Which platform is right for you? (30-second answer)
Faire — the right pick if...
Faire is the right pick if you run a boutique retail shop in the US or Europe and source artisan, lifestyle, gift, home, or speciality food products — typically at case-level quantities. Its network of ~30,000 brands and ~250,000 retailers is the largest in that niche, and its net-60 payment terms to retailers are a genuine working-capital advantage for small shops.
First FMCG — the right pick if...
First FMCG is the right pick if you trade FMCG — confectionery, beverages, snacks, personal care, household, baby care — at pallet and truckload volumes, across borders, where the decision is driven by total landed cost (unit price + MOQ + road or sea freight) and where exposing your sourcing pattern too early burns relationships. 0% platform commission on every plan, AI-ranked offers, privacy-first by default.
If you are trying to stock a corner gift shop, use Faire. If you are moving thirty pallets of Red Bull to Hamburg and need the cheapest real cost including transport, use First FMCG.
Core differences at a glance
| Dimension | First FMCG | Faire |
|---|---|---|
| Platform commission | 0% on every transaction, across every plan (Basic, Pro, VIP) | ~15% on first orders; ~15% on repeat in some programs |
| Payment processing fee | None today; future on-platform payments via a third-party provider such as Stripe at that provider's standard rates | Bundled into commission |
| Vertical focus | FMCG — confectionery, beverages, snacks, personal care, household, baby care | Boutique / lifestyle — apparel, home, gifts, artisan food, wellness |
| AI offer ranking | Yes — built into search, ranks by total landed cost | No — faceted browse and category-based discovery |
| Landed-cost math (road + sea freight) | Yes — baked into every result before you enquire | No — shipping quoted per order, not used for ranking |
| Privacy model | Supplier identity and exact terms hidden until mutual interest is confirmed | Prices and brands visible on open catalog |
| Pricelist upload | Pro tier: Excel / PDF / CSV up to 10 MB, AI-parsed. Basic: manual entry up to 20 offers | Manual entry and onboarding via Faire's tools |
| Free tier | Basic free forever — 20 offers, 1 user, standard AI search quota | No free seller subscription; Faire makes money on commission |
| Paid tiers | Pro and VIP paid monthly subscriptions (price TBD) unlock pricelist upload, unlimited offers, team seats, larger AI quota | None — commission-only model |
| Target buyer | International FMCG wholesalers, distributors, parallel-trade operators, HoReCa procurement | Independent retailers, gift shops, boutiques, small speciality food stores |
| Target supplier | FMCG brand owners, manufacturers, distributors moving pallets | Artisan brands, makers, independent producers |
| Geographic focus | Global; EUR, GBP, USD listing currencies; no regional gating | US-anchored with EU presence (France, UK, Germany); strongest in North America |
| Buyer payment terms | Negotiated per deal between the two parties off-platform today | Net-60 to retailers as a signature feature |
When Faire is the right pick
Faire is genuinely good at what it does. We would not recommend switching away from it just to switch.
Boutique and lifestyle retail
Apparel, home goods, stationery, artisan food, candles, wellness, kids. Faire's discovery UX, product photography standards, and curation are built around these categories.
US-first distribution
Faire's retailer base is densest in the United States. If your buyers are US independent shops, it is the highest-liquidity platform in that niche.
Net-60 payment terms
Retailers can defer payment 60 days on Faire-financed orders. This is a real working-capital advantage for small shops and one of the reasons Faire's retailer side is as loyal as it is.
Brand recognition with retail buyers
A new independent brand putting its first SKU into independent retail gets discovered on Faire faster than almost anywhere else.
If that describes your business, stop here. Use Faire.
When First FMCG is the right pick
First FMCG is built for a different trade. The following conditions flip the answer the other way.
You buy or sell FMCG at pallet and truckload volumes
Unit economics in FMCG are different from boutique: MOQs are measured in pallets, margins are thin, and a 15% commission is not absorbable.
Your decision is landed cost, not unit price
A €3.20 EXW offer from Poland and a €3.45 EXW offer from Germany are not comparable until you know where the pallets are going. First FMCG's AI ranking does that math automatically.
You trade across borders
Cross-border EU, EU-to-UK, EU-to-third-country. Road and sea freight estimates are folded into ranking, not quoted as an afterthought.
You need privacy
Parallel-trade operators, grey-import wholesalers, and anyone whose edge is the route itself cannot list prices on an open catalog. First FMCG hides supplier identity and exact terms until both sides confirm interest.
You want 0% platform commission that stays 0%
Basic, Pro, VIP — the cut on a closed deal is always zero. That is permanent, not introductory.
Commission and fees — the real numbers
This is where the two platforms diverge most sharply.
Faire charges ~15% commission on first orders and ~15% on repeat orders in some programs. The exact percentage varies by program; Faire has adjusted it over time.
First FMCGcharges 0% platform commission on every transaction between users, across every plan. The Pro and VIP subscriptions unlock scale features (pricelist upload, unlimited offers, team seats, larger AI search quota) but do not change what you pay on a closed deal. When on-platform payment processing eventually ships, it will likely run through a third-party provider such as Stripe at that provider's standard published rates — First FMCG does not add a commission on top.
