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!

Macy’s Vendor – How to Sell to Macy’s and Become a Macy’s Vendor

New Training on How to Sell to Macy’s and Become a Macy’s Vendor!

New training on How to Sell to Macy’s and Become a Macy’s Vendor!

Macy’s is one of the oldest and biggest department store chains in the U.S. And despite being a department store, they actually sell more than just clothing!  They sell accessories, jewelry, furniture, gifts and even food! So many products you wouldn’t even think of. I mention this because many entrepreneurs overlook Macy’s because they are a department store.

So, if you think you have a product that could sell in Macy’s, then check out my latest training video about this retailer. In this video, I shared the top 5 reasons why you should definitely think about selling to Macy’s. I also mentioned some few tips and strategies on how you can become a Macy’s vendor today!

To learn more, you will just have to watch my training video on “How to Sell to Macy’s and Become a Macy’s Vendor.”

(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…

 

Hey everyone this is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. Today I want to talk about the top 5 reasons you want to sell to Macy’s. And the only reason I decided to make this particular segment is because I’ve taught tens of thousands of product companies across the globe on how to get their products in retailers and Macy’s comes up a lot. So I want to give you some reasons to sell to them and some quick tips and strategies on how to get started today.

So let’s talk about Macy’s. Well, first of all they have almost 650 or more stores that they’re responsible for currently. That is tremendous buying power. So one reason you want to sell to Macy’s is because one order from them can make millions of dollars to your business and your bottom line it can mean 10x or 100x in your business simply by getting an order from them and being consistent with them.

Another reason you want to sell to Macy’s is because it makes you become the cool kid on the block, right. So once you get your product to Macy’s, everyone else seems to start wanting to pay attention to you because it’s not the easiest thing in the world to sell to Macy’s. And so, all the best distributors and the best reps will start paying attention to your products because you are selling to Macy’s and so forth. And so all of the sudden you start getting calls from other retailers and other distributors. I see this happen all the time. Once you get open one chain store account or one department store account, all of sudden everybody starts knowing about you and the phone calls will start coming. And I’ve seen a lot of my clients actually get phone calls from retailers once they open one or two accounts like that. So definitely want to explore just because you’re growing your business in general.

Another reason you want to sell to Macy’s is because they sell a lot more products beyond just clothing. They sell footwear, accessories, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and houseware products. They even sell food. I had one client who got his chocolate product into Macy’s. I mean that is so random, right? But if you walk around their stores, you’ll see that they’re selling random different products and you can get your products in there. So one reason you want to explore selling to them, is because a lot of your competitors, like for instance the chocolate guy, I got his product into Macy’s because none of his competitors were thinking about selling there. So that’s a really really big deal.

Another reason you want to sell to Macy’s is because if you are a woman or minority-owned company, they love working with minority or woman-owned businesses. And if you get certified as a woman-owned business or minority-owned company and so forth, and you can show them that certification they have a major department for diverse suppliers. They actually have full on training and they’re always constantly looking for diverse suppliers because their customers are diverse.

And they know that and so they’re looking for diverse suppliers to match that. So they definitely are exploring people like you if you are a woman, minority-owned company even better in companies and so forth. But really at the end of the day, they are looking for diversity because their customers are diverse as well and so if you can get certified and then reach out to the diversity divisions and or just be a supplier that is diverse, that would be really really huge for you.

The final thing is that their corporation is in New York, right? So they have this one massive Macy’s in 34th street and so forth in New York. And so they actually have the ability to let you stand near your product. They allow it at that major Macy’s, sometimes they test products just in that individual store. I’ve had clients who actually reached out to me after they reviewed information for me on how to sell to Macy’s and got Macy’s to do a test order with them and they literally were able to get the Macy’s buyer to let them sell their product at that store. And you know, have people walk by and just kind of pull them in to buy products and so forth to help them along with selling their products. Meaning that if you can join that buyer in that retailer at that corporate store not only where you get your product in the coolest store in the United States, one of them. But you can also support yourself because they allow things like having you stand by your product while you’re selling it and so forth. Not saying they’re going to do that for every product but a lot of time you’ll have people demonstrating their product to the stores.

