Private Label Question, I need an answer fast.

by Jay
(Miami Fla)

Good Evening Fellow Inventors.

We share a passion!! I have a product that a small distributor wants to purchase and sell to their accounts. Sounds nice enough. But they want to place their company name on package instead of mine.

Is this normal? Why or why not?

Thank you.

Jay.

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Aug 25, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		thank you
by: Jay

Hi John,

Thanks again for your opinion. I'll keep in touch with the progress.
Aug 25, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		Distributor
by: John

Hi Jay,

If the potential market is limited to the distribution that can be reached by this distributor then you are correct if you choose to take this option.

If there are other retails you could focus your sales efforts on those options. Let the distributor handle the accounts they service.

Having a company that wants to purchase your product is a positive thing. Distribution is the toughest thing to achieve as an upstart.

For example, you could choose to give this distributor an exclusive on the accounts they service. You could then focus on other retail outlets. You may look at catalog sales, Amazon, discount (Harbor Freight) etc.

If you are selling at a profit, I would take the sales with the distributor unless you have better options.
Aug 24, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		original poster of question
by: jay

Hi John.

Thank you for your opinion. My product can't be done with less features than it is now. I know what you mean though but that option wouldn't apply unfortunately.
I have no other distributor interested and I'm stumped as to what I should do.

If they are the only distributor with there name on package wouldn't that hurt me if someone wanted to carry the item it goes through them so I have no control. Plus even if I consent to any offers I'm always promoting their company.
What do you think please?
Aug 22, 2014
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starstarstarstarstar 		Private Label
by: John

Great question Jay. Congratulations, it is exciting when a distributor wants to carry your product.

This company wants to private label your product. This is very common and done by the majority of retailers with at least some of their product offerings.

Home Depot has the HDX line.
Toys R Us has AirZone, a Nerf competitor.
Grocery and Drug stores all have their store brands.
There are thousands of other examples.

One way that you can prevent this distributor from competing directly with your own brand is to make their product offering a little bit different than your standard brand. Strip their product down some, reduce the features or accessories. You could change the color or the styling.

As long as sales from this distributor do not negatively affect your core brand and YOUR product sales, it should be a positive.

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