Author: Karen Waksman

Karen Waksman, Founder of Retail MBA, is a Manufacturer’s Rep turned Author, Speaker and Consultant. She has sold millions of consumer products to the world’s largest retailers and now dedicates her time to teaching Entrepreneurs how to market and sell their products to Major Retailers, Online Retailers, Catalogs and Small Retailers, too! Karen Waksman has taught over 10,000+ product entrepreneurs and companies across the globe on the subject of selling to retailers. Her goal is to empower and inspire companies to transform their businesses by providing them all of the necessary information they need in order to become chain store vendors. Most importantly, Karen’s clients have utilized the Retail MBA time-tested sales formula to get their products into retailers such as Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, Kroger Grocery Stores, Bed Bath and Beyond, BuyBuyBaby, Groupon and much, much more!

Brookstone Vendor – How to Sell to Brookstone Stores

New Training on Brookstone Vendor- How to Sell to Brookstone Stores

New Training on Brookstone Vendor- How to Sell to Brookstone Stores

Interested in selling to a retail chain like Brookstone? You’ve come to the right place to learn how to be a Brookstone Stores supplier. Popular for their cool gadgets and innovative products, it’s really no surprise why a lot of entrepreneurs want to pitch a product to this company. 

Most of the time, inventors are the ones who are really interested in getting a product to Brookstone. They want to be a Brookstone Stores vendor and sell their inventions through this brand especially since Brookstone is usually located in areas with high foot traffic. Their store really gives a great opportunity to get a product out there. 

Another great thing about Brookstone is that their online store brookstone.com is massive. This means more opportunity for you to sell your products to a large number. And if your product does very well in sales, they can also have it displayed in their physical stores. Now, if you want to learn more, you’ll just have to watch my training video!

(For those of you who prefer to read this content, transcription is included as well below!)

Wishing you so much happiness and success.

Karen Waksman, Retail MBA

Transcript For Video Listed Here…

Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. Today we’re going to talk about the retailer Brookstone. Now the reason I decided to create this particular video is because I teach thousands of product companies across the globe on how to sell to retail chains and Brookstone comes up a lot. So I deal with a lot of inventors. I deal with a lot of people with lots of different categories, like Amazon sellers, this and that. I deal with a lot of different kinds of people. But inventors love Brookstone because if you have ever been to Brookstone, they have the coolest gadgets. It’s really really interesting. Inventors seem to love it and they want their product in there. So they’re always asking me about it that’s why this video is created.

So first of all, they have over 300 stores that they are responsible for. They’re usually in high traffic areas. So they’re usually in malls, or certain areas where there are a lot of people. So if you get your product into Brookstone, definitely exciting because a lot of people will know about your product. It’s an amazing opportunity for you to get products at the store if you have an invention. 

The problem with that store is that all inventors want their products in Brookstone so there’s so much competition. Your product really has to be interesting, innovative, and unique. Also they can be private label and all sorts of other things. But generally speaking they don’t have a lot of room in their stores. There’s just really not a lot of wiggle room in that particular store because they’re generally not that large compared to Walmart or bigger space retailers. They could be a little bit more challenging because everybody wants to sell to them and they’re just a little bit more complex. Not impossible but you just really really have to have something interesting and innovative. 

So what could I tell you about them that could support you in this quick little short video? They have a huge e-commerce and catalog business and actually more so I would say than their actual store. So the great news about that is that if you get rejected by the retail buyer, Brookstone, there’s actually a buyer responsible for the e-commerce and catalog. Here’s a quick tip for you guys–in retail usually the buyer for stores is different from the buyer on the online store. So the online buyer is different from the store buyer. They have a whole other set of issues they’re dealing with the physical stores, you need to have the best packaging, you have to have everything lined. As I said, they’re a small store so they’re really picking only the most exclusive products in stores.

But when it comes to online, they have a little bit more wiggle room, they don’t have to buy as many units because they don’t have to account for every particular store that they’re buying for. Because it is online, they can drop, they can do all sort of other things. Also, they can basically test more products out, right? Because there’s not a limited shelf space and so forth. So, there is an online buyer for Brookstone, there’s also catalog buyer and so forth. And so if your product is great for photos, you might want to consider reaching out catalog and online buyer. 

First, get your products there, do well, start generating revenue with them, and then they’ll probably be more inclined to get your products in stores. At least you can get started and start telling people that you got your product in to Brookstone. 

Now, how do you actually pitch Brookstone your product? That’s a whole lot of other video. It takes a little while for me to explain to you. And if you want to learn more, you can take a look at my Retail MBA website retailmba.com. I actually have a free training series, six-part training series–really really powerful–on how to sell to retail chains. You just put in your email address to retailmba.com and then you can get access to that training series. Or if you want to just go after retail chains and you want someone to specifically tell you, in a weekend, everything you will ever need to know about retail, you might want to take a look at my Retail MBA training program. In one weekend, I teach you everything there is to know about retail chains. And then you’ll be able to go after stores next week.