And So Macy’s is very aware how fun that store is so they definitely allow you to do some creative stuff. I’ve had people actually tell me that they got like window displays setup and so forth because again that particular Macy’s of the corporate office location, that area in New York, really is kind of magical and they allow you to test and do really interesting things there. So those are the five reasons I think you should go after Macy’s.

If you want to learn exactly how to approach, pitch, and sell to them, I hope to have you take a look at retailmba.com. That’s my website, retailmba.com. We explain exactly how to do that and how to get started today. I’ve taught tens of thousands of companies on how to get your products to the stores. And so we’re here to support you. Or please subscribe to our channel and or be on the lookout for additional training that we create.

We are here to expedite the process of making money with your physical products and that’s what we’re all about. We can help you more retailmba.com. Sign up to one of our free pieces of contents or take a look at our advanced training, live events, certification programs and so much more. Karen Waksman, Retail MBA, I hope this provided value. Thanks so much! 

Rite Aid Vendor – How to Sell to Rite Aid and Become a Rite Aid Vendor

New Training on How to Sell to Rite Aid and Become a Rite Aid Vendor!

Rite Aid is one of the largest drugstore chains in the United States. That is the reason why so many entrepreneurs are interested in selling to them! So, if you have a product that you think will be perfect for this massive drugstore chain, then you should definitely check out this new training video I created on How to Sell to Rite Aid and Become a Rite Aid Vendor! 

In this video, I talk about some tips and strategies on how to sell your product to Rite Aid. I also cover some of the things that you should think about before approaching them. With the sheer volume of stores they’re currently responsible for, just think of their tremendous buying power and how massive this opportunity will be for you if you approach them with your product!

And the best thing is that Rite Aid is not just limited to drug and health products. They sell a variety of different products in so many different product categories. Do you want to learn more? You’ll just have to watch the 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…

Hey everyone, this is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. Today I want to talk about Rite Aid. So if you want to sell to drug stores like Rite Aid, I wanted to create a quick training segment to give you some tips and strategies and things to think about. In every video create, I try to create some variety and new things about selling to retailers and so we’ll talk about Rite Aid and give you some strategies to get started today.

Please know I’ve taught tens of thousands of product companies on how to sell to stores. And so this information just comes from my training segments and also from clients and so forth, all people who got into stores because of my content. So let’s talk about Rite Aid and if I would want to give you some things to think about, it would be the fact that they have over 2,500 stores that they’re responsible for currently. This changes a little bit but 2,500 stores in 19 states that means they have tremendous buying power. They have 51,000 employees currently. I mean that is a huge business. One chain store order can 10x or 100x your business and definitely Rite Aid can do that.

So people always ask me, “Karen, how much do they buy? What kind of quantity? What kind of volume does it look like to work with a retailer?” So I want to give Rite Aid as an example. So I have client who recently got orders from certain drug chains, and so basically what that looks like is they say buy around 30 units of your product for one individual store. And if they decide to work with you, they typically buy, you know, for maybe a hundred of their stores or maybe 15 or tops stores and so forth. And if the product sells, then what they’ll do is that they’ll reorder the product for all of their stores eventually, right. The product sells, they’ll eventually keep buying and hopefully they’ll buy for all of their stores. Obviously, it does depend on the product type and if it makes sense for all their stores and so forth, but a lot of times, if the product does well and does convert one to ten stores, they tend to buy more and they consistently buy. So the initial test order would be something like 30 units on average and for, I don’t know, 50 to 100, 150 stores, sometimes more depending if they believe in your product.

So let’s just do the math on that. So what happens if you put your products in the stores and the test goes well, meaning that they just buy x number units of your product, what will happen is that if they buy say 30 units of your products for 2500 of their stores, I mean, that’s you know, a huge amount of money for your business and in your bottom line. I mean, if for 30 units, 10 to 2500 stores, we’re talking 75,000 units of your products. I mean again, that is tremendous and that’s just one retail chain.

