“Please write about stores asking their rep for exclusivity,” a sales representative asked me recently. “It just isn’t reasonable that one shop should demand to be the only one in their area carrying a line that has thousands of items.”

In many other types of business, exclusivity means an agreement not to buy a certain product or service from any other resource.  But in retailing, this term means that a vendor has committed to only selling to your store and no other within a certain geographic area. That area can be as small as a block or as big as an entire town or city. 

The advantage of to you, of course, is that you are able to offer customers something they can’t find elsewhere.  Areas with lots of shops, such as tourist destinations, find this especially important.  It’s easy for every store to end up looking the same unless some vendors offer exclusivity.

Why would a company make this commitment, instead of selling to as many stores as possible?  For a start, it makes it more likely that your shop will carry a large representation of the vendors products. In fact there is often a minimum annual purchase associated with having an exclusive on a line. Because of this, your display of the product is likely to be significant. And your staff is likely to be better trained in the selling points of this merchandise, in part because you’ll receive more attention from the sales rep.

But on the other hand, many vendors do not enter into exclusivity agreements. They would rather have their merchandise shown in as many locations as possible, and feel that this exposure is worth the risk of the market becoming over-saturated.  Or perhaps their line has so many different products that they realize displays of their merchandise will vary greatly from store to store.  That was certainly the case of the rep who spoke to me about this issue – – her line has over 2,000 items, so the change of overlap is somewhat slim.

And the truth of the matter is that it is difficult to maintain an exclusivity agreement, even if the vendor usually “protects” territories. That is because buyers often go outside their home market to purchase merchandise, and unless the vendor pays attention to the location of the stores placing show orders, an exclusivity agreement may not be honored.

If you want exclusivity with a line, it is essential that you work with your sales rep (and not order out of territory).  That person knows who else has the merchandise already, and can make sure that it doesn’t get sold to a new account down the street.  But if you ask for an exclusive, you need to do your part to support the line with regular, large orders.

We have been able to make an informal agreement with several shops on our street to “share” a line, each of us buying certain categories. We have a clear idea of what works within our branding, and are able to select goods that work well for our shop without insisting that the others can’t buy what works for them.

Another way to have exclusive items is to import them directly from overseas, or to commission an artisan or vendor to create them for you.   (That is what we have done with the Peggy Karr plate shown above, designed for us by local artist Jean Lobe.) When you do this, be sure to use signage in your displays to point out how special it is that these items are exclusively yours.

Happy Retailing,

Carol “Orange” Schroeder