By , Jess Ekstrom
Published June 02, 2016
When you offer a consumer product, you have to decide whether you want to sell in stores or just online. My company started online for the first two years, then started to move into stores after establishing our brand and a strong following.
Related: 5 Steps to Get Your Product On Store Shelves
To help you decide the same issue, here are a few pros and cons about going into wholesale:
Pros:
Cons:
A consideration is that you don’t have to go into large numbers of stores. If you’re worried about brand protection, you can establish a great relationship with one chain and offer an exclusivity agreement. Either way, if you’re ready to go into stores, here are some steps to follow:
Establish your terms. There are some specific terms you need to have ready when a store asks you for them. Here are the questions stores will ask:
Related: 6 Tips for Getting Your Product Sold in Big Box Stores This Season
Create your line sheets. Your line sheets, your first impression with the store, should contain the following:
Our site is powered through Shopify, so we use an app called Now In Store that syncs our wholesale products to our catalog for easy updates and edits.
Optimize your site to show you do wholesale. On your site, be sure to include a wholesale tab so people know you offer that. Include a contact form for stores to fill out with details about themselves -- information that allows you to send line sheets if you think they’d be a good fit.
Once you’ve started to gain stores, you can also put a list or a map in where people can find your product in store locations.
Reach out to local buyers. Now that you’ve set your terms and have your line sheets ready, start with local companies where you see a fit for your brand. Try to get a name of a buyer and schedule a meeting where you bring samples and discuss the brand.
The first few stores Headbands of Hope ever got into materialized because I walked in with headbands and asked to speak with the buyer. I was so confident they would sell that I offered stores a consignment agreement to test them out (producing payment for me only when the products sold).
If you’re looking to get your own foot in the door, you too can offer consignment. However, to cite my personal experience, I found that, as my company grew, it was harder to track down orders and checks on a consignment basis so today we do orders only.
Attend trade shows. Trade shows are an investment, but can be a big ticket to lots of stores and major retailers. As a fashion brand, we attend America’s Mart and Accessories the Show. Stores come to your booth and learn more about the products and write orders at the show (if they like your products).
Related: 4 Ways to Get Your Product on the Shelves at Whole Foods
Once you’ve secured stores, help them sell your product. The more they can sell, the more they will buy from you. Offer display materials or even Skype-in to their sales staff and talk about major selling points. Create a newsletter list for just your stores so you can cater your communication and news about your company to their language.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/5-steps-for-getting-your-product-into-stores