So the goal for this little segment is just to give some you a food for thought and the kind of opportunity and volume and so forth. The other thing to think about is with Rite Aid, they buy a lot of other products besides drug products, and health and beauty and cosmetic products. They buy electronics. They buy shoes, they buy even hair accessories. They buy all sorts of different things, and so definitely walk in their stores to see what they put in there.

They also have seasonal buyers, people who buy for the seasons, stuff for the winter, and stuff for the summer and so forth. So if you’ll see in their stores like where I live, I live in the beach town, and so basically I’ll always see fun things like you know, beach gears, and stuff for the summer months. And then like if I’m in different areas they’ll have more winter stuff and so forth. And so the concept here is there are seasonal buyers who buys according to the season.

Another thing to think about is beyond the fact that they sell massive product and your product could fit in the seasonal section of the stores and so forth. And in that case, you don’t need to sell the all 2500 stores. You could probably sell to the regional buyer who buys for certain sections and certain times of the years and certain locations. So the regional buyers can buy for the North East regions, Southwest regions and so forth. The cool thing about Rite Aid is that beyond their corporate buyers buying products for all of their stores, they do have regional buyers and so forth. And they deal with seasonal and so forth.

Anyways, I hope that provided value for you. If you want to learn exactly how to approach, pitch, and sell to retail chains such as Rite Aid, take a look at our website retailmba.com. That’s retailmba.com. We explain exactly how to approach, pitch, and sell to them. We have free training. We have advanced training that you could purchase, live events, all sorts of cool stuff related to making money.

Otherwise, please subscribe to our channel. Be on the lookout for the next training that we create. And we’d love your feedback if you have any request for additional training you’d like us to create, please mention that in the comments below. We’re always here to give you nuggets of gold and help you make money with retailers. Karen Waksman, Retail MBA. I hope that provided value. Thanks so much!

Inventor Vs Entrepreneur (…And How to be Both!)

New training on Inventor Vs Entrepreneur (…And How to be Both!)

New training on Inventor Vs Entrepreneur (…And How to be Both!)

Are you an inventor or an entrepreneur? What’s the difference between the two? Well, from what I’ve noticed, the difference is that inventors tend to be typically more focused on the product or invention functionality while entrepreneurs look more into the business opportunities of the product or invention they created. I mention this because I meet so many inventors who do not know how to generate revenue once they actually create the product. They spend a small fortune on their idea but then they go nowhere with it. 

The one thing in common between an entrepreneur and inventor though is that both come up with new ideas. Both are capable of putting a product out there for the world to see, which means you can be an entrepreneur and an inventor at the same time! 

That’s why I created this new training on “Inventor Vs. Entrepreneur (…And How to be Both)!”

I created this training because I don’t want you to be one of those inventors who doesn’t ever sell their product. I’m here to help you become an inventor and an entrepreneur at the same time. Go ahead and check out my video to learn more!

(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…

A lot of inventors have brilliant ideas. They’re probably the smartest people in the world, I think. I love them, I enjoy them. The first five years of my business I only worked with inventors so I understand you really really well.

A lot of inventors come up with ideas, maybe you don’t have a lot of money but you’re very creative and you’re trying to bring your product to the world. And that’s fantastic! Unfortunately, in order for you to make money out of that product, you got to actually desire making money and really committing to making money and let me explain that. So the inventor who has ideas and tries to hand over that idea to a third party like Invent Help or whatever it is, tend to get their business stuck in a way that I’ve never seen. They spend ten grand, 20 grand, supporting up a third party that go help them get their product out to the world and hoping that someone else will take care of their business and so forth.

