want to sell your handmade products to stores if you're curious about how to get started selling your handmade Goods to Independent retail shops and boutiques you're in the right place in this video I'm going to be sharing five tips for how to get started hi this is badass creatives and I'm Mallory Whitfield the marketing Mentor for badass artist and makers just like you who want to sell more of your work and Market your products in a way that feels sustainable and authentic and won't lead to burnout I've taught marketing to hundreds of creative entrepreneurs and
small business owners as a frequent speaker at events like craftation conference as a former adjunct professor at Tulane University's School of Professional advancement and through my own program the badass creatives marketing accelerator back when I was running my own handmade business I carried work by other artists and makers in addition to my own handmade products my goal at the time was to eventually open a brick and mortar retail shop and while I never quite got to the point of signing a lease on a storefront I did carry work by other artists at lots of festivals
and events and art markets I also worked in independent retail shops here in New Orleans for a long time and we would frequently get approached by local artists who wanted us to carry their work in the store so here are my five tips on what you should do to get started selling your products in retail stores first do your research before you ever get started trying to sell your products in stores you should have a pretty clear idea of who your ideal customer is and what makes your brand special start your research by making a
list of stores that you think might be a good fit for your product ideally they should have a very similar ideal customer as your brand if you're thinking about reaching out to local stores to carry your work you'll want to do a visit to the stores first to kind of do some reconnaissance now at this point I wouldn't recommend asking to meet with a buyer or shop owner just yet this is purely research you want to visit as if you were a customer yourself and pay attention to the other customers around you are they a
good fit for your ideal customer are they a good fit for your product line also make a note of some of the other brands and artists and makers that this shop carries overall does it feel like a good fit for your Vibe now if you want to reach out to stores in other areas where you can't make an in-person visit you can still do a lot of This research online check out their website of course but you should also check out online reviews like Google and Yelp my second tip is you want to respect their
time whether the store is local in your neighborhood or on the other side of the world you'll want to check out their website and see if they have any information for people just like you people who want to sell their work to the shop a lot of times when retail boutiques work frequently with Independent Artists designers and makers they might have something like this already on their website so you want to see if they have it and follow all of their instructions to a T for example one of my favorite independent retail shops here in
New Orleans is a shop called me yet they've been around for more than a decade and they work with lots of independent makers and designers so they have a page on their website dedicated to selling your wares to their shop if you can't find a page like this on the company's website send them an email let them know why you think your products would be a good fit and make it really specific and relevant for example you can say I noticed you carry Brand X and my products are sort of similar but with a little
bit of a Twist make it really clear that you understand their work and know what their store is all about and really understand that your products would be a good fit you want to respect their time because a lot of these shop owners get so many irrelevant pitches so you want to make sure to only spend your time pitching to shops that really are a good fit for your brand notice how I said shoot them an email a lot of independent retail Boutique owners are wearing all of the hats they're doing all of the things
they're helping customers they're checking in inventory they're managing employees and so getting a phone call pitching your work is not exactly how they want their day to be interrupted I would definitely recommend sending them an email that's how most of the independent shop owners I know prefer to be contacted number three is follow through now remember a lot of these independent shop owners how have a lot on their plate they are very small businesses sometimes they are one person operations and so they are doing a whole lot of things and just because you don't get
a response right away doesn't mean that they're not interested and it doesn't necessarily mean that your products aren't a good fit for them sometimes it just means that your email fell to the bottom of a long list of emails be persistent but don't be a past make sure to follow up at least once or twice but wait a few days before you send that second email and if you're going to send a third or a fourth email wait at least a week or two between them to make it easy when you send that first email
I recommend adding a reminder to your calendar on your phone or using an app like todoist to automatically remind you in a week or two to send that second nudge my fourth tip is to keep it simple maybe you've seen fancy catalogs or lookbooks with professional models wearing handcrafted artisanal jewelry or fashion and they're hanging out in exotic locations and their bodies are contorted at weird angles for fashion now that stuff might look cool but as an independent designer it's probably a waste of money those sorts of catalogs and lookbooks often just end up in
the recycling bin most shop owners just want the basics they'll need your contact info including your name company name mailing address email and website address images of your work and a simple line sheet with wholesale and suggested retail pricing shops will also usually want to know where else your work is sold especially if there's another shop carrying your work in their same neighborhood or in their same city make sure to keep all of this information as clear and organized as possible if you offer different sizing options or different color options things like that make sure
that it's really easy for them to see all of the different options all at once along with the pricing basically you want to make it super easy for them to write a purchase order and buy from you if you have a section of your website dedicated to wholesale or an online sheet even better some independent shops and buyers actually prefer using a site like fair to do their wholesale purchasing if you're super serious about getting your work into lots more stores this can be a really great option as a site like Fair can connect you
with tens of thousands of retailers around the world either way these days a lot of Boutique owners really do prefer keeping things online whether ordering through a site like fair or through the wholesale section of your own website so whatever you do make it as easy as possible for these shops to place their orders with you and my fifth tip is be prepared to offer samples or provide a trial when you're first pitching to a new shop some shops May request a sample of your work now this isn't usually a requirement because often shops won't
give these samples back and if you're just getting started selling to retail stores some shop owners could be risk averse and hesitant to take on a new maker especially when economic things are tight in this case you could offer to do Consignment at least on a trial basis now a lot of makers don't prefer to do Consignment some do you it really just depends but if you're gonna do Consignment make sure you have all of the expectations from both parties clear and in writing what is everybody making the shop owner and you and what are
all of the different terms get it in writing so have you had success selling your products to stores if so let us know in the comments is there any tips that I missed and if you're just getting started with your handmade business head over to badasscreatives.com for more tips like this and be sure to subscribe and hey let me know what you want to learn more about in a future video I'll see you in the next video foreign [Music]