Either way, it’s super powerful stuff. Keep learning before you reach out to these stores because there is some finessing and things that you have to understand about selling to retailers. We would love to support you with this stuff. So anyways, I hope this provided value for you. Brookstone, awesome, definitely explore online. By the way, if you’re going to start selling products online, pay a professional to take pictures of your product. Make sure you have the right copy explaining what your product is or does. It really makes a difference in generating revenue for you. Anyway, Karen Waksman, Retail MBA, be on the lookout for the next video I create. Thanks so much.

BJ’s Wholesale Vendor – How to Sell to BJ’s Wholesale Club

New training on how to sell to BJ’s Wholesale Club!

BJ’s Wholesale Vendor – How to Sell to BJ’s Wholesale Club

Do you want to be a BJ’s Wholesale Club vendor? If yes, then there are some crucial things that you need to know before reaching out to this membership-only warehouse club!

There are so many opportunities you can get when you become a BJ’s Wholesale stores supplier. But since they are similar to warehouse stores like Costco, they require specific packaging and other considerations that are unique to these types of retailers.

It’s all worth it in the end though because BJ’s Wholesale Club is a store that will really give your products an opportunity to get in front of a massive new audience!! 

If you are really interested in getting your product in BJ’s Wholesale Club, then watch my training video on how to sell to BJ’s Wholesale Club! 

(For those of you who prefer to read this content, transcription is included as well below!)

Wishing you so much happiness and success.

Karen Waksman, Retail MBA

Transcript For Video Listed Here…

Hi everyone! This is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. Today, I want to talk about becoming a BJ’s Wholesale vendor. The reason I decided to create a video on this particular retailer is because some of you guys love the concept of warehouse stores, like Costco and so forth, and some of you might not have heard of BJ’s. So, I want to talk to you about that because there’s so many opportunities with retail to get your products into stores beyond the basic top retail chains and so forth.

BJ’s is a wholesale retailer. They’re kind of those warehouse type retail stores. It’s a membership only retailer, so you actually have to pay a membership to be part of this organization. People pay a membership, they can go to those stores, they’re a massive warehouse, and ultimately, they get great deals, right? ‘Cause they buy product in bulk and so forth. It’s a great thing, very similar to Costco and so forth. They have over 200 stores that they’re responsible for, so they can buy massive product. If you can think about a warehouse store, usually what you’ll see, is that they actually carry products in a pallet form.

A pallet is a lot of products on one singular pallet. A lot of these warehouse retailers actually buy by the pallet, so can you imagine you get BJ’s interested in your product. All of a sudden they buy one pallet for one store, but they have over 200 stores they’re responsible for. If you can add the numbers up, that’s pretty substantial revenue for you. That’s why a lot of people like warehouse stores.

Some of the things to consider though, you definitely need packaging. That’s different for the warehouse stores versus other types of retailers. If you sell to just about any other retailer, you can create your own packaging, on a hanging card or whatever, however it is for that particular store. But, for a warehouse store, they actually require you to create really, really, really heavy packaging ’cause it’s on a pallet, there’s lots of products on there, it could get smooshed, and travel and so forth.

They have a lot of different requirements. It does require you to change your packaging to ensure that you can handle, number one the volume, but also the fact that they’re gonna need you to create special packaging. It’s usually called “blister packaging”. It costs more to make, it adds to your bottom line. It’s like that stuff that it’s impossible to break through and so forth. You’re gonna need to create something like that in order to work with a warehouse.

Some people don’t like to do that because it requires them to create all new packaging and it’s a lot of work and so forth. Some people don’t care. They want that packaging, they want to get into that warehouse retailer. And so in your case, you’re gonna have to think about that if you want to go after a BJ’s or a Costco or something like that.

The other thing to think about is that BJ’s actually really talks a lot about the fact that they are very into private label. They buy a lot of private label goods. Basically, what that means, is they have their own brand names and then they buy products from manufacturers like you, and then, when they buy products from you they actually make you put it under their brand name. The packaging will be under your brand name and so forth, so people will not know that it’s coming from you. They’re actually purchasing your product, it’s called “private label”.

Essentially, if you go into BJs and you see their BJs packaging, that doesn’t necessarily mean that BJs is creating it. It’s actually a company like yours that has created it, they just work with you to put their packaging on their product and so forth. If you’re okay with possible selling to BJs under their brand name, you don’t care about your name and your packaging all to be on that product, BJs can be a great resource for you, as well.

There’s so many things I can share with you about going after a warehouse retailer, like BJs. If you want to learn more, I actually have an extensive free training series at my website, retailmba.com. You just put in your email address and I have a six part free retail training series. Very, very powerful. I highly recommend exploring that. You don’t want to just go after these retailers unless you know more about how to actually approach them.

There is some finessing that you have to do when you go after these stores. Sometimes I create these videos and I get nervous that you guys are just gonna go after them without knowing what else to do. There’s some things you gotta learn about retail, so take a look at my website, retailmba.com, for the free training. Very, very powerful. I’m not into fluff.