But the problem with that inventor who’s handing over their business to somebody else is that they’re not taking responsibility for the product itself and they tend to be less than 1% successful typically, not to bad mouth any invent company. They do, on occasion, support. But just the stats in the world alone regards to product, most inventions and most physical products don’t make any money and or very few do. And you know, it’s less than 5% that are actually crushing it with their product and so forth. And so I want you to be in that small percentage. And don’t count me on that 5%. It’s some small version of that are making real real money with their products, many many millions of dollars with their products and I want that to be you.

So what I’d say to you is that if you’re going to go and try to hand off your business to a third party, you’re going to have a very difficult time because what matters with physical products is that you put the energy behind it in order for it to succeed. So let me explain. I work with so many people across the globe. I’ve been doing this for so long. The people who sit with their product, stare at their product, commit to their product, choose to sell their product even though they hate selling, choose to figure what they’re going to do to tweak the product if the product doesn’t sell, choose to not give up until that product converts into making money is the person who is going to make money. The person who is looking at the product and says “Oh I have a great idea. I’m just going to hand it over to somebody else to go manage it” very barely actually converts into a lot of money. I barely, like I’ve been doing this for so long, I don’t see that very often.

Yes, there’s exceptions to rules but most of the time they’re literally stuck in their kind of dreamland with their invention and actually converting it to anything else. You have to care more than anybody else that your products going to get out to the world. You have this idea and it deserves to be in the world and only you can take it to the next level. It doesn’t mean that you’re always going to be a sales rep. It means that you’re going to be the one who sees it through whatever it takes. You’re going to take classes, you’re going to learn in trainings, you’re going to commit to it. You’re going to say “I will not stop until I convert into making money.” And that’s the person who’s going to become the entrepreneur.

So question number one: Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to be the person who’s actually going to just be like everybody else who comes up with ideas that die out in the world or you can actually take something with what you are doing and create a world where they know about your product. And I hope that you become the entrepreneur. Now, if you are willing to take the action, my recommendation is to study. And the reason I say that is because I meet people all the time and they’re coming up with ideas but they don’t their opportunities and so they lose out on a lot of opportunities.

For instance, some people just say well I just want to license my idea or write my idea to a company and have them go produce it. But maybe they don’t understand what that looks like and they lose a lot of opportunity and revenue. When you write your idea to a third-party company, on the one hand you get a percentage of every unit they sell of your product. On the other hand, you know if they’re actually building out your product, they’re not doing a very good job at it, your product could go nowhere. So you really have to commit to understanding who you’re partnering with beyond just making a quick buck. You have to really understand the company and what they’re actually going to do to ensure success with your product and so forth. And a lot of times, inventors get signed up to work with third-party licensing their product and then the product goes nowhere. And they don’t make any money and they lose that out on that product for ten years because they didn’t know what they didn’t know.

Not to scare you and that’s not my tactics. But just what you know will make the biggest return of investment. Other inventors who are willing to do little bit more work and understand who can maybe possibly get some money together and not spend the 20 grand and hire somebody out to go license their idea could take that money and start a small company and spend a portion of that figuring out how to actually sell that product to retailers and or wholesalers and or distributors and or sell it on TV, HS and QBC, and sell it to websites like Groupon and sell it to corporations like bookstores, museum stores, and so forth and are willing to invest a little time and effort can make a bundle of money and if they’re willing to put their back into it and actually learn how to do that they can make a fortune and so forth.

So at the end of the day, the difference of an inventor and entrepreneur is someone who is not going to quit and don’t hand away all your business right away upfront. Learn what you’re about to do. See where all the different revenue opportunities are for your business, then make wise choices and hire the appropriate people. Otherwise, you might be the type of person who hires a rep who takes a year to get a product out in the world and doesn’t do anything for you and so forth just because you didn’t know what you didn’t know. So that’s why I do what I do. I walk people through exactly how to approach, pitch, and sell to retail chains and I have many other strategies on how to make money with physical product beyond retail because not every product makes sense for retail.

