4 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
4 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

where to start selling b2c products b2b?

by thessj
3 replies
I have been importing and selling some products on Amazon/Ebay.

I am curious about getting some of the products into retailers in the UK (e.g. 'pets at home')
I'm not quite sure if it's as simple was walking into a branch and asking to talk to a manager, or what the normal process is.

Does anyone have any experience with this?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Chris
#b2b #b2c #products #selling #start
  • Profile picture of the author quadagon
    You'll have better look with independent pet shops than a chain like pets at home.

    For pets at home you'll need to try and get an appointment with the buying team at their head office. You'll then need to pitch to the buyers. Tim Goff was the head of buying at petsat home.

    Another option would be to get into the wholesalers rather going direct, you'll get less per sale but more volume.

    An issue you might come across is uniqueness and why wholesaler x shouldn't just import them himself.
    Signature
    I've got 99 problems but a niche ain't one
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10365018].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author yukon
    Banned
    Originally Posted by thessj View Post

    I have been importing and selling some products on Amazon/Ebay.

    I am curious about getting some of the products into retailers in the UK (e.g. 'pets at home')
    I'm not quite sure if it's as simple was walking into a branch and asking to talk to a manager, or what the normal process is.

    Does anyone have any experience with this?
    Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks
    Chris
    It depends, is the local business owner operator or a franchise?

    If the person you talk to owns the business 50% of the work is already done. You're talking directly to the decision maker.

    If it's a franchise business odds are you won't be selling anything in their store because all the decisions are made from a corporate office at another location. They buy in bulk & distribute those bulk buys out to multiple stores. Example, one full truckload of the same brand dog food would be divided up between multiple franchise stores.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10365053].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author massiveray
    Can you prove that these products sell? if you can then it is fairly easy to get them in front of the decision makers.

    If I were doing this, I would hire a stall at a relevant trade show or something, somewhere that "if this product is going to sell, these are the people who will buy it" visit.

    Even if it is a small event, but you can prove that xxx people attended the event, and we sold xx products for a revenue of £xx, profit of £xx.

    Then those sorts of figures will find their way to the right people if you send them to companies.

    Send emails, send snail mail, arrange appointments to see whoever is in charge of products.

    Get them into some small stores first, prove sales again there and drip case studies into these larger businesses and they will eventually get through. From there just let the numbers do the talking.
    Signature

    Join my private strategy group on Facebook or find out how I made £2000 recurring in 2 weeks.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[10366707].message }}

Trending Topics