October 7, 2008, 9:45 am
Pitching to a large retailer
Jay Bhatt, Vikram Sports, Laguna Hills, Calif.
I want to sell baseball bats and table tennis rackets to big retail chains. My company is a 100% minority owned business. What is the best way to proceed? What gross margin do these stores expect to make? How should be my pricing structure be (discounts, co-op, etc)?
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Jay,
I would recommend selling your product to a wholesale distributor. I know of a large sporting goods distributor that will purchase your product from you and then use their sales staff to sell it to almost all the large sporting goods retailers in the US. The benefit of using a distributor is that it will cut down on your cost and also give you national distribution instantly. Big retailers like to buy products from vendors that have more than one product. Distributors have great relationships with retail buyers and once they decide to take on your product, getting it into stores like Walmart or Academy sports is easier. It would be almost impossible for you to do it on your own especially if you want a large retailer to purchase your product. For more information on using a distributor to sell your product to major retailers visit http://www.boostmyproduct.com