So if you want to learn more, you can take a look at what we’re up to retailmba.com or subscribe to this channel. We’re constantly giving away free content and helping you support yourself generating revenue with your product, the things to think about and so forth. But I hope you become an entrepreneur, the committed one, the one that takes actions, the one that doesn’t quit, the one that does the work, the one that learns and studies and educates themselves and you know, don’t have off your business, do the work initially and see the biggest return of investment there. Again, Karen Waksman, Retail MBA. Hope this help. Thanks so much! 

Publix Super Markets Suppliers – How to Sell to Publix and Become Their Supplier!

New training on How to Sell to Publix and Become their Supplier!

New Training on Publix Super Markets-How to Sell to Publix and Become Their Supplier!

Publix Super Market is a grocery chain that you should definitely consider going after if you want to receive more opportunities for your food product! Why? First of all, it’s a massive retail store with over 1200 stores that they are responsible for currently – which means that they have tremendous buying power and can buy massive quantities of your product. Woohoo!

Important to take note though is to learn the exact words to use when reaching out to a grocery store like Publix. You want to make sure that you get the words right the first time so that you don’t miss out on the big opportunities when selling to a grocery chain that’s this massive.

Interested in learning more? Then you’ll have to watch my latest training video on how to sell to Publix and become their supplier!

 (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…

Hey everyone this is Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. And today we’re going to be talking about how to sell to Publix Supermarket. So if you have a great product that you think should be in their store shelves, this little training segment will walk you through some quick tips and strategies on how to get started today. And also just things to think about when selling to grocery chains like Publix.

So I’ve taught tens of thousands of product companies across the globe on how to get your products on retailers and if you have a food product and you want to sell to grocery chains, Publix comes up. So that’s why I created this segment as well. So let’s talk about Publix. Publix has over 1249 retail locations currently. That is tremendous buying power. One order from them can mean millions of dollars for your business and your bottom line if your product gets put in their stores and it sells and so forth. The reorders and so forth can be tremendous for your business.

The other thing to think about when you’re exploring grocery chains is because they’re a regional chain, a lot of you guys have never heard of them. So sometimes I create these trainings just to get you to know about these certain retailers. This particular grocery chain is in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, which means that if they’re southeast grocery chains, a lot of people have never heard about them. So I want to make sure that you understand that just because they’re a regional retail chain doesn’t mean that they don’t have a lot of opportunities for you.

With grocery chains, some things to consider—they just don’t buy food. They buy gifts, they buy accessories, they buy cosmetics, they buy consumer electronics, they buy a lot of different things. So don’t not go after retail chains and grocery chains simply because you think that they only buy one thing. Get in your car, go drive to a grocery chain like Publix and see what they’re purchasing. This could be a huge opportunity for you if you’re just getting started and thinking about where to sell your product. If you have electronic inventions, a lot of your competitors are not thinking about grocery chains, right? So, is there a way for you to sell them in that way?

So just food for thought there. They sell books by the way, you know, cookbooks, all sorts of different things. So anyways, lot of fun to think about the opportunities within a grocery chain like Publix. So, I’ve already discussed that they’re one of the largest US regional grocery chains. I’ve already mentioned that they 1250 stores they’re responsible for. What I didn’t mention is that they are employee-owned and is a private corporation or company. 

And the reason I say that is because a lot of employee-owned organizations tend to have corporate buyers but they also have regional or local buyers typically as well. What that means is that a lot of times they give buying power to the store manager and or the regional buyer and so forth. And so, one thing that you can do is go to your local public stores, bring your products, follow some instructions. I wouldn’t just start selling to these grocery chains without knowing what you are doing because it can backfire if you don’t know the words to use and so forth.

But what you can do is literally get in your car and drive to these grocery chains and so forth. And see if you can open up and account with them as a supplier. And so the reason a lot of these grocery chains, especially employee-owned ones, allow things to be purchased on a local level as well as corporate level is because they have perishable foods they buy and so they do have some budget on a local level and so forth. So a very simple strategy would be to go drive to your local store and see if they would be willing to buy your product for that individual store.