Also, I have a full Retail MBA training program that you can do in a weekend. And that thing, well, you’ll know everything there is to know about going after retail. Next week, you can go after retail chains and so forth. Both of those programs are on my website, retailmba.com.

Anyways, it’s Karen Waksman, Retail MBA. I hope this information provided value. Just a quick tip and strategy. Thanks so much!

How to scale from E-Commerce into Retail (and why you’re losing money if you don’t)

New training on How to scale from E-Commerce into Retail (and why you’re losing money if you don’t)!

Ecommerce vs Retail—How to Scale From Ecommerce to Retail

Ecommerce business is very popular today. It’s no surprise though since it’s a great platform for selling products. But here’s one of the many ecommerce marketing tips that you should really take note—if you really want to scale your product and grow your business, retail is the best path to tread on. In fact, you are losing money if you do not consider retail chains.

If you want to learn more ecommerce strategies, then you should definitely check out my latest training video on “How to scale from ecommerce to retail.” I cover here the reasons on why you should jump from ecommerce into retail selling and other helpful insight on ecommerce marketing that will surely help your business grow.

(For those of you who prefer to read this content, transcription is included as well below!)

Wishing you so much happiness and success.

Karen Waksman, Retail MBA

So let’s talk about how to scale from e-commerce into retail and why you’re losing money if you don’t. I see a lot of e-commerce sellers getting stuck on the fact that they think it’s really hard to sell to retail chains. And I’m here to tell you, as someone who has sold products to retail chains for almost 2 decades and have taught tens of thousands of product companies across the globe on how to get their products to retailers like Walmart, Macy’s, Home Depot, Kroger Grocery Store, and so forth, that retail is absolutely the best way to generate revenue with a physical product company.

Especially a startup in a new company because retailers are hungry for a new product. They’re interested in that next new product, they’re interested in products that convert, and they’re interested in products that sell. There are a lot of different reasons why retail chain is purchasing a product. And I’m here to tell you that if you want to scale your product and grow your business, retail is the best way to do it.

You are losing money if you do not consider retail chains. First of all, your competition is not thinking about selling to retailers. They’re focused on their e-commerce business in growing it and so forth. By diversifying your effort, you’re actually expanding your business in a lot of ways.

First, you can make millions of dollars off one or two or three chain store accounts. So why not start building up that side business as you’re growing your e-commerce business? The second thing is if you ever decide to sell your business, don’t you want to make sure that the investors feel strongly about your business? Because if all of your eggs are in one basket and they’re all being worked on online and e-commerce or Amazon, that just makes the investor feel like they have a business that could fall away if say Amazon changes their algorithm.

These investors are looking for businesses that are solid, that are grounded, and that have diversification for their distribution strategies. That’s why retail can be such a fantastic thing for you if you are in e-commerce business. This is also the reason why you are losing money if you do not consider going after stores as an e-commerce seller. 

So, if you like to learn more about how to do that and why you need to go after retail stores, please take a look at our website retailmba.com. We walk you through exactly how to approach, pitch, sell to retailers like Macy’s, Home Depot, Walmart, Kroger Grocery Store and so forth.

And we provide the tools and interactions so that you could get in front of buyers very quickly. We have live events, we have coaching programs, and we have lots of training and so forth to support you on any way for you to grow your business.

Again this is Karen Waksman, Retail MBA, love to support you further. If this is interesting to you, please take a look at our website and let’s continue the conversation. If you have any questions or comments, please list that below and we’d love to support you. Please be on the lookout for the next video. Thanks so much!

Bass Pro Vendor – How to Sell to Bass Pro and Become a Bass Pro Supplier

New Training on Bass Pro Vendor – How to Sell to Bass Pro and Become a Bass Pro Supplier!

Bass Pro Vendor – How to Sell to Bass Pro and Become a Bass Pro Supplier
 
Everyone knows Bass Pro as a retail store for fishing, hunting, and boating. But did you know that they sell products other than outdoor sporting goods? That’s right. If you have the perfect product that you want to sell, you can sell it there and be on of their store supplier.

In this new training, I’m going to talk about how you can become a bass pro Stores Vendor and I’m going to give you good reasons on why you should definitely consider selling your products in this massive store. If you go and check out their online store basspro.com, you will be able to tell right away it’s a good retail store to sell at.

(For those of you who prefer to read this content, transcription is included as well below!)

Wishing you so much happiness and success.

Karen Waksman,

 Retail MBA

Transcript For Video Listed Here…

Today I want to talk about a retailer, Bass Pro. A lot of people are thinking “why would you create a video for fish store?” Well, honestly, because they have over a hundred stores and they have everything in that store. They are much more than just stuff for fishing. They have camping gears, sporting goods, and all sorts of stuff in their stores. They’re a destination retailer so they’re really massive.

