How to Sell to Local Businesses - Q&A with Store Owner Misa Thompson (Ki Coffee, Portland, Oregon)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ค. 2024
- In this informal interview style video, I'm going to chat with my friend and one of my favorite retailers - Misa Thompson of Ki Coffee - about her experience working with hundreds of creatives and makers and selling their work at her retail space. The encouraging part is you don't need professional branding or a professionally designed product catalog to start reaching out to local stores. Empathy and organization can go a long way. Pitching your products to small local businesses is often the first step to growing your brand presence.
In the age of Covid and limited in person events in the near future, trade shows have moved online and we may never go back to the way things were. If you are interested in having a revenue stream from wholesale, don't wait on large trade shows to grow your wholesale business. There are scrappier, cheaper ways to dip your toes into wholesale.
Feel free to skip to the sections that interest you. I recommend that you listen to the entire interview because Misa's story is very inspiring.
00:00 Blooper
00:24 Intro
01:39 Misa's Inspiring Entrepreneurial Story
03:12 Her interest in developing a retail space
07:05 Difference between managing retail business and food/drink service
07:47 Difference between Wholesale and Consignment
09:01 Best practices on pitching to local retailers
10:05 Line sheet, business cards, when to contact
11:51 What if the store already sells something similar to what you make?
12:59 What are the dealbreakers?
15:18 Greeting cards sell well in person
17:26 Advice for creatives who are afraid to sell
18:48 Future of retail
20:09 Emergence of coffee + retail space
21:47 How to support Misa's business
22:00 Closing remarks and takeaways
If you enjoyed this video, send Misa a note on her IG to let her know. She hates being on camera so I'm going to give her all the positive reinforcement :).
Ki Coffee: www.ki.coffee
Instagram: / _kicoffee
My line sheet can be viewed online here if you want to see an example: issuu.com/seewhyzhang/docs/ea.... ISSUU allows one free upload.
If you found this video informative, we'd love for you to subscribe to our channel, and follow us on Instagram at @easysundayclub.
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Cathy is a self taught watercolor artist and businesswoman based in Los Angeles, CA. Easy Sunday Club is a collection of Cathy's watercolor art, and baby/children's soft goods that showcase playful interpretations of subjects in her loose and expressive painting style. Prior to art, Cathy got an MBA and worked in corporate for over 10 years and Nam is an attorney. This channel is our way of giving back to the art community.
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Shop: www.easysundayclub.com
Instagram: / easysundayclub
Clubhouse: @cathyz
Facebook: / easysundayclub
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A full list of tools and equipment we use for art and business is available at our website here: www.easysundayclub.com/pages/...
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Music: In French (Used w/ Artist Permission)
/ infrench
Great information once again. Thanks for sharing!
you’re welcome!
This conversation is helpful, thank you!
Working up the courage to approach a local bakery. The have amazing foot traffic and I think a greeting card goes well with apology donuts.
lol apology donuts sounds amazing. I had a bakery retailer and they were very kind to work with. Hope you build up the courage to talk to them and can share the good news!
This was informative. Thank you so much
This was so good thank you so nuch!!
glad it was helpful!
Happy to be a guest!
This video is incredibly helpful. I want to sell my art through local businesses in the near future, but I was really uncertain of what it would be like until I stumbled across this video. Knowing what to expect before making first contact makes preparation so much easier. Thank you for doing this interview!
you’re welcome, good luck and you can do it! it gets easier with practice like everything else.
Amazing information. Thank you so much . Once we out of lockdown , I’m going to go to our local town and put myself out there.
: ) !!! Great Leanne! We need to do the same ourselves :)
Really impressed by this video! Great info thanks for sharing! I miss living close to Ki Coffee.
Thanks O. Good memories of our community there :)
That was great! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Super informative, thanks for sharing Cathy and Misa!
Cheers Charlie thank you!
Cathy and Misa, thanks so much for sharing! What a good synergy you too have promoting each others businesses, that’s amazing! Congrats Misa on expanding and also on Little Little Art Co. Cathy I love that recon card. The face card also gets me; I have a friend who always says ,”I miss your face!” You two are awesome! -Kali
Thank you Kali! I had a hard time finding a tribe running my business from home. But it was great to meet other women biz owners who shared similar values :) we can all help to uplift eachother.