Now, I highly recommend learning what words to use and so forth so you become very strategic coz there’s a lot of ways to sell their grocery chains to make you millions of dollars. And so that’s why I have these conversations with people through my training system, programs, and coaching, and so forth. But I definitely want you to think about the fact that if they are employee-owned, that typically means you can literally get a new card and open up accounts one by one and get them to potentially buy your products from you.

And so, again, they usually have regional buyers as well meaning they buy for x number of stores and they usually have corporate-owned buyers as well when the corporate-owned buyers some is the one that buys for all their stores and so forth. So again, a lot of opportunities there to kind of get into your car and start trying to sell to them and or go regional or go corporate and make lots of lots of money. But it’s kind of fun think to about opportunities.

So if you’ve never thought about Publix, definitely consider going after them. If you guys want to learn exactly how to approach, pitch, and sell to grocery chains such as Publix or any other retail chain, highly recommend exploring my Retail MBA website retailmba.com. We have training programs, free stuff, advance training, live events, certification programs. So many cool things related to making money with your physical products and we would love to help you. Definitely subscribe to this channel. Keep on the lookout for additional content we create or go to our website retailmba.com to learn more.

Again, Karen Waksman, Retail MBA. Love to support you with your quest to selling for grocery chains like Publix. Thanks so much!

Why More Amazon Sellers Are Turning To Retail

New training on Why More Amazon Sellers are Turning to Retail!

New training on Why More Amazon Sellers Are Turning To Retail

Are you an Amazon seller who is only selling their products online? If so, then perhaps you should know that more Amazon sellers are turning to retail chains for an additional revenue stream and it’s for very good reason! I’m not saying though that these sellers are no longer on Amazon. In fact, they are still very much working on growing their eCommerce brand. The difference is that they are now diversifying their efforts–something that you should really consider looking into. 

There are several reasons why Amazon sellers are venturing into retail. Some reasons include generating more revenue, ensuring that their company is stable and proficient for future business deals and if they ever want to sell their business, retail chain distribution is an important exit strategy! So, while they are growing their Amazon business, they are also opening up more opportunities for their business! 

To learn more about this topic, check out my latest 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…

So let’s talk about why more Amazon sellers are turning to retail. Reason number one: they are looking for more revenue to generate. Why do I say that? Because people don’t quite understand how large a retail order is. You can make millions and millions of dollars with just one retail chain store account. I have clients who literally sell on Amazon or on their website or whatever it is. And then open up a retail channel by basically selling to a retailer like say TJ Max or whatever and they make millions of dollars off that one or two retailer accounts. It happens all the time.

And so as you’re growing as an Amazon business, don’t you want to generate more revenue, more opportunity for your company? And if you’re going to go after another distribution strategy, why not pick the one that’s going to create the biggest return on investment. And big retailers have a lot of money and opportunity for you. So definitely one of the reasons why Amazon sellers are turning to retail is because they want to make more money.

Another reason why Amazon sellers are turning to retail is because they want to sell their company one day. And they know smartly that if you try to sell your company and only have all your money flowing through Amazon that can backfire on you when you’re dealing with investors. Because investors want a business that’s sound, that’s not going to go away if some sort of algorithm changes, or something happens with a site like Amazon where they decide not to sell your product anymore for some reason. All of your money is tied to that one account. So they’re always going to look for a company that diversifies. So diversification is very essential to the success of a person who is trying to make success with that purchasing company and so forth.

So basically, you open up one, two, three additional retail chain store accounts, like say Walmart, or Macy’s, or Home Depot or whatever it is, and you also continue to sell on Amazon. Your business is going to be worth between 1 and 3 point per retailer increase. How can I say that? I did an interview with a mergers and acquisitions expert. This person sells companies and they’ve been doing it for 40 years. Basically what I was told, and again, there is no exact science to this. It does depend on a lot of other factors. Don’t quote me on this. But what I was told was every additional retail of distribution that you add, like a major retail account, can increase the valuation of your company at least one point. So you open up two or three accounts, it can be tremendous to your business. When I say point, I mean percentages and so forth.