If you’ve ever been to Bass Pro, you will see that they really create a full experience in those stores. They have a lot of room to buy things. They may not have a lot of stores they are responsible for, meaning they only have a hundred stores, but their stores are huge which basically means that they have the opportunity to add new products.

So, one of the reasons why I created this video is because most people don’t think about Bass Pro as one of the retailers to consider going after. Also, if you have a product that’s not even necessarily a sporting good product, you might be able to get your product to their stores as well. If
you go to Bass Pro’s website, you’ll see that they have all sorts of other products there. It might be worth exploring. Your competitors are probably not thinking about selling to Bass Pro so that’s something to consider.

Bass Pro definitely has a lot of other products and again
it’s a massive store so they have room to put in new products. So I always like retailers like that. I always like to see if they have products, you know,
sections in their store that would make sense for my product type. The other thing that I want to mention about Bass Pro and the reason why I created this video is because Bass Pro does a phenomenal job online. Not all retailers are really kind of doing so well online.

Bass Pro is rate up there pretty high for all sorts of different types of products. And so I like that because if you are to go after retail chains and you want to get a lot of eyeballs to your site, you want to work with retailers that have spent a lot of time growing their revenue base online. Bass Pro, in terms of searches, is doing phenomenally well. So, I won’t ignore them especially if you have a product that has a great imagery, like if you take great photos of your product.

Not all products look good in photos but if you have a product that just looks great in photos, you definitely might want to consider Bass Pro for the online division as well. Because again, they have several eyeballs and so forth. But ultimately, if you have somebody to create great videos or photos of your products, also the copy as well, what you say about
the product, that definitely makes a difference. If your product essentially
looks good online, you might want to consider exploring Bass Pro, it’s another retailer to go after. And again, it’s way beyond fishing.

This is Karen Waksman with Retail MBA. Hoped that help. If you want learn how to actually pitch to them, like the words to say to these buyers and how to get them interested in your products, take a look at my website retailmba.com. I actually have a free training video that you can sign
up for. Just put in your email address. It’s a six-part training series on selling to big chain stores like Bass Pro.

You definitely want to explore that, it’s really powerful as I have a full Retail MBA training program that in a weekend will give you the exact words to say to buyers to get them to buy. All I’ve said is in my website retailmba.com and I’d love to continue the conversation with you with selling to retail chain

Ecommerce Versus Retail and What You Need to Know!

eCommerce vs. Retail – Find out what you need to know in this short video training!

eCommerce vs. Retail – Find out what you need to know in this short video training!

A lot of business people are selling online and on eCommerce platforms. They work hard to sell their products on Amazon.com for instance because they think that it’s the only best way to get their products out there. When in fact close to 90% of all consumer products are still sold just in brick and mortar stores alone (as per the U.S. Census Bureau 2019)! Wow!

So while eCommerce strategies are great, the reality is that eCommerce is not the only way to sell a physical product. Not even close! So it’s not actually true that eCommerce marketing is all that’s left as an option for entrepreneurs like most people think.

Brick and mortar store sales are still very much alive today. In fact, the majority of products are still being sold in physical stores and a lot of business people that have already reached out to retail chain stores have earned a tremendous amount of revenue! So don’t ignore retail!! It’s an incredible opportunity for you.

Several ecommerce marketing companies will tell you to stick to online selling only. But by diversifying your efforts, you can get more sales for your physical product business. To learn more about what I’m talking about, go ahead and check out my new video called eCommerce vs. retail.

(For those of you who prefer to read this content, transcription is included as well below!)

Wishing you so much happiness and success.

Karen Waksman, Retail MBA

P.S. Want to Get Your Products into Retail chain Stores in a Fraction of the Time? Check out our Retail MBA Training and Coaching System! This program helps people get their products into chain stores by walking them through exactly how to approach, pitch and sell to retail chains – like the chain store experts!! Get started now by clicking here: https://retailmbabrands.com

Transcript For Video Listed Here…

So let’s talk about ecommerce vs retail. I meet a lot of people in my business who strictly sell on ecommerce channels. They sell on their websites, they sell on Amazon, and they do social media campaigns and really work hard online.

And the reason they do that is because sometimes it just makes more sense for them and they understand ecommerce better. Sometimes it’s because it’s just quick to throw up a product on Amazon and so forth.

But sometimes it’s because they believe that retail is no longer going to be in existence in a very short period of time, and they’ve heard about all the opportunities and all the things that are happening with retailers and how they’re closing shop and so forth. And they think that Amazon is taking over while retail is shrinking. So they assume that staying on ecommerce makes the most amount of sense.

Well, I’m here to tell you that over 90 percent of all products are still currently being sold in brick and mortar stores. Yes, over 90 percent. Now, this will slowly change. But I’m here to tell you that at the time when everybody’s thinking that retail is down and under, there’s people who are making multimillion dollar deals with just one retail chain store.

So, I’m going to share with you that because of the fact that I’ve been teaching people how to get their products to retail chain for almost a decade now and I’ve been selling retail myself for almost two decades, I can wholeheartedly say that retail is not going anywhere and this is the perfect time for a person with a physical product to get their products in retail chains.

