Who wouldn’t want their mainstream invention in Wal-Mart, Target and K-mart? Or maybe your goal is certain specialty shops, or starting your own store that sells your product. Either way you have to get your product out there to be purchased and that is distribution.
Here’s an excerpt from an article by Ed Zimmer which discusses distribution.
Most entrepreneurs initially target the major accounts in their market, e.g., the mass merchandisers (Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc.) for a consumer product. That's generally a mistake. First, it's very unlikely they'll buy. Their business strategy is to sell the 5-10 best-selling lines in each of their product categories. They have many proven lines available to them -- it's unlikely they'll choose yours before it's "proven". Second, even if they have interest, they'll prove to be impossible to negotiate with. They'll look at what they could make that product at in one of the developing nations, add a couple of percent, and tell you to take it or leave it. Third, by initially targeting those who could be high-volume users, you're collapsing your "proving" phase. It is almost certain there are bugs in your product, in your packaging, in your promotion materials, in your business systems. The greater your volume, the greater the probability those bugs will prove fatal.
If you want to follow this strategy (i.e., bootstrapping), you might as well face up to the fact that you're going to start at the bottom and work your way up. With a consumer product, the place to start is with a few local (i.e., within driving distance) owner-operated stores. Sell your product into those stores if you can. Put it in on consignment if you have to. Then help those stores sell your product off the shelf. By doing time in the store if they'll let you. By getting the local paper to do a PR piece on you (with mention of where your product's available). By placing an ad in the local paper, radio station, cable TV, etc. Getting your product into the store is only 10% of the problem. Getting it out (at a profit) is 90%.
Once you have several local stores making money on your product, they'll point you to the sales rep or distributor who sells them that type of product. You can now likely get their attention. In sales, what sells is success. Until you've "proven" that stores can make money on your product, the people selling to those stores won't have much interest in your product.
The full article is at www.tenonline.org/art/9607.html
Here is another fantastically interesting article by Jim Harris the ex-Wal-Mart executive. Here he talks about what it was like at Wal-Mart and how they viewed and evaluated submissions.
www.tenonline.org/art/npm/9905.html
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