Q&A With Po Campo: Getting Your Product In Stores

Larissa from Minneapolis writes: “I’ve been making some small paintings and illustrations and have been told I should sell them in stores but I have no idea how to go about doing that. How did you get your bags in stores? Did you make appointments? And what kind of presentation did you bring?”. See more after the jump:

Po Campo has come a long way since its beginning in 2009 by designer, Maria Boustead. Po Campo would like to show how much we appreciate the loyal followers we have by answering the question that Larissa has asked us.

“How did we get our bags in stores?”

Make A List
First make a list of all the stores that’d be a good fit for your product.
Ask your friends for suggestion, brainstorm a bit about where you can envision seeing your product.
Once you have a list, go ahead and walk into one the stores that you find approachable and discuss your product with them.

Research: What is Your Wholesale Price? 
Next, find out what the typical mark-up price for your product is.
Find out how many items the store would initially want to buy. Ask how much they usually buy from small companies.
Now, you have to find out how the store will pay you. Up front? Credit card? Consignment?
Our advice would be to push for a payment upon delivery, it turns out to be easier.

Build a Sales Kit: What Do You Have to Show?
Develop a line sheet. A sketch with all the details of your product, or in Larissa’s case, bring a portfolio of your work.
On the line sheet, you should have the product pictured as well as the information detailing the features, price, terms, minimums on the order and other deadlines. Now don’t forget, you should also have the product sample itself.
When you’ve got it all together, go ahead and walk into that store. Ask for the owner or buyer and showcase the product if they have time right there on the spot to here you out, otherwise set up an appointment to. The owner/buyer will then ask a couple questions about the product, which you, of course, are more than ready to answer. The next part is the most important. You must ask, “Can you see this product being sold in your store? Would you like to make an order?” It’s tough, but there’s no way around it.
It must be done.

For more information or questions, email Maria@PoCampo.com, or visit her Youtube channel.