Retailers are literally just changing how they are doing things. They are leveraging their ecommerce sites to grow sales, to compete with the online market and so forth. However, retailers are definitely utilizing their physical stores in many new ways and you’ll be seeing a lot of evolution in retail that is definitely not going away. At least anytime soon. And so please, don’t shrink your revenue opportunity simply because you’re hearing rumors.

Anyway, if you’d like to learn exactly how to approach, pitch, and sell to retail chains like Walmart, Macy’s, CBS, Kroger’s Grocery Store, GNC, or whatever it is, I highly recommend exploring our website retailmba.com. We have a bunch of free contents on exactly how to reach out to retailers if you don’t know how. We also teach strategies for those of you who have already been selling to retailers and want to grow your business.

All you have to do is go to retailmba.com and sign up for some of our free contents. And or take a look at our next upcoming live event to our training systems and our coaching programs. We’d love to help you learn more about how to get your products in stores. One chain store order can make you millions and millions of dollars. I have clients who just sell to one retailer and sell on their websites and through Amazon channels. They are diversifying their efforts and making a ton of money and I wish that for you.  

Target Stores Vendor – How to Sell to Target Stores and Become a Target Stores Vendor

New Training on Becoming a Target Stores Vendor – How to Sell to Target and Become an Target Stores Vendor!

Target Stores Vendor – How to Sell to Target Stores and Become a Target Stores Vendor

Do you have a product that’s perfect for Target Stores? If so, you will absolutely love my new training video on “How to sell a product to Target Stores and Become a Target Stores Vendor!”

In this training, I walk through some of the things to think about when approaching a retailer such as Target Stores. Hope it helps!

(For those of you who prefer to read this content, transcription is included as well below!)

Wishing you so much happiness and success.

Karen Waksman, Retail MBA

P.S. Want to Get Your Products into Target Stores in a Fraction of the Time? Check out our New Automation Tool that Get’s Your Product in Front of Target Store Buyers NOW with a paint-by-numbers approach that converts! No Experience Required! Click HERE to Learn More! https://www.retailmbabrands.com/target-stores. One Target Stores Buyer can purchase Millions of Dollars worth of Merchandise.

Transcript For Video Listed Here…

Target Stores Vendor – Let’s talk about selling your product to Target stores. Target is one of the most massive discount stores on the planet. They have over 1,850 stores they’re responsible for currently. And their stores are huge. They have over 135 square feet per store on average, sometimes larger if they have Super Targets and so forth.

And basically, the reason why people love working with Target is because they buy so many different products, right? And they sell so many different types of products. They sell bedding, they sell toys, they sell food in some of the stores, they sell everything from accessories and jewelry, you name it, they sell that product. So one of the things that I can tell you about Target and working with them is that, because they have a large space and they have a lot of room to put products in, that means they actually have the ability to test a lot more products because of the fact that they have these large spaces.

When you’re dealing with retailers like GNC, they have very, very small stores. So their stores are limited. So they can’t put that many products in there. And so, they’re really, really difficult to get your product in there and so forth, because someone really has to go to bring another product in and so forth. But with Target they have larger stores, they have more opportunities, and they’re varietal in the types of products that they have. So one reason you want to sell to them and one thing to think about is the fact that, even if you’re selling a consumer electronics product, definitely want to consider a retailer like Target because they have room for growth and expansion and so forth.

Another thing I can say about Target is that they are kind of finicky in that they basically just changed their way of working. Before, you actually had a phone number that you could call a buyer and so forth, and it was not that difficult to reach out to them. Most other retailers, if you wanted to reach out to them, one way you can do it is you could send them an email or you can call them and so forth and say very specific things and get them interested in your product. But Target, they actually shut it down so you can’t call them anymore. And so, they literally just send you to some voicemail.

So it’s a little trickier to work with Target. And they probably did that on purpose. They’re probably getting inundated with lots of people reaching out to them and so forth. It doesn’t mean that you can’t get into that stores, it just means it’s very unique to Target in that they’re not actually being easily presentable and so forth to suppliers.

That does not mean that I think you should go and pitch your product to them through their vendor websites. I have other ways of teaching how to get into stores and so forth. But please note, Target’s a little bit trickier to sell to, only because they cut out a lot of the communication that other retailers have available to you.

Now, one good thing about Target, there’s very many things, is that they don’t usually typically just buy one product. They give you a little section of the store. It’s not for all product types and categories, but a lot of times, like say you want to sell jewelry to them, they wouldn’t just buy a few pieces from you. They typically give you a nice little section. And so, they put that product into a store.

So the cool thing about Target is that they ultimately enable you to sell several products to them. And if you can think about the math, if they buy 10, 20, 30 pieces of your product per store, that’s a pretty small amount, but just imagine they just buy that much and they have 1,850 stores currently, that’s tremendous buying power. So that’s really, really exciting for you.

