Christmas Lights Wholesale Supply

Christmas lights wholesale supply for installation crews

An installation season has three stretches: the early installs, the peak weeks when every crew is out daily, and the service and takedown weeks after. Materials run down at different rates in each one. This store carries what crews go through: C9 socket wire, LED C9 bulbs, LED mini strands, clips, plugs, lamp cord and photocell timers, in packs for service calls and cases for the route.

Every order ships the same day it's placed, shipping is free on all orders with and there are no fees. A restock of one clip case ships on the same terms as a full season order.

What runs out, and when

Early installs

The first weeks go through socket wire and bulbs quickly, because returning customers' runs get replaced or extended and new customers need full runs. Spools and bulb cases are the main buy.

Peak weeks

Clips and plugs go next. Every new run uses a clip per socket and a plug at each end, and every re-cut uses another plug. Crews that carry one case of all-in-one clips and one case each of male and female plugs per truck rarely stop a job for hardware.

Service and takedown

Service calls are re-lamps, damaged sockets and dead runs. 25-packs of LED C9 bulbs in each color temperature on the route, replacement sockets and a pack of plugs handle most of them.

Keep the color temperature consistent

Buy bulbs for a season in as few orders as practical and track the color temperature of each customer's display. Warm white and sun warm white look close in a box and different on a roofline. A route sheet with the bulb type and spacing for each address makes re-lamps match.

Mini strands and timers

Tree and shrub wraps use LED mini strands, which crews buy in 24-strand cases at 4 in. or 6 in. spacing. Wraps are the part of a display most often added mid-season, when a customer asks for the front trees after seeing the roofline, so a spare case on the shelf covers the upsell. Photocell timers come singly or in 4-count cases; one per circuit for each new customer, plus a spare on each truck for a failed timer.

Kits for one-off jobs

C9 installation kits from 250 to 4,000 ft. are useful mid-season, when a new commercial job comes in and the truck stock is committed to the route. One kit covers the job without drawing down the spools.

Unused stock at the end of the season

Unused, uninstalled product in its original, intact packaging can be returned within 30 days of delivery. Plan late-season orders with that window in mind: an unopened case ordered for a job that cancels can go back. Orders ship within the United States.

A season-long stocking plan for installation crews

A crew's materials don't get used evenly across the season. Wire and bulbs go out early, clips and plugs through the peak, and small packs for service calls at the end. Planning stock in three phases keeps the trucks supplied without tying up money in cases that sit in the shop until spring.

Phase 1: before the first install

Start from last year's route sheet. Total the footage of every returning customer whose runs need replacing or extending, then add the footage of signed new customers. That total, split by spacing, is the opening buy.

• Socket wire: 1,000 ft. spools for the new footage, in the spacing each job uses.
• Bulbs: one per new socket, rounded to whole cases ($319 per 500-count case).
• Clips: one per new socket plus about 5% ($549 per 3,000-count case).
• Plugs: one male and one female per run ($699 per 1,000-count case).
• Mini strands: two 50-light strands per foot of tree height for wraps ($260 per 24-count case).
• Timers: one per circuit for new customers, $43 for a 4-count case.

Don't buy the whole season's projected new sales up front. Orders ship the same day with free shipping and so stock for sales that haven't closed can be ordered when they do.

Phase 2: the peak weeks

Once every crew is installing daily, the shortage risk moves from wire and bulbs to hardware. Set a reorder point for each consumable and check it at the end of each week.

• Clips: reorder when the shop is down to one case per crew. Cold mornings, old gutters and dropped boxes all use more clips than the estimate.
• Plugs: reorder when below one 50-pack of each gender per truck. Every re-cut uses a plug.
• Bulbs: keep a sealed case in the shop for jobs signed mid-season.
• Socket wire: keep one spare spool at each spacing the crews use.

A large job that comes in during the peak can be covered with a kit instead of drawing down route stock. A 1,000 ft. 12 in. installation kit is $1,605.10 and arrives with its own wire, bulbs, plugs and clips.

Phase 3: service calls and takedown

After the last install, the work is re-lamps, damaged sockets and runs that trip a GFCI after a storm. The truck stock changes to small quantities of many items:

• A 25-pack of LED C9 bulbs in each color temperature on the route ($19.95 each).
• A 10-pack of replacement sockets.
• A pack of male and female plugs and a roll of lamp cord.
• One spare photocell timer.
• A 100-pack of the clip type used most on the route.

At takedown, coil runs by address and label them, store bulbs in their sockets or in cases, and count what's left. That count, against the route sheet, is next season's opening buy.

Returning what wasn't used

Unused, uninstalled product in its original, intact packaging can be returned within 30 days of delivery. Keep sealed cases sealed until they're needed, and check the delivery date before opening a late-season case, so stock bought for a cancelled job can go back instead of sitting on a shelf.

Keep a single record

One sheet per season with each order, each restock and each return shows where the plan ran short and where it ran over. The next season's phase 1 buy starts from those numbers.