 So it can be many millions of dollars when you’re selling your company. A lot of people understand that they can sell their Amazon business today but if they add retail account, they can actually grow the valuation of their company. So you definitely want to consider going after retailers as soon as possible so that when you do sell your company, it actually works out to the best of everything.

 Another reason why Amazon sellers are turning to retail, is because they understand that if you open up retail accounts, these big companies are going to buy your products on a massive scale. And not only will that generate more revenue and so forth, but what it does is it actually solidifies you with your manufacturer. So currently, a lot of people are buying products from a manufacturer, say China or whatever, Korea, wherever it is. And what’s there happening there is that you’re not getting the best prices or whatever because you’re not buying huge quantities of your products.

Some of you are but a lot of you guys are still struggling with getting the best possible manufacturer price for your products. But when you start selling to retail chains in your business gross, and you’re also buying 10,000, 15,000, 50,000, 100,000 unit of your products, trust me the manufacturers will fall in love with you. And not only that, but there’s a lot of room for negotiations because suddenly you can discuss getting price breaks. 

So not only will your price go down because they’re buying quantity, but also that helps all of your other businesses. So I don’t see why anybody wouldn ’t consider going after retail chains as well as currently and consistently selling in Amazon because it just helps your businesses as a whole. Imagine getting the price down on your manufacturer cost significantly simply because you worked out something with your manufacturer because you’re buying so many more quantity and units and so forth. I see that happen all the time.

Final reason why Amazon sellers are turning to retail now is because Amazon is changing a lot and they’re constantly evolving. When I started selling this program and teaching people how to get products into stores and so forth, I was dealing with mostly inventors and product creators and so forth. But then Amazon kind of blew up and it was kind of wild west. People were making millions of dollars on Amazon and selling whatever products. And they were doing so phenomenally well on Amazon and it was just a wild west for everybody. Everybody was making money.

And I’ve seen a shift over the years. From not a lot of people making money on Amazon to like lots and lots of people. Since then it has changed. So now there’s more competition than ever. Everybody’s copying each other, people are stealing listings, there’s a tremendous competition. There’s a lot going on and Amazon’s increasing their fees.

It’s turning into kind of a scary thing for Amazon sellers who are making money on Amazon and now are trying to like keep an established brand, business and grow, and also deal with the price changes and so forth. So on the one hand, it’s a great business. On the other hand, it’s very overwhelming for them.                    

And so a lot of the reasons why Amazon sellers are changing to retail is because with retail a lot of your Amazon sellers competitors don’t know how to sell to retail chains. They literally have no clue how to call Walmart or how to get them to buy or how to talk to Macy’s and so forth and get their products in there. Because it’s just not something that most people know how to do. So again, a lot of top Amazon sellers I work with, they are all coming to me because they really understand that it’s going to be a great time to focus on retail while everybody else is focusing on trying to keep their space on Amazon with all the competition and so forth.

Not saying to stop Amazon in any way, but you definitely want to leverage what you’re doing currently and start working on the retail front to also balance out your business. Make sure that you kind of get front placement and so forth. And it’s great to go get your competition and so forth because you will know more than the average person if you start selling to retail chains. Because I’m telling you most of your competitors have no clue how to get to stores.

So anyways, I hope that provided value for you. If you want to learn exactly how to approach and get your products to the shelves of retailers like Home Depot, Macy’s, Kroger Grocery Store, CBS, GNC, Walmart, Walgreen, whatever it is for you. You definitely want to take a look at our training system and a yearlong coaching program. It’s called Retail MBA. You can take a look at our information at retailmba.com. We have free content and all sorts of information on the topic so you can get a feel for what we’re up to. Or definitely explore getting your products to the stores.

