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Fiona Chautard aims to offer insight into selling your designs and products to a retailer. She explains the benefits of selling this way as opposed to selling online.
Getting retailers to sell your product can be an exciting and crucial step to expanding your business in an effective way. The benefits are many and can include:
Wider reach – your product in a large number of shops puts it on the map, promoting it to a range of potential customers in different locations
Credibility – your product in a trusted outlet creates prestige for your brand and sparks people’s interest and trust in your product
Broader sales – although your profit margin is lower, the amount you sell through a retailer is greater
Marketing and PR – a retailer can promote the value of your brand to your ideal customers, interest and excite them, and lead them to your website
Product contact – your customer has a chance to ‘feel and touch’ the product, as well as try it on and see the detail in its production. This is difficult to convey in an online shop
From planning and selecting products to predicting trends, a buyer has many responsibilities. However, generally their key focus is driving sales, increasing customer traffic and ultimately increasing profits. That’s why when you meet them to discuss how your product could fit into their range, it’s important to understand their main concerns. These priorities can include:
Increasing sales – They want to know and understand how your product will sell well in their shop and is right for their customer / audience
Market knowledge - understanding the audience for the products that they sell, considering a customer’s buying habits and changing their product offer to suit those changing tastes
Analysing trends – predicting style and fashion trends for their market
Planning merchandise and space – knowing what’s been ordered, when it’s arriving and how to present it in an appealing way in the store
Controlling budgets – managing budgets, buying the right amount and type of stock to hit sales targets
Developing product ranges – identifying exciting new products for their shop / department and ensuring existing products are updated to maintain customer interest
From niche to mainstream businesses and everything in between, there are a variety of retail structures buying in different ways.
An independent retailer is often the owner. So they’ll normally be able to make decisions quickly about what they buy including whether to stock your product. This type of retailer also:
A chain store retailer is often owned by a single firm and can be located across the country or even worldwide. They typically have standardised business practices so can be slower to place orders because they need approval from management. This can also include things like getting approval to raise a purchase order. This type of retailer also may: