New DIY product from overseas - getting it into shops

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We import tools from abroad (not China!), to sell online & we've secured exclusivity on one manufacturer's portfolio (we buy enough from them each year & are dynamically growing year on year to keep them happy!) Most of the tools in their range are 'bread & butter' type offerings, however a couple of the tools in their range are very innovative...one product in particular has real mass market appeal (think Argos, B&Q, Wickes, Screwfix etc).

the thing is....it's nigh on impossible to get the 'movers & shakers' in such large retail outlets to take notice (can't say I blame them - it must be a nightmare having everyone trying to sell you something!) ...so for now we intend adopting a different approach. That is to try & 'get the product out there' into smaller independent DIY & trade related 'bricks & mortar' shops...we're confident that the product will soon start getting noticed & then it'll be far easier to get the large chains to listen! (for example - this particular product sells 50,000 units per month in Japan alone!).

We sell the product online (& move a fair few units) & the product gets very good reviews (bordering on Evangelistic with some customers!) ...but such is the product type, you'd not know search for it, because you don't know it exists (chicken & the egg situation I guess), therefore from a sales perspective the product is better suited to physically getting in front of buyers 'in the flesh' so to speak.

Here's the thing...we don't have a nationwide sales force (we're an online business with a very small team) & it'd be time consuming (& costly - for just one product!) to put such a salesforce in place...so we're looking at a quicker (& more cost effective) way of getting the product 'out there'.

Therefore if you're a travelling salesman (or know of one) that travels from shop to shop (diy stores, plumbers merchants, builders merchants, electrical supplies etc), please PM me....the product really does sell itself - one 60 second demo & 'they're in'!

Or perhaps you are (or know of) a distributor who already supplies the likes of independent tool shops, plumbers merchants etc - drop me a PM!

Or indeed if you own a shop that has tools on show (or if you have the ear of someone that does) & fancy stocking a new, innovative DIY product that solves a real problem that *all* DIY'ers & tradesman face ...then please also drop us a PM.

If anyone has any tips for a young small company such as ours to break a product with proven mass market appeal into a mainstream market...we're all ears :)

Many thanks :)
 
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I don't know the answers to your questions, but obviously this 'innovative' tool has it's patents properly in place for UK and EU?

From what I can see, getting into the multiples may mean proving how good it is by sales figures. If it sells like heated patisserie in smaller outlets and online, the big boys may open their doors to you. However, you have to be careful what deal you do with them, as they may flatter you with a largeish order - but they will TELL you how much you will charge them.

I thought this may be spam as it's your first post . Seeing you haven't included a link or name for the product, I'm probably wrong.

Good luck and see you on Dragons' Den. ;)
 
Advertise in trade magazines (or mailshot through their database) and attend trade shows.
http://www.diyweek.net/magazine.asp
http://www.onecoms.co.uk/

If the product appeals to plumbers, electricians etc then advertise in the approriate trades magazines and freesheets. Offering the publishers free product for competition prizes can help.

Also consider the TV shopping channels such as QVC and Ideal World. The advantage of them is that they can easily shift a large quantity in one bulk order and handle all the fulfilment/despatch for you.
 
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what is the tool and what does it do?
If I said, I'd be accused of spamming in a roundabout way! (i.e. getting the readership curious first, so that forum members then ask me to tell them the name of the product!)

Also, if I said what it did, it would be pretty much the same as saying what the tool was called (on account this is the only hand tool that does what it does!). Finally, I'm wary of discussing via on a forum populated by tool enthusiasts ...no, not because the particular tool isn't good (it is good), but more so I can see all the responses now "I can do that with a tool that I've put into my bench vice & modified with my 400W angle grinder " etc :) (I've seen similar situations on many forums & it always ends up that the innocuous OP becomes the hunted!)

Truth be told, I genuinely didn't post here to promote the tool directly, but just to discuss how we could go about getting it a physical presence into hardware type shops.
 
ok fair enough. I wouldnt' mind a pm with a link cos you've aroused my curiosity now and I love innovation :D With the sales side, hopefully once you get in with one the others will follow, seems to be the way with these big stores.
 
It must be something useless or the big sheds would have already shown an interest and have it on their shelves.
A few months ago, the tool's manufacturer secured some exposure on a domestic TV channel business program (not Dragon's Den, but a program where the format is to bring in marketing experts to advise how to take innovative products to the next level)...as a result of the TV exposure, the tool started selling 50,000pcs per month in Japan alone, so there's clearly a 'use' for the tool...like I say, the tool has mass market appeal, but it just needs to get into large retail outlets....
 
It must be something useless or the big sheds would have already shown an interest and have it on their shelves.

The inventor of the mousetrap probably had people saying it'll never catch on, too much effort to set it up and remove the dead mice, dangerous to fingers etc, much better to just use a cat ... if people wanted mousetraps then every blacksmith would be making one ...
 
Mouse traps are pretty much useless. Had 15 in my home at one point.
Took poison in the end. And no problems since.
 
well lets hope its very innovative? and not just a pile of crap that costs a fortune then ends up being thrown in the shed and forgotten about.
plus my reckoning if its that good you would be chewing at the bit to push it with a linky and allowing us to make the decision to either sing its praises or condemn it .
 
DrewPeacock? Really? is that your real name? If so then I hope that you have made your parents suffer.

Anywho.

Ciret Ltd (formally known as Homekey) are a distributor

http://www.ciret.co.uk/aboutus.html

Another that springs to mind is ToolBank

http://www.toolbank.com/

Having used trade advertising in the past (for unrelated imported, product classes), I was extremely underwhelmed by the lack of response.

Trade fairs/expos might be a worth a punt but you are looking at anywhere from £600, to £5000 for a small to medium stand depending on the show, plus your time and promotional materials.

If budgets are tight, i would recommend setting up your own site and selling directly to the public BUT at a price that will always be slightly higher than that at which your own customers can sell them (otherwise why would they bother selling your product?).

Do you have exclusivity for the UK or the whole of the EU? Can you be sure that someone in the USA wont undercut you, or your customers, via something like the Amazon marketplace?

It is difficult to advise further without knowing what the product is. It does sound like something that is aimed at the DIY market, rather than the trade market. At the risk of sounding either disingenuous or dismissive, is it the kind of thing one would expect to see on the shopping channel distributed/rebranded by the likes of JML?

I for one see no problem in you telling us what the product is, indeed to that end, I hope that the mods allow you to provide a link to it. Rest assured that the crowd here will be likely to tell you if they consider it to be pants.

I genuinely wish you the best of luck and have direct experience of having to juggle funds to import products, pay the shipping costs, then the duties and then storage- whilst still trying to make a living. If the product is really any good then hopefully your endeavours will reap rewards. Do not any of the major sheds to field cold calls from you. It just don't work that way and they will screw your margins down- not an issue if you can afford to import and hold millions of pounds of stock- if you can't then deal with distributors- but even they wont accept you saying, erm.. your order will be 4-6 weeks. That said, as you are only selling one product it might be less of an issue, we had over a 100 SKUs

A forum that I have found to be really useful in the past is UK Business forums

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/


regards


Edit- i really didn't read your post very thoroughly, please ignore as much as you see fit
 
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