We have a step-by-step, fool-proof plan on how to get your product to the stores. And we have been teaching this for almost a decade now and I’ve been using this methodology for almost 2 decades on getting products to the stores. It’s very powerful stuff and if you’re interested on learning how to do that for your business, we work with so many Amazon sellers and we’d love to support you.

Again this is Karen Waksman, Retail MBA, and you could take a look at the link below retailmba.com and sign up to one of our free trainings and or explore one of our programs. We’d love to support you. Thanks so much!

So you’ve built a successful eCommerce Product…Now what?

New Training-So you’ve built a successful eCommerce Product..Now what?

So you’ve built a successful eCommerce Product…Now what?

Now that you’re successful with your eCommerce product online, the next step that you should consider taking is to get your product into big box retailer chains! Why? Well, it’s very simple. When you diversify your efforts, you get a wider audience and a bigger opportunity to make your product even more successful!

eCommerce is undeniably a great platform to sell products, but when you look at retail chain stores like Walmart, you can see that brick and mortar stores are still here to stay. And it’s still a very good and lucrative place to sell products. That’s why instead of just focusing one way to sell your product, why not open up your business to another revenue stream?  You don’t want to miss the opportunity you can get when you become a distributor especially to top retail chains!

Therefore, if you want to learn more about what to do next with your eCommerce product, watch my new 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…

So you’ve built a successful eCommerce product. Now what? I work with product companies across the globe on how to get their products in the stores. And I work with eCommerce sellers, at least on Amazon. Many of them have approached me over the years simply because they realize that selling online is phenomenal but now they need to diversify their efforts. They want to eventually sell their company. And they know that they can’t just focus on one channel, one distribution strategy, in order to succeed with their business. So a lot of them have been coming to me to learn about how to get their products into stores because they realize that one chain store order can 10x or even 100x  their business.

And that is really a big deal. If you’ve already kind of been top of your space in eCommerce, now is the time to shine in retailers. The person who shops in Amazon is not the same person who shops at Macy’s. The Amazon seller, the eCommerce seller, might not be the person who shops at Home Depot. Some customers like to buy products online. That’s probably you. That’s probably why you’re doing so well in eCommerce. But I’m here to tell you the rest of the planet purchases in very different ways. Some buy online, some buy in physical stores and so forth. So if I were you and from all of my experience with working with all these companies across the globe who are doing tremendous volume online, I would consider exploring retail chains.

Again, because you could 10x or 100x your business by opening a few retail chain store accounts. I have clients who open up say retailers like Walmart and they make millions of dollars with that retail chains. I have other clients who sell products to TJ Max or some other different types of retailer and they make millions of dollars as well. They don’t give up their ecommerce business. They continue to grow and they leverage their success to get their products distributed either online with these retailers or in their physical stores because again, these retailers have millions upon millions of people come to their stores or their website every year.

That’s just another revenue stream, another distribution strategy. So if you’ve built a successful ecommerce product business, you’d definitely want to consider going after retailers like Walmart, Macy’s, Home Depot, Best Buy, Kroger Grocery Store, or whatever it is for you because there is over 90% of all physical products are being sold in brick and mortar stores. That is currently fact online. You can do your homework, you can do diligence. There’s a tremendous opportunity in ecommerce but physical stores are definitely still here to stay for a while. You definitely want to leverage that if you’re selling so well online. Physical stores would love to have you.

So if you want to learn how exactly to approach, pitch, or sell, either online retailers or physical stores, take a look at our website retailmba.com. We provide free content and information on how to approach, pitch, and sell to these guys even if you have zero sales experience, zero buyer relationships, and so forth. We give you the tools and strategies to generate revenue to products as quickly as possible with other distribution strategies. That is exactly what we do that’s why we are so successful with a lot of the top ecommerce sellers today. So definitely take a look at our site. We have free content explaining what we do and we’d love to support you.

Again, this is Karen Waksman, Retail MBA. I hope that provided value for you. Please be on the lookout for additional content that we create. We’re constantly here creating content and videos to help you at your success. So definitely subscribe and keep in touch with us. Thanks so much!    

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