Most of us look to importers and manufacturers for readymade goods for our store, perhaps also occasionally buying from a local maker set up to sell wholesale.  But it can be fun to be in on the ground floor, helping someone take a good idea from the concept stage to your store’s shelves.

Lori Greiner of Shark Tank fame has a proven track record when it comes to this developing new products.  She has invented more than 600 products for her own company, For your Ease Only, and loves to be hands-on helping the entrepreneurs she greenlights on the TV show to create successful product lines.

But for most people with an idea, Shark Tank is a distant dream.  They are much more likely to approach a local retailer, and in fact I regularly have someone call to say they have something they’d like to sell to my store. I usually answer that even though I may not want the item for Orange Tree Imports, I’d be happy to meet with them to give them marketing advice. After all, who else is going to give them the perspective of a store buyer?

I sometimes find that the individual doesn’t know what usual terms are for selling wholesale, and has not tested the market by showing the product to anyone except friends and family.  So I usually suggest that he or she start by selling directly to the public at a crafts or maker fair. Often this turns out to be the best way to market an item that may be in limited supply and carry a significant price tag in terms of time or materials.  It does happen, however, that I am able to work with the craftsperson to develop an item that becomes a good seller for our store. We love carrying locally made products, especially if they are exclusive to us.

The Willy Street Co-op, a well-respected natural foods cooperative here in Madison, WI, has formally launched an incubator to help small businesses develop their product line.  The Retail Ready Lab is a program in which the co-op partners with small businesses for a month to work to get their products onto retail shelves, either at the co-op or elsewhere.  Those accepted to the program are given one-on-one counseling and the opportunity to have their products displayed temporarily on special shelves in the store that have signage asking for customer feedback. This creative approach to helping new vendors is definitely something worth emulating if we want to develop more locally made products for our shops.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder