Can I Get a Private Label Product into Retail Stores?

 

Often, when entrepreneurs want to create a viable business by getting products into retail stores, they naturally think about taking an existing product and doing it one better.  That’s what makes an entrepreneur an innovator. If you’re an inventor, innovator, entrepreneur, or business, you can get into retail stores around the world by creating, marketing, and selling your own private label products.  Let’s talk about the pros and cons.  I’ll give you some ideas about how to do it, too.

THE PROS OF GETTING PRIVATE LABEL PRODUCTS INTO STORES

You can establish a successful business with private label products.  I’ve created big successful businesses with them, and I have colleagues that have, too.  We’ve created everything from private label vitamins to plastic forks and knives to potato chips.  As an entrepreneur, it’s tempting to jump into the retail vendor business this way.  All you have to do is find a product and make it better but cheaper, or just make it cheaper. Then you offer it to retail stores.

The pros are that private label products are “easy” to do when there’s a viable need in the market, particularly if a retail store asks you to help them create a private label product or brand. However, even if a retailer isn’t asking you to do this for them, all you have to do is figure out what’s selling and where there’s a viable need for private label.  I teach people how to do that in my courses and group consulting.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1)      Find a branded product (meaning non-private label product) in retail stores that is selling well but where there’s a need in the category.  This should be a hot product or brand with a solid track record.

2)      Find a source to make that product cheaper. You may even vary the product slightly, as we’ll discuss a little later.

3)      Introduce your product or line of products to retailers. 

4)      When they accept your product, work with them to establish their private label product as a Brand. That means you’ll need to offer them innovative marketing and promotional ideas.  There are lots of ways to touch consumers and develop your private label into a Brand.

THE CONS OF GETTING PRIVATE LABEL PRODUCTS INTO RETAIL STORES

That being said, there are some cons to establishing your business with private label products.  Its pro is also its con.  A con of private label products is that private label is “easy” to do.  All you have to do is find a need in a market or category and fill it. 

That means that your competition often enters based on price and price alone.  Private label products are primarily based on value: price and quality.  That makes them commodity products. Buyers of commodity products tend to base their buying decisions based on price and quality, but they’re typically price-conscientious. That includes retailers and consumers.

Here’s what you can do:

1)      Give your private label product a tweak, some innovative feature(s).  It doesn’t have to be a major difference, but let’s say you make your wrist rubber band novelties in different shapes, colors, or sizes.  Maybe you make yours edible. 

2)      Market your private label product with a unique benefit. How you market your product matters. Market your similar product highlighting a unique benefit to your consumer. It’s all in the marketing.

3)      Turn your private label product into a Brand. You want to instill consumer loyalty, which means shoppers want to buy your product and brand.  That means you do what the branded products do. You advertise in your retail store’s advertising vehicles. You use innovative marketing techniques.  You create buzz.

4)      Diversify your business. Unless your private label product or brand is owned by the company that you’re making it for, meaning a wholly-owned subsidiary, or you have a rock-solid long-term contract with your customer—which were both things I’ve done with private label products and brands I’ve created and sold—then you need to diversify your business.  As a solo entrepreneur or small business, I’d only establish my business on private label products if I were fully diversified.  That means I’d have multiple products, multiple customers, and possibly multiple channels and markets, which would include international distribution if at all possible.  Or, I’d create an “in and out” product or line of products, like a seasonal item, something I could boot up and shut down without too much disturbance to my organization or livelihood.

Yes, you can create a viable successful business with private label products.  Treat your private label business like a big brand, adding value for the consumer through innovation in your product and marketing efforts, and you can create a nice niche brand with handsome profits.

=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.==.=.=
Janice Lierz helps entrepreneurs, inventors, and businesses understand how they can get their product into retail stores. She spent 20 years as an executive with Fortune 500 companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Heublein, Pillsbury, Frito-Lay/PepsiCo, and Whole Foods Market. Now she shares Insider Secrets to spur your product and personal innovation to help you get your product in stores. Sign up for FREE videos, podcasts, and her blog at: http://www.YourProductinStoresNow.com
=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.=.==.=.=