We are in the process of opening a store front and are not really sure whether to make it niche specific or a general store that can sell health, household, beauty, electronics… the question is how do we go about in making it a general store? don’t brands want you to see niche a specific store? for example a shoe brand would want to see a shoe store or a beauty brand would want see a beauty store, however we are trying to get into multiple profitable categories and want to use the store to open the accounts since most brands require brick and mortar. I remember you mentioning that you will have a store in your new building and I assume you’ll use that to open accounts too! how will you go about in different categories if the store is not niche specific?
The other option would be to open a distribution company to buy from brands as “distributor” like many people are doing nowadays to get the quantities they need…
If you have a niche-specific focus (a good idea), then you should have a niche-specific store. Otherwise, a general store will do. Remember, most of the reps that visit you are FAR more interested in “ticking the box” so they can sell you stuff and get their commission than they are on being their company’s compliance dept.
I also noticed many sellers establishing “distribution” companies in order to qualify for buying higher quantities and deeper discounts what do you think about that? They call themselves distribution companies while all they are really doing is buying more than avg resellers at deeper discounts and selling the items directly on amazon…
Hey @Trent-Admin I would appreciate a reply regarding the above as well as the questions below:
Does having a store front limit the discounts compared to having a distribution company?
Does having a store front limit the quantities that can be purchased compared to having a distribution company?
I noticed that many brands dont offer deeper discounts and or higher quantities if you have a storefront…
Ridethewave
I know the question was addressed to Trent, but I will put a little of my feedback out if it helps at all. I have been on the brand side and on the distribution side in my career. Being “distributor” has many different meanings and there are distributors of all different sizes depending on the industry etc.
In my experience volume dictates discounts and price not definition. Typically a distributor gets a better price because they buy in larger volume and sell to other businesses, but with many brand a truck load is a truck load and they will price it the same. We do not call ourselves a distributor in any way as we do not distribute product to other companies. Some brands want regional distributors and will then want you to be able to warehouse and sell products to other companies. This is not a bad model if you’re able to execute it. At the end of the day if you can purchase significant volume you should be able to negotiate discounts with almost any brand.
Hope that helps
Hi @Ben Thanks for the input but if you are not a “distributor” in their system they will not give you the volume you are looking to buy or is that not the case?