If you do ever get a deal with Target, please note that they’ll probably test your product in their top selling stores. And so, if you do actually work with them, just note that they’ll always test your product out. They’re not going to buy massive, massive products on day one, but they will eventually buy larger quantities from you once they know that product converts and so forth.

So all retailers basically will usually start with a smaller test to make sure the product converts in their smaller stores, and then they ultimately move into getting reorders from you, and that’s where the big monies are at. And that’s when they buy the larger quantity. So they usually don’t typically buy products for all 1,800 stores on day one. But it depends on the product and how much they believe it and so forth. But most of the time, they’ll start a little bit smaller. So you don’t need to panic there.

Anyways, those are some reasons and things to think about selling to Target stores. It’s a tremendous opportunity for you and your business. If you want to learn exactly how to approach, pitch, and sell Target and any other chain store retailer similar to them, take a look at our website, retailmba.com, that’s retailmba.com. We actually have systems and processes in place that we’ve put together in order to help people expedite the process of getting their products into stores. We have free content. We have training systems. We have live events. We have retail matchmaking services. Although, we try and educate you first on the preparation process of selling to retailers like Target, because it could be so invaluable to your success to know what you’re doing before you even start working with reps and distributors and so forth, because you want to set yourself up for success for the long run. So we find that training and educating you first and then teaching you the strategies to get into retailers in the shortest period of time is the way that people have made many, many millions of dollars with our systems and programs.

So if you want to learn more, Click Here to Explore Our Automation Tool to Help You Get into Target Stores in a Fraction of the Time! No Experience Required! Click HERE to Learn More! https://www.retailmbabrands.com/target-stores. One Target Stores Buyer can purchase Millions of Dollars worth of Merchandise! Otherwise we hope you enjoyed this video training series. Sign up to any of our FREE programs and videos listed on RetailMBA.com to learn more!

Target Stores Vendor

GNC Vendor – How to Sell to GNC and Become a GNC Vendor

New Training on Becoming a GNC Vendor – How to Sell to GNC and Become an GNC Vendor!

GNC Vendor – How to Sell to GNC and Become a GNC Vendor


Transcript for this video is listed below…

Hey, everyone. This is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA and today I want to talk about a retailer that comes up all of the time in my workshops and classes. People are always asking me about GNC. Now, GNC is a mass retailer that sells health products and so forth, supplements. They have over 7,000 stores that they’re responsible for currently. They’re doing phenomenally well, so I completely understand why you would want to sell your product to GNC, if you have a supplement or a health product and so forth. The tricky part to GNC, and that’s what this training is all about just to give you some tips and suggestions about selling to them, is that because they have 7,000 stores, tremendous buying power, everybody wants to sell to them, which means everybody’s reaching out to them.

All your competitors are calling them. They’re constantly getting bombarded with people who want to sell to them because they’re the money companies. The issue, though, is that they have very small stores. The format to those stores are fairly small, which means that they tend to have to be really selective in the products that they put in stores. The problem with that is if you have a new invention or whatever, they’re going to be looking at your numbers, your sales and so forth because they only have a certain amount of space allotted for any physical product. Number one, if you have any interest in selling to GNC, come up with a great story, either you’re selling this product really well somewhere or it, new interesting innovative, the next level of something that’s going on in the health industry.

Whatever it is, you definitely want to consider that. Now, I sell and I work with a lot of Amazon sellers and a lot of them are doing phenomenally well right now with supplements, and so I get calls all the time from you guys who sell a really common supplement and you will now want to sell to GNC because you’re making millions of dollars online and now you want to sell it there. The problem with that is that online doesn’t necessarily convert to retail, especially in this type of industry. Because if they’re already well the supplement, why would they need your product? If you are successful online and you are successful with an Amazon supplement or whatever, the recommendation is to go to their stores and see what’s missing from their assortment and then approach them with a product that they aren’t currently selling anymore.

That is more interesting to a buyer than you giving them a product that they’re already selling. It’s really hard to do that in those small format stores. That’s a quick tip and suggestion. Honestly, go there, see there whether or not that there’s one product that you have that would fit in there, that they’re not selling anywhere else. That’s a really nice angle for people to get their products into those stores. Anyways, I hope that helped. If you want to know actually what to say to these buyers to get them to buy how find the buyer’s contact information and so forth, definitely want to learn a little bit more before you approach them, there’s some cool finessing you have to do in order to reach out to buyers and so forth.

If you want to learn more, you can check out my Retail MBA website, retailmba.com. I actually have a free training series that you can just sign up to via email on my site and it’s very powerful. That will walk you through how to sell to big chain stores. Also, I have a full Retail MBA training program that in a weekend you’ll learn everything there is to know about selling to big chain stores and if you’re serious about this industry, you might want to take a look at that as well. Anyways, I’d love your feedback, commentary below. Otherwise, please be on the lookout for the next video I create on selling to retail chains. Thank you.

Fred’s Vendor – How to Sell to Fred’s and Become a Fred’s Vendor!

