smaller profit on each allows for a healthy overall profit. This is something that wouldn't happen in a small closed market therefore the bulk buying power of the wholesaler brings huge reductions in the cost to the retailer.
Being an island state the UK depends greatly on a variety of imports to support the lifestyle we enjoy today, these things would not be available to the masses were it not for wholesalers.