Allocation policy
How scarce product is allocated.
Allocation is the rationing of product whose upstream supply is smaller than downstream demand. Every distributor in this industry resolves that somehow. The difference between them is whether the method is written down — and whether a decision can be explained to the account it affected.
Where scarcity starts
Not with us.
Allocation begins at the manufacturer, where production on a product is finite and demand from distribution exceeds it. Each distributor receives a quantity, and that quantity is itself an allocation decided on criteria the distributor does not control and often is not told.
W&S then faces the same arithmetic one level down. The criteria below are how it is resolved.
Allocation may consider
In roughly this order of weight. The first two are absolute; the rest are weighed together rather than scored to a formula.
- 01
Product availability
What W&S actually secured. Every other criterion operates on the quantity in hand, and no criterion creates product that does not exist.
- 02
Supplier and manufacturer restrictions
Some products carry channel, geographic or account-type restrictions imposed upstream. These override everything else and are non-negotiable.
- 03
Preorder and interest participation
Whether the account told us it wanted the product before we committed capital to it. This is the criterion most within a dealer’s control and the one most often ignored.
- 04
Trailing purchase history
Purchases across the whole catalog, not just on scarce lines. An account that buys only allocated product is a different kind of customer from one that supports the calendar.
- 05
Category participation
Whether the account carries the category generally or appears only for its flagship release.
- 06
Account standing and payment history
Whether invoices are paid on the agreed terms and whether the account is in good standing. Slow payment materially affects allocation.
- 07
Prior allocation utilization
What happened to the last allocation. Product that reached the retail floor is weighted differently from product that was cancelled or returned.
- 08
Geographic distribution
W&S distributes across a territory. Concentrating a scarce release into one submarket serves neither the network nor the supplier whose product it is.
- 09
Order consistency and cancellation history
Repeated cancellation of confirmed orders affects future allocation, because a cancelled allocation is product that could have gone to an account that would have sold it.
- 10
Participation points
The smallest weight in the score, earned by things that cost nothing and help everybody: registering interest, committing to a preorder, reporting what sold, paying on time, referring a shop. Points break ties between comparable accounts. They cannot outweigh the criteria above them and they cannot be bought.
Before the ranking
Three shares are set aside first.
The criteria above decide how a release is ranked. These decide how much of it reaches the ranking at all, and they are published for the same reason the criteria are: a rule that changes who gets product and is not stated is indistinguishable from favoritism.
The founding-dealer reserve
For a founding dealer’s first year, a share of each allocation is divided evenly among the founding dealers who registered interest in that release, before anything is ranked. After the year it ends, and they are ranked on the published criteria like everyone else. The founding cohort is the first shops to open accounts with W&S, it is capped, and once it is full it is closed. Nobody is selected into it: places are filled in the order accounts are approved.
The new-dealer floor
A share of each allocation is held for accounts that are new enough to have no purchase history. Without it, the criteria above would make a dealer’s first year unwinnable — every signal that matters is one you can only build by receiving product. A new account is not asked to compete on a record it has not had time to build.
The county cap
No county takes more than a set share of a scarce release while another county is still short of its own. Shops across the territory are reached before anyone’s allocation is deepened. The cap shapes who is served first; it does not strand product — where the caps cannot absorb a whole release, or where every shop asking is in one county, the remainder is spread rather than held back, because holding it back would serve nobody. This is the geographic criterion applied to the allocation as a whole rather than scored against any one account, which is the only way to apply it that produces a decision a person can defend.
The limits
What allocation explicitly is not.
These are stated as plainly as the criteria, because a policy that only lists what it does is a policy that will surprise someone.
No allocation is guaranteed until W&S confirms it in writing.
Meeting every criterion does not entitle an account to a specific product or quantity.
Account approval is not a claim on inventory. It is permission to buy what is available.
W&S retains discretion in allocation decisions and states that plainly rather than implying a formula.
Allocation is not a loyalty program and cannot be purchased.
Account tiers
A description of history, not an entitlement.
W&S maintains internal account standing. It is genuinely useful — it is the shorthand for the history several of the criteria above weight. It is not a separate price list and it is not a claim on inventory.
- Core
- A verified account in good standing. Every approved dealer starts here and many stay here by choice.
- Full catalog access at dealer pricing, with allocation considered on the published criteria.
- Priority
- An account with established purchase history across the calendar and breadth across more than one category.
- The same catalog, with the standing history that the published allocation criteria weight.
- Premier
- A long-tenured account with sustained volume, broad category participation, and a record of taking the allocations it was given.
- The same catalog. Tier is a description of history, not a separate price list or a claim on inventory.
What you control
Four things that actually move the answer.
Most of what determines allocation either sits outside your control or accumulates slowly. These four are within reach, and shops that do them consistently are in a different position within twelve months.
Indicate interest early and specifically
Aggregate dealer demand is what W&S carries upstream when it argues for volume. A named account requesting a stated quantity is a materially stronger argument than a general request for allocation — and an account that never indicates is invisible in that number.
Buy across the calendar
Purchase history that spans the products nobody fought over is worth more in an allocation decision than a larger number concentrated entirely on flagship releases.
Pay on the agreed terms
Payment history is one of the few criteria that moves quickly in the wrong direction and slowly in the right one.
Do not cancel confirmed allocations
A cancelled allocation is product that could have gone to an account that would have sold it. If you are unsure you can take a quantity, request less — that is a cheaper error in both directions.
Questions
Allocation and preorders.
Against published criteria: product availability, any supplier or manufacturer restriction, preorder and interest participation, trailing purchase history, category participation, account standing and payment history, prior allocation utilization, geographic distribution, and order and cancellation consistency. The full policy is on this site. W&S retains discretion and states that rather than implying a formula.
No. Tiers describe an account’s history; they are not a claim on inventory and they are not a separate price list. No allocation is guaranteed until W&S confirms it in writing, and meeting every criterion does not entitle an account to a specific product or quantity. Any distributor telling you otherwise is describing something it cannot control.
Indicating interest is non-binding. You tell us the quantity you would take at an indicated price, before W&S has committed capital. A preorder is a binding request against product W&S has opened for order. Allocation confirmation comes after that, in writing. The three stages are kept separate deliberately so nobody is committed to anything they did not agree to.
Because aggregate dealer interest is what W&S carries upstream when it asks a supplier for volume. Documented downstream demand from named accounts is a materially stronger argument than a request for allocation, and an account that never indicates is invisible in that number — which is also why participation is one of the published allocation criteria.
Cancellation terms are set out in the preorder policy. In practical terms: a cancelled allocation is product that could have gone to an account that would have sold it, and repeated cancellation affects future allocation. That consequence is published rather than applied quietly.
Be counted in the demand.
Approved accounts can register non-binding interest against upcoming product. That is what turns a request for allocation into documented downstream demand from named retailers.