New Training on Fred’s Store Vendor – How to Sell to Fred’s and Become a Fred’s Vendor!

Fred’s Vendor – How to Sell to Fred’s Stores and Become a Fred’s Vendor!


Transcript for this video is listed below…

Hey everyone, this is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. Today I’d like to talk about a retailer called Fred’s and how to become a Fred’s vendor. Now the reason I decided to create this particular training is because I create all sorts of videos on retailers because when you’re thinking about who to go after, a lot of times you guys miss all of these major opportunities, right? I mean, there’s so many retailers you don’t even know about because you live in certain areas of the world or you’re not in my business or whatever, and so I like to support you and giving you ideas of ways to make more money with your product. So let’s talk about Fred’s.

First of all, Fred’s has over 650 locations as of today. I mean, that’s tremendous. This is a massive retailer that a lot of you guys don’t know about. And they sell all sorts of products. I mean, they sell anything from snacks, toys, books, food, houseware products, videos, music, I mean you name it, tell sell everything. So again, another reason to explore that retailer, to see if your product would make sense for their stores. They’re a discount store, so they compete against retailers, national retailers like Dollar General, Family Dollar, and so forth. And so that’s something to consider, so it’s not for high end products or whatever, but you might want to take a look at their site or go to their stores and see whether or not your product makes sense for their stores, because a lot of people miss Fred’s as an opportunity for you to make money.

So what quick tip and strategy can I give you in regards to Fred’s? Well, they’re owned by Kroger. Kroger grocery store, so they are under the same umbrella. So why does that matter? Well, if for some reason you want to go after Kroger grocery store or some of the other brands under Kroger, and you actually get your product in there, meaning you get a vendor number, what that means is that if you actually do work with any retail chain, they’ll give you a vendor number. So it’s like your kind of like your code that they give you if you are a vendor they’ll give you your own specific vendor number and that’s yours and so that’s how they know who you are and all information about you is under this vendor number. Right? So the reason that matters is when a major chain owns several types of brands, they usually share the same vendor number.

So, if you are currently selling to Kroger or you want to sell to Kroger and you’ve got your product in there, and then you want to sell your product to Fred’s, you can actually reach out to Fred’s and let them know that you have a vendor number already because you already got one from the other chain. And again, they share vendor numbers across all their brands. And that’s really, really common for retail chains. That’s a major tip right there, right? Because again, these chain store buyers are busy, they’re looking at new products every day, sometimes they don’t take on products simply because of the fact that they have to fill out paperwork or they have to be added as a vendor and it takes time and they don’t feel like doing it. But if you reach out to a retailer and you already have a vendor number for their company, you can basically tell them that they get to bypass all of that paperwork and you are much more interesting to them and they might be willing to test out your product a lot faster than if they did if you didn’t have a vendor number already. So, same goes for if you went to Fred’s, you got a vendor number and you started becoming a vendor and so forth, you can go to Kroger and do the same thing and let the Kroger buyers know that you have a vendor number already.

So, if you want to know actually how to get a vendor number and how to pitch these buyers and how to get them to buy and so forth, that’s another training. You can take a look at my website retailmba.com, I actually have a free training series that’s a six-part training series. It’s really powerful and it’s free, all you have to do is opt-in with your email address. Definitely recommend learning more about retail before you reach out to them, because some people watch these short videos and then they go after stores and … I’m not doing you a service by you going out blind. I want you to learn how to get into stores so that you actually get in the first time, and so there are ways to make that happen. So definitely take a look at my free training program at retailmba.com, the link for that is listed below. Also, I have a full Retail MBA training program that in a weekend will actually walk you through all the ways of getting your products into stores and it’s so powerful and helps so many people get into retail chains. All of that is listed at retailmba.com and please share your comments below. We’d love to hear from you. Also, be on the lookout for the videos that I create. Thanks so much. Karen Waksman, Retail MBA.

HH Gregg Supplier – How to Sell to HH Gregg and Become an HH Gregg Supplier

Training on Becoming an HH Gregg Supplier – How to Sell to HH Greg and Become an HH Gregg Supplier Today!

HH Gregg Supplier – How to Sell to HH Gregg and Become an HH Gregg Supplier


Transcript for this video is listed below…

Hey, everyone! This is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA, and today I want to talk about HH Gregg. HH Gregg is a retailer. They have over two-hundred-and-something stores right now that they’re responsible for. It’s a major retailer, a consumer electronics retailer. I deal with a lot of consumer electronics companies because I speak CES, the Consumer Electronics Show, I do a lot of stuff with the Consumer Electronics Association, and so I’m very involved in the consumer electronics world, and so forth. So, I deal with a lot of you guys a lot, and so you’re asking me about hhgregg, so I just wanted to give you some quick tips and strategies on what to do with them.

So, if I can give you any advice about hhgregg, it’s that if it’s a consumer electronics store, they tend to have already seen every type of product imaginable in the consumer electronics industry. Any sort of consumer electronics company is reaching out to them, so you really have to come up with something interesting, innovative, and so forth, in order to be able to work with a niche retailer like hhgregg.