@@EasySundayClub most definitely. We’re out here... lookin for each other! Lol
Great video! I was always fascinated in selling to retailers so they can take care of selling to customers. I can't imagine mailing over 1,000 cards to different customers.
I read that that retailers purchase at a 50% mark up. Just so I get this right...so I sell a card for them to $2.50 and they will most likely sell it for $5.00?
Thank you again!
Correct! It is a partnership. They handle the sales and provide the shelf space also can reach diff customers u wouldnt be able to on your own. But with good sales it helps their biz and yours! Yes with cards the markup is usually 2x your wholesale price. Larger retailers may negotiate a lower wholesale price since they buy higher volume, but 50% of SRP is usually the price to small retail stores.
This is a great video and gives me a little confidence to give it a try. Texas is starting to re-open, which I'm not all that thrilled about because I think it's a little pre-mature but it is what it is and I'm guessing it might be a good time to get out there. I have a couple of questions. 1. When I go in to talk to a shop owner, should I be prepared to leave my product/greeting cards or small prints? 2. Should I go into only locally owned shops are is it possible to go into stores like Starbucks?
Hi Joni, some Starbucks do showcase local artists' work so if you see one that has a special wall dedicated for artists, definitely ask! I actually did almost got a local Starbucks to hang my work but they were about to renovate the space so it never happened. As for your first question, the buyer usually won't keep the products, but you can prepare a "brochure" or one page card that showcases your best sellers. As Misa mentioned in the video, it's always better to follow up with the buyer via email after and show them your work then because they're too busy and might forget who you were if you just leave stuff behind.
This was super helpful! I would totally be the person that’s mortified and never go back. Lol! When working with local coffee shops, do you provide your own display stands/holders?
We do not in Misa’s case. But if we had something in mind we would ask permission and partner together that would fit with the store’s vibe. Thank you!
@@EasySundayClub Thanks for your reply and help.
Thanks for the great content Cathy! We have researched and visited few cafes around the town but fell a bit scared to reach out since none of them had a consignment stand. Our product is a reed diffuser and I just assumed that it won't be a great fit for a coffee shop since we don't want to distract the coffee roasting scent with our fragrance lines. btw, how are you doing with Faire? We're live and active for 1 week and we're getting 1 order almost daily. It's the promotion period they offer for the new sellers and I think the sale will phase out after few weeks.
Hi, happy to hear you've started your local research. When I started with Ki she had a tiny shelf in the corner. Little did I know 3 years later she'd be selling my baby blankets haha, so you never know, one of the shop owners might be a reed diffuser aficionado. It does depend on how open minded the owner is though, and I've gotten my fair share of NOs.
Congrats on getting orders on Faire! I'm guessing it's because Faire is pushing new brands to retailers via email. I signed up as a retailer just to see the experience from the other side (the ease of me doing that makes me question how well they vet retailers but that's another discussion). They send a lot of promotional emails of brands "on sale" so I'm not sure how your products are pushed. I'd be curious what your sales volume is in a few months, but do hope this platform works out for you!
@@EasySundayClub yeah, Cathy. I'll keep you posted after a month. I hope there's no drastic changes but I am not going to stress too much as I'm at a baby step. I am spending most of my time looking for more marketplaces and building social media platforms. Thanks for the feedback!
@@songluther-atticuskim7677 sounds like a plan. Good luck and do share!
A local hairdresser in my town also sells people's art. If your town doesn't have a coffee or tea shop.
Great suggestion!!
Do you have a sample of the consignment agreement? The line sheet is for wholesale not consignment. I prefer to start doing consignment and want to approach a few shops but want to be prepared with an agreement. And provide a display with the cards.
Thanks for sharing this great information with us!
You’re welcome :)
Does the thought of selling your work to a local shop scare you? What else is stopping you from establishing retail presence for your products?
i realize Im quite off topic but does anyone know of a good place to stream new tv shows online?