What Is A Cloud Storage Reseller and How To Become One
The cloud storage market is currently worth an estimated $124.57 billion and is expected to grow to $425.76 billion by 2030, with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 24%.
As a result, businesses are looking for ways to expand their services and gain a slice of this highly profitable industry by becoming cloud storage resellers. Cloud storage reselling is a means for IT suppliers to create their own cloud platform for customers by partnering with existing cloud providers and reselling their product.
This article will explain cloud storage reselling, its benefits, what features to look for, and some popular cloud storage reseller services.
Table of contents
- What is a cloud storage reseller?
- How cloud storage reselling works
- Benefits for cloud storage resellers
- Features to look for from resellers
- How to set up a successful reseller business
What is a cloud storage reseller?
A cloud storage reseller is a service aimed at people or businesses that allows them to buy cloud storage from certain providers at a discounted rate. Once purchased, the services are then resold by the purchaser under their own name, brand, and pricing model.
Cloud storage partnership programmes
Another similar service to cloud storage reselling is partnership programmes. Like cloud reselling, cloud partnerships also involve promoting, distributing, or buying cloud storage that’s recommended by an external company.
Cloud partnerships are often collaborations between two companies, often in a similar industry, that offer discounted cloud storage prices by promoting the service. In return, the reseller or partner gets a commission.
There are also affiliate programmes, where you can get commission by referring users via a tracking link on your website, YouTube, newsletter, blog, etc. Unlike reselling or partnerships, affiliates don’t manage the customer support side of things, they just promote the product.
Internxt Drive affiliate program
If you’re interested in cloud storage affiliate programmes, you can join Internxt’s affiliate programme and earn up to $300. You'll also get access to exclusive sales, deals, and commissions.
By signing up for our affiliate program, you could earn 30% commission on all annual plans sold, or 15% for lifetime plans. You could also earn money by promoting our business or S3 object storage plans.
For more information on how to get started, visit https://internxt.com/affiliates
Internxt Drive resellers
You can buy Internxt Drive from Stack Social, a storefront selling discounted software, apps, gadgets, and online courses in subjects such as ethical hacking. It offers lifetime deals and is commonly used by companies to reach a wider audience.
It can be viewed as one type of cloud storage reseller as you can buy Internxt Drive at a discounted rate, while Internxt is still in charge of managing the cloud infrastructure of the service.
With Stack Social, you can get up to 20TB of private, zero-knowledge cloud storage for up to 89% off. Prices start from $129.99 for a 2TB plan, with 5TB, 10TB, or 20TB plans also available from the Stack Social website.
However, if you buy a plan from Stack Social, you only get access to Internxt Drive, and not Internxt VPN, Antivirus, Meet, or Mail. If you want access to these services, you must buy directly from Internxt, which you can do by visiting our pricing page.
How cloud storage reselling works
There are a few examples of how cloud storage reselling works. It’s basically when a business buys an amount of cloud storage from a provider and sells it to others under its own brand or prices to earn money without creating the service itself.
One model of this is white-label reselling, when a reseller buys and rebrands the cloud storage as their own without creating or managing the infrastructure.
Another model is bulk reselling, where you can buy cloud storage in bulk and sell individual plans at a higher cost to earn your own profits. The more storage you buy, the bigger the discount you get.
Other examples are services reselling the product on their own websites, such as Internxt Drive on Stack Social, at discounted prices, focusing on lifetime plans for users who just need private cloud storage.
Benefits for cloud storage resellers
No management or setup required
A cloud storage reseller has already done the hard work for you. The software, infrastructure, security, and everything else are managed on their behalf. In essence, you are essentially renting the storage space from them, as the vendor is in charge of the platform, you just have to focus on reselling it.
Budget friendly
Cloud storage can become a huge expense for companies, from managing IT staff, security protocols, meeting security audits, and everything else that managing this product requires.
As a reseller, however, you only have to worry about the cost of buying the storage from the company and paying for the resources and services the customer uses.
Build your brand
As everything on the tech side is handled, once you’ve bought your storage, all you have to do is spread the message so people notice, trust, and buy from your brand if you buy from a white-label reseller.
Support from the reseller
Some cloud resellers offer customer support or training when you buy storage from them to give you the best and most profitable experience possible.
They could also help with marketing, sales assistance, and technical support if necessary. If you were to do this yourself, you would have to outsource, pay, or find a way to provide these services yourself.
Revenue potential
As you can set your own pricing models, and potentially buy bulk storage at a discount, cloud storage reselling can become a profitable service with very little overhead costs to worry about.
Features to look for from resellers
The following features are essential to provide reliable, secure, and private cloud storage to your customers. By providing these features, you can build your brand as a reputable service that offers the best cloud storage to back up and protect your customers’ data.
Security and privacy
Security and privacy are key aspects of cloud storage that you should guarantee to your customers if they are to trust buying cloud storage from you. Without it, you could be selling a service that sells customer data rather than protecting it, increasing the chances of data breaches.
To build your brand as a trustworthy service that offers private cloud storage, choose a cloud storage with zero-knowledge encryption. This way, encryption keys are managed on the user’s device, meaning no third party can access their files, and the customer’s privacy is protected.
Customization (white-labeling)
If you want to resell cloud storage under your own brand, make sure the reseller is aware and agrees to this. If they offer this service, then you can market the cloud storage under your own brand and start building your reputation and revenue as a storage reseller.
Scaliability
Once your reselling business has taken off, you may find yourself in a situation where you need more storage to meet the growing needs of your service. If this is the case, make sure you choose a service that allows you to upgrade your plan so you can continue providing customers with your service.
High uptime
Check with the reseller that they have a strong service level agreement in place (SLA) that has a high uptime guarantee so you don’t experience downtime and potential financial losses. The best resellers will offer an uptime of around 99.9% or higher.
Backups & redundancy
When you buy storage from a reseller, ensure they backup multiple copies of files across their different servers. Backups protect files from ransomware and also gives you extra security and peace of mind that files stored with your cloud storage are protected from data loss due to external events such as power failure or natural disasters.
API Access
For advanced users or for businesses that require customizable options for their cloud storage, you may need to check if the company offers integration with your own business applications via an API to integrate it into your current workflow, such as e-commerce platforms.
Compliance
As cloud storage providers must comply with regulations like the GDPR, you must research or confirm that your chosen reseller complies with the necessary data protection laws, which depend on your location. For Europe, this would be the GDPR, but others include the CCPA, HIPAA, or other laws, depending on your industry.
How to set up a successful reseller business
Now that you know what to look for from your cloud reseller service, here are some other things you should consider before starting your new business venture.
First, research your target audience, their pain points, and how your service fixes them. Since there are many cloud storage services available, you may decide to target people who want private cloud storage, like Internxt, or specific sectors, such as healthcare, which are constant targets of data breaches.
From there, your provider can help you set up a platform to manage your relationships with new customers. From there, you must keep up with current tech trends, such as AI, to differentiate your service from your competitors.
If you are looking to buy a service from a cloud storage reseller simply don’t forget to check out Internxt’s offers from Stack Social, or check out our full range of services on our website.