On Mar 10, 2011, at 2:47 PM, S wrote:
Actually, I'm wondering how many times you can go into the same store to gather information on different, new products, not how many times you can for one product. For example, I'm guessing if you go into a store to gather info on a product after you were in that same store last month gathering info on another, different product, they'll be on to you and know you're an importer not a customer. Is the idea that after the first time you've been through the process with a store, you've established somewhat of a relationship so next time you have a product to gather info on you go ahead and present yourself to that store as an importer? Or is the expectation that after the first interaction with a store you obtain the name of the store's manufacturer's rep, establish a relationship with that rep, and from then on ask the rep to gather the feedback?
***Initial contact is for the initial product... with the initial product, if you find it exists, that will be rpetty quick, so you would be unmemorable. If it is unexciting, you would not be visiting more than once, and thus unmemorable...
if you were to go the full “six times six” it would be because you are working on something very good... and once this ws launched, your best bet on what is next would be via the customers you actually, at that point, sell to...
If you kept coming back over and over and getting no where, it would be a problem in eiher listening or executing designs... and then you would have the challenge of learning which problem it was, and gorwing out of it... (business is all about human potential)***
Also, I'm guessing you'd want to go to a regular mainline retailer rather than a conservator to gather product feedback, because the chances of getting a clerk who specializes in and therefore receives feedback about a specific product at a regular mainline retail store is greater than the chances of finding such a clerk at a conservator store, right?
***Correct, we have no business in the mass merchandiser, conservator store...***
Regarding question #3, below, I think I'm having some difficulty identifying some regular mainline retail/specialty stores from conservator stores. It seems like conservators and regular mainline retail/specialty stores both have "chain" stores. Some stores are easy for me to identify as conservators: Target, Fred Meyers, Walmart, K-Mart, and Costco. But others, because they are also "chain" stores, are more difficult for me to determine whether they are conservators or regular mainline retail/specialty stores (I'm using both these terms separated by the "slash" to refer to the same thing – the stores I, as an innovator, WILL target as my buyers) like: Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Z-Gallerie (Although it's growing, Z Gallerie is privately held, so is probably a specialty store), The Container Store, JoAnne's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, Home Depot and Office Depot. Is there an easy way to identify one from the other?
***they all compete on price, so no go... smith and hawkins is about the biggest you’d want, and Saks 5th Avenue is specialty too... think very upscale version...***
Yes, my product is something I ended up buying in a chain store (The Container Store, not sure if it's a conservator or a regular mainline retailer) and which I propose to import and sell to other regular mainline retailers. After finding a product, inadvertently, online on someone's blog, I dearly wanted it, but couldn't find it anywhere. I looked at Target, Fred Meyer's, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and Office Depot. Finally, I found and bought it from The Container Store.
***Cantainer store is a mass merchandiser... the other stores do not have it because they do not want it... you wont get near a buyer, and if you did they would say no... and even if they lked it lot they would tell you no and buy it themselves directly...***
My thinking is of the eleven western states, only 5 have The Container Store, and of those 5, each, except California, only has one location per state. If I imported the product, I could distribute it through the many more local and regional regular mainline retailers (ie, Nordstrom's, Kohl's, JC Penney, Sears, etc), at least until it gets picked up by the conservators. My innovation would be to have it made with additional surface design options.
***All of those, except Nordsrom, are conservators... but aagia, none of those will tke an item they can get faster cheaper than you can ever get it... if they wanted it...***
If The Container Store IS a regular mainline retail/specialty store, then my above question #3 should've read: Is it faulty thinking to believe a product carried in a regular mainline retailer/specialty store, which only has one location statewide, could be improved upon, imported and sold to the many other regular mainline retail/specialty stores statewide and regionally not currently carrying it?
I'm guessing it is not faulty thinking, that it is correct thinking, because wasn't the glass candle in the book an example of a product you saw being sold in one regular mainline retail/specialty store which you improved upon then re-introduced to other regular mainline retail/specialty stores?
***WEll now you are getting to design, which is the whole thing... yes, you can redesign if you think it solves a problem, but you need to test it in upscale stores that sell such items...***
I'm clear that I'm selling to regular mainline retailers or to the avant garde, not to conservators. I need to learn to identify them one from the other – regular mainline retailers from conservators.
***80% of your customers will be the sole proprietor, one store business... 20% would be nordstrom type bigger specialty...***
I'm also wondering if it matters where the new product idea comes from? That is, since I will ultimately improve upon the product in some way, does it matter whether the product idea comes from a product which is currently being sold by conservators or whether the product idea comes from a regular mainline retailer?
***the idea comes from you... sure it have its predecessor, but the product is essentially you.***
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