But the one thing I really like about hhgregg, for some of you new guys, is that they have a great presence online, so they do really well. If you do a Google search for all sorts of products, hhgregg comes up. Not all retailers are doing as well online, so I really love that for people who are just getting started and trying to get their consumer electronics product out in the world, to explore retailers that have a really nice online presence because you can actually get started there, start moving your product online. They’ve done a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of getting a lot of the audience there, and so your job is to help convert them into sales. And then ultimately, with that type of retailer, if you start online, then you ultimately show the buyer proof of sales, and then get into stores, and then it’s kind of a little bit easier to get into Best Buy and some of the other retailers.

So, my point in sharing that with you is that I always like online retailers like hhgregg. I mean, they have physical stores as well, but when they have a very well-known brand online, it’s great for people who are just getting started because if they are doing well online, that means that they’re more open to looking at new products, they’re more willing to test new products, and so forth, so that could be a fun thing for you to look at if you’re just getting started and you want to start generating revenue right away, so that’s something to consider.

So, I like hhgregg. There’s online buyers and then there’s store buyers. They’re usually separate. So, the online buyers would be the ones you’d be looking for in order to start possibly online, and please note that the online buyer is looking for people who have great photos of their product, and have great information about their product that they can post online. If your product doesn’t do well online, you shouldn’t consider focusing on the online presence, just so you know. But they’re great in terms of willing to test a lot of new products, and so forth.

So, anyways, I hope that provided value for you. If you want to know, actually, how to pitch these guys, what to say to them to get them to buy, take a look at my website, retailmba.com. I actually have a free training series that you can sign up for with just an email address. Very powerful. retailmba.com. I also have a full program that’ll walk you through, in a weekend, how to actually pitch buyers, how to get them to buy, and so forth. Either way, please leave your comments below, and be on the lookout for the next video I create. Thank you.

Disney Store Supplier – How to Sell to Disney Store and Become a Disney Supplier

Becoming a Disney Store Supplier – How to Sell to Disney Store and Become a Disney Store Supplier!

Disney Store Supplier – How to Sell to Disney Store and Become a Disney Supplier

Transcript for this video is listed below…

Hey, everyone, this is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. Today I’m going to talk about the Disney Store and becoming a Disney Store Vendor. Now the reason I decided to create this particular training is because people always ask me about the Disney Store, how do I get products in there and so forth. So Disney is kind of a unique thing in that obviously they have Disney’s products all over, all sorts of different things, and so you definitely need to learn about licensing and putting licensed images of Disney and stuff on your products a lot of the time, ’cause clearly that’s important to Disney, right?

So that’s one topic and so forth, but today I want to talk about an example of something that worked for somebody that I know. So they had playing cards that they created, actually, like literally playing cards, and what they did was they converted these cards and they put stuff like Alice in Wonderland on these cards and so forth, so they got the license to be able to put that on these playing cards. So they created these really cool cards and so they licensed these imagery from, you know, Disney and so forth, and then they put them on the cards and they’ve been selling these cards, right?

My point in sharing that with you is that it’s a smaller company and so, you know, they’d been selling to local stores and so forth, and sometimes I like to share stories ’cause it helps people think through what to do. So with them, I live in San Francisco, and, with them, they actually went to their local Disney store in San Francisco. They have a popular one here. So they actually went to the store manager and they let the store manager know that they had this, you know, cool new product, playing card product, and they kept in touch with that store manager. Eventually they actually got their product in a Disney Store, in one store, and actually got moving that direction.

Now they didn’t buy right away. It has to match up to certain themes that they’re doing. The movie was coming out, so in their case it made sense that they were gonna do a whole section. The buyer remembered them and so they put their product in stores and so forth. So something to consider is you can actually sell to Disney kind of on a local or regional level as well, so that’s kind of fun. So you can put it in one store and say that you got your product into Disney and so forth.

Now I will tell you that he learned what buyers are looking for and how to express himself with his product and so forth through training and education. So, if you want to learn what to actually say to Disney and so forth, you don’t want to just show up. You want to learn a little bit more. You know, obviously you know now that they can buy on a local level, but I’d like to support you a little further. You know, please take a look at my website, RetailMBA.com. I actually have a free training series you can just opt into with your email address. I talk about how to actually reach out to retailers appropriately and so forth, ’cause there is some finessing and learning about retail before you just go after them, ’cause it makes the difference between you getting an order or not.

Also, you know, there’s other information on my website, like I have a full Retail MBA training program that’ll walk you through exactly in a weekend how to pitch buyers and all the things that you need in order to start making money right away. All that stuff’s on my RetailMBA.com. I would love your comment, feedback, and so forth, below this video. The links are listed below as well, and please be on the lookout for additional videos I create.

I hope this helped. Disney’s Store’s awesome opportunity. Thanks so much, Karen Waksman, Retail MBA.