Distributorships

Up until now, the way I've gotten my product into stores has simply been to send them some. Nine times out of ten, they try the pretzels, and they are ready to carry them in the store.



There have been a few times when I've been asked about bar codes and displays, which left me doing some massive research on the internet. These were usually solved easily without me having to actually change things on my end, which was a relief.



But, the other day I contacted Borders to see about getting my product considered for their stores. I'm currently trying to get into a few national chains, in hopes of getting at least one, and I'd even take a few stores in one, not all the stores, if they were open to that.



Borders had a different approach to it than I'm used to however. Normally I get a response that gives me directions to follow. Some want you to submit product, others just want pictures. But Borders wants me to go through a distributor.



A rep for their stores emailed me this:

"The use of distributors and wholesalers is strongly recommended, so a complete list of distribution channels should be included with your submission. A submission will only be acknowledged if a buyer wishes to purchase it and we can't obtain it through any of our current vendors."



Since my first thought was "is that English?" I decided I may not be ready for Borders yet.



I started searching for distributors online, but even that is pretty greek. So for now, I think I'll stick to the places that only require me to submit samples and/or photos.



I'm going to rely on baby steps to get me to the place where I'll actually understand what a distributor does and how to go about getting one.



Until then, I'll keep plugging away.