Worked example: a €10,000 order
| Faire | First FMCG | |
|---|---|---|
| Deal value | €10,000 | €10,000 |
| Platform commission | €1,500 (at ~15%) | €0 |
| Payment processing | Bundled | Depends on settlement (bank transfer costs nothing to First FMCG; future Stripe-style processing at that provider's standard rates) |
| Supplier receives | ~€8,500 | ~€10,000 minus any off-platform processor cost they already pay |
On an FMCG pallet-level deal, that €1,500 difference is not a bonus — it is often the whole margin. That is the economics reason FMCG trade does not happen on commission-based generalist marketplaces.
Features side-by-side
AI offer ranking
First FMCG: First FMCG ranks every candidate offer against your query by total landed cost — unit price plus MOQ fit plus road or sea freight from origin to destination. A closer supplier with a higher EXW price often beats a cheaper one once transport is added, and you see that before you send an enquiry.
Faire: Faire uses faceted category browse and recommendation models tuned for boutique retail discovery. It is excellent at "show me home decor brands that sell wholesale to shops like mine" — a different problem.
Transport calculator
First FMCG: First FMCG has a road and sea freight calculator built into the search, not a separate tool. HGV routing for road, container rates for sea. Every result is already landed-cost-adjusted.
Faire: Faire calculates shipping on a per-order basis after a retailer adds product to cart. The ranking layer does not use it.
Privacy model
First FMCG: First FMCG is privacy-first by default. Supplier identity and exact terms stay hidden until mutual interest is confirmed through a structured purchase request. No competitor sees your sourcing pattern.
Faire: Faire publishes brand catalogs and prices openly once a retailer is approved. That works for boutique discovery; it does not work for FMCG parallel trade where the operator's edge is the route itself.
Pricelist tools
First FMCG: First FMCG parses Excel (.xlsx/.xls), PDF, and CSV pricelists up to 10 MB on the Pro tier — products, EAN, price per piece or per case, MOQ, units per pallet, and stock. Manual entry is available on Basic (up to 20 offers).
Faire: Faire onboards brands through its own tooling — product images, descriptions, wholesale pricing entered per SKU. There is no pricelist parser because Faire's model is curated retail-grade catalogs.
Team seats
First FMCG: First FMCG Basic: 1 user / Pro: up to 3 users / VIP: up to 15 users per company. Shared pipeline across the team.
Faire: Faire has brand accounts with team access that varies by brand program.
FAQ
Is First FMCG a Faire alternative?
First FMCG and Faire are both B2B wholesale marketplaces but serve different trades. Faire is dominant for boutique retailers buying artisan and lifestyle products, largely in the US. First FMCG is built for FMCG at pallet and truckload scale with AI-ranked offers, landed-cost math, privacy-first trading, and 0% platform commission on every plan. In FMCG, First FMCG is the functional alternative; in boutique retail, it is not.
Is Faire good for FMCG wholesale?
Faire can work for artisan speciality food sold by the case into independent shops. It is not built for FMCG pallet-level wholesale where MOQs are measured in cases per pallet, margins are thin, and the ~15% Faire commission alone makes most deals uneconomic.
Does First FMCG charge commission like Faire?
No. First FMCG charges 0% platform commission on every transaction between users, across Basic, Pro, and VIP. Pro and VIP are paid monthly subscriptions (price TBD) for scale features — pricelist upload, unlimited offers, team seats, larger AI search quota — but do not change the 0% commission on closed deals. Faire charges ~15% on first orders and ~15% on repeat orders in some programs.
Can I use both Faire and First FMCG?
Yes. They are complementary. A supplier might list on Faire for US boutique retail distribution and on First FMCG for cross-border pallet wholesale at 0% commission. A buyer might source boutique gifts on Faire and pallet-level FMCG on First FMCG.
Which is better for EU / UK / global FMCG sourcing?
First FMCG lists in EUR, GBP, and USD with no regional gating, road and sea freight baked into ranking, and 0% commission on every plan. Faire is US-anchored with some EU presence but without FMCG pallet-level economics or landed-cost math. For EU / UK / global FMCG sourcing at pallet scale, First FMCG is the better fit.
How does pricing compare between First FMCG and Faire?
Faire is commission-only (~15% on orders, no seller subscription). First FMCG has a free Basic plan (manual posting, 20 offers, 1 user), paid Pro and VIP subscriptions (price TBD) for scale features, and 0% platform commission on every plan. On a €10,000 deal, Faire takes roughly €1,500 and First FMCG takes €0.
Who is behind First FMCG?
Founder and legal entity details are being finalised and will be published alongside Pro and VIP pricing. The platform publishes through its LinkedIn company page (id 115792557) and distributes content daily to the FMCG HUB community. Company-level diligence information is available on request during the pre-launch period.
Is First FMCG smaller than Faire today?
Yes. Faire has ~30,000 brands and ~250,000 retailers across 80+ countries; First FMCG is earlier and carries fewer listings. The trade-off is depth versus economics — First FMCG is vertical-focused with 0% commission and AI landed-cost ranking, which usually decides for wholesalers moving real volume.
Start on First FMCG Basic — free forever
Register on Basic, post up to 20 offers manually, run AI searches at the standard quota, and trade at 0% commission. When you outgrow Basic, Pro and VIP unlock pricelist upload, unlimited offers, and team access. Or see how First FMCG works before you register. Comparing more platforms? See all Faire alternatives or First FMCG vs Ankorstore.