This Site Is Helping Businesses Save on Merchandise Orders An online buying club allows wholesale pricing for small businesses.

In 2006, when Jonathan Jenkins and his wife, Danielle, opened their first business, a women's fashion accessories store in Abilene, Texas, they worked with suppliers in Asia. But they quickly found that overseas vendors required high minimum orders on the scale of Walmart and Macy's, so the couple had to buy more inventory than they needed.

The store closed during the Great Recession, and the couple moved on to their next venture, a tech startup that focused on gamification apps for the Chinese ESL market. That fizzled out as well, but between their experiences in retail and tech and dealing with Asian suppliers, they came up with OrderWithMe, an online buying club that helps U.S. independent retailers save money by aggregating their merchandise orders and taking them directly to manufacturers in Asia.

By joining together orders from bike shops, bakeries, plumbers or other small businesses within a single category, OrderWithMe can land better pricing and terms. The service is free; OrderWithMe makes its money by taking a cut of whatever discounts it negotiates with the wholesaler or distributor. (Jenkins declined to share how much.)