Most businesses create success based on building a product or providing a service to customers. They sell things to people who want or need them. One aspect of the economy that this doesn’t cover is the amount of business that is done company to company. Some of the most thriving businesses don’t sell anything to individuals and instead sell what they do to other businesses. Connecting one company with another and providing ways for them to do better business can be extremely lucrative. Below are five industries that thrive on being middlemen.
Private Label Food Makers
Believe it or not, some of the food that you buy from big brands and other food companies isn’t actually made by the business. There are many private label food manufacturers that make foods and sell them to the brands you are more familiar with. These companies could get their ingredients from other companies too. Private label food companies make their success by being a middleman. They buy ingredients, make their products, and sell them in large quantities to food companies that will sell them to the consumer. It’s a chain of commerce that might not make sense to the average consumer, but it makes a lot of people wealthy.
Debt Consolidation
There are lenders and other financial companies who make their living being a middleman between other lenders and borrowers. Debt consolidation is a big business. These companies take on their customers’ debt. They pay off the various balances that the person owes to lenders and put it into a single balance with them instead.
There are benefits to the borrower because they get to simplify their debt with a single monthly balance, due date, and interest rate. They have peace of mind. On the end of the debt consolidation company, they get to take the interest from paying off the multiple balances. It is a business that is designed to simplify debt, but it’s also to change who receives the most interest in the end. With larger debt, you can lower the interest rate and the company will still profit off it.
Digital Marketers
Another middleman business is marketing. When it comes to digital marketing, the company works with a company to learn how to best get the attention of the current and future customers. They work with the company to establish demographics, the type of product or service, and how they can best appeal to the target audience. Digital marketers are middlemen because the company could, in theory, do their own marketing. However, it’s difficult for a company to make their products, innovate, keep their overhead low, and focus on marketing all at the same time. A lot of his to do with the data management of the marketer. Digital marketers have made a great living out of understanding the internet, people, and what makes a business great.
Real Estate
One of the most lucrative middlemen businesses is real estate. Real estate provides a healthy living for people who commit to learning about the markets, building up a portfolio, creating relationships with people, and being able to haggle on behalf of someone. At the end of the day, the real estate agent or company doesn’t get their money if they don’t sell the property. While you could buy a home or commercial property without a real estate agent, they typically have access to best prices and properties.
Coffee Roasters
While a lot of coffee businesses roast their own beans, many others can’t take on this responsibility. It adds to the overhead and business complications. It’s also an art form that takes a long time to develop. A skilled roaster doesn’t understand the nuances of roasting coffee overnight. That’s why a lot of coffee shops choose to go with a roaster that knows what it’s doing. These roasting companies usually have their own cafes but they make the bulk of their money buying unroasted green coffee beans from farms, roasting it to a variety of results, and selling to coffee shops around the country.
The five businesses above make their living off being in between. When there is a gap that needs to be filled, there will always be someone who is willing to fill it. When there is a demand, the economic principle doesn’t just apply to consumers. It applies to businesses as well.
