5 things your ideal stockist wants you to get right

I’m writing this blog post because I wanted to offer something special for the Designer Makers in this community. I shared these tips in a recent newsletter and had such positive feedback that I’ve decided to put the content into a post on the blog, so that even more people can access these tips that many of you have said were helpful. What I'm going to do, is give you some insight into how to best go about getting your products stocked in your dream stores.

In my experience (I received A LOT of product submissions as the buyer at SMUG), a lot of designer makers who are starting out, even those who were getting more established, made the same mistakes in failing to make it super easy for a stockist to choose their work. Let’s actually just focus on that thought for a second… It is not just your job to design beautiful/practical/desirable products. If you want to wholesale your work (have it stocked in other shops, not just on your website or in your own shop/market stall/studio) then you need to make it as easy as possible for stockists to carry your work. So what do I mean by that? Buyers and founders of design stores are time poor. They want it to be a complete no brainer that they should place an order and they want it to be oh so easy to do so. How do you make it feel like a no brainer and as easy as pie for the buyer?

Here are my top tips on the non-negotiables that you must get in place to land your ideal stockists:
 

1 . C O M M U N I C A T I O N   As I've mentioned above, you're reaching out to someone who is time poor and is likely to have tonnes of designers reaching out with the same request. So, communication is key. What is the best way for you to communicate? If you have a strong Instagram, I would consider DMing the stockist so they can see at the click of a button who you are and what you do. This way they have instant access to images of your work, a link to your website etc etc. I always send a DM with links to my website as well as a tailored message and suggest that if they're interested they message back with an email address so I can send more details. This also means that they are expecting your email and so will keep their eye out for it and it will then hopefully not get lost in their inbox. They are also more likely to take it seriously when it arrives.
Both in the DM and in the email, it's really important that you mention their store and why you love it, what they are doing that is special. It is much much better to praise the special and unique qualities of the store, rather than tell the buyer that you think your work would be a 'good fit'. Let them decide on that!
You also need to include all of the details of minimum orders, quantities, shipping and any other FAQs you can think of. Don't make them have to send an extra email to clarify things. It might be enough of a reason for them not to bother. If it's all there for them to see you've made it super simple and easy for them to just get on with placing an order.

2 . B R E A D T H   O F   C O L L E C T I O N   Speaking of minimum orders... it's important that you have enough of a breadth of product within your collection that the buyer can place an order that would make an impact in their store and reach your minimum order. Do you have a selection of different products that compliment each other within your range? And do you have a good range of price points within that? If a new stockist is testing out your work with their customers they may well want to buy more of your lower price items in their first order, with a few medium price items and one higher end, to be a statement piece to get customer attention within their store. Make it possible your potential stockists to 'test the waters' with your work and try a few different products without having to commit too much to one particular thing if possible.

3 . P H O T O G R A P H Y   Obviously the way your work is photographed hugely impacts its reception with the customer/buyer when viewing it online. It's invaluable if you can show 'mood shots' or 'lifestyle shots' of your work which communicates your brand and connects with the person looking at those images. It can be worth making a mood board of other images you love that you feel align to your brand. Think about colours and materials etc etc as background or context for these shots. These 'lifestyle' images can be your way in. Remember, you're always selling a feeling, not really just a product.
Equally, if you're able to provide simple product shots on a grey or white background that the stockist can use for their own online shop this will make life so much easier for them. Many stores will want to reshoot the products but having those simple high res shots on  a grey or white background makes life so much easier for the stockist that it could be a deal breaker.

4 . M A R K - U P   This was a huge issue for me at SMUG. Lots of designers who's work I really loved, just weren't able to offer a mark-up that made any sense for my business. The vast majority of stockists will be VAT registered. This means that they will be paying 20% of everything they make to the tax man. You probably are not VAT registered, but you need to offer a mark-up that makes sense for the stockist. I would suggest 2.5 x the wholesale price. So often, designers would be offering 2 x and after VAT that would leave the stockist with too small a profit margin. If your feel you just can't manage such a big mark-up, increase your retail prices for your own customers so that the retail price is higher and keep your wholesale price as is. That way you'll make more money retail too! :) Also, just to be super clear, your retail price must be the same as your RRP for your stockists. Don't be trying to sell your work cheaper on Etsy. That is the worst!

5 . E X C L U S I V I T Y   Think really hard about having a proper policy in place so that you do not have stockists located near to each other. This can be so frustrating for the stockist if it isn't worked out in advance. They do not want competition selling your work. Have a clear policy in place and stick to it. Make it clear in your FAQs that making sure you don't have stockists overlapping in similar areas is important to you. You want your stockists to feel special and valued and part of your brand's family. You could even go one step further and offer your favourite stockists an exclusive colour-way on one of your products for example, so they have something by you that customers cannot get anywhere else. Even from you!

I hope you've found this helpful! The images included in this newsletter were snaps that I took this week whilst dropping off a Lizzie for SMUG order to my newest stockist, Insidestore. Isn't it beaut!? If you have found this valuable and would like more support in connect to your ideal stockists or customers as well as how to best communicate your brand and essentially grow it, then my group coaching programme 'Grow Your Brand' might be for you. You can find all the details here. If you would like to work with me one-to-one you can find more details of my 1 month and 3 month coaching packages here.