[Music]
hey everyone this is karen waxman
founder of retail mba today we're going
to be talking about becoming a costco
wholesale vendor how to sell your
products to costco wholesale stores so
if you have a great consumer product
brand and you go to costco and you just
really want your product in there this
little training will give you some tips
and strategies and things to think about
on how to get started today
before we begin please like subscribe
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you we create tons and tons of training
videos to support people and actualizing
their dreams of making money with
consumer products and we have free
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everything related to selling your
products to retailers like costco uh so
click on the links below to learn more
okay so let's talk about costco
wholesale uh basically one order from
them can mean so many millions of
dollars to your business and your bottom
line obviously
that's important if you are a consumer
product brand and a lot of people want
to sell to them the problem with costco
is that they buy buy the pallet
and that just means volume right but
when you put a product into a palette it
means that your packaging needs to be
able to withstand that
so costco requires very specific types
of packaging that is very durable very
strong if you've ever been to a costco
and you try to open up the packaging you
tell right it takes 15 minutes to open
up the thing uh it's because they are
buying products in bulk
putting it there on literally a pallet
and are like you know go to town for a
great deal right so um i actually did a
live event with costco where we
partnered with costco um and
um i learned so much from
the buyers who we partnered with and
really i mean their biggest concern is
uh number one that your packaging will
be able to be
okay for costco
and again
that's very particular to that chain
store
also
that you are not a completely a startup
um because
they buy so much quantity if something
happens they don't want to take your
business under so it doesn't happen with
all of the uh like every aspect of
costco but if you're going to try and
sell them on a national level they are
going to be a little bit concerned about
what who you've sold before and so forth
so that's something else to consider
with costco
they actually really care about your
past improvement sales why because again
they don't want to take small companies
under however they do have something uh
called those uh those cost code tours
have you ever gone to costco on a
weekend and somebody's standing in front
of their products and you know they're
selling you their goods um they actually
have these tours where um you know
startups and companies can go and stand
in a little in their little area and
sell their products um
and uh the reason why that's interesting
is because a lot of new brands start
that way and so if you're willing to uh
literally on a whole weekend you're
standing there
morning through night uh trying to sell
your products um that is a possibility
for you and or hire somebody to do that
uh they're called road shows and so uh
the reason i mention that is that is a
little bit easier in regards to a new
product because they're willing to test
and then expand from there it doesn't
mean you can't sell the costco wholesale
uh you know if you're a newbie but it's
it's a lot harder they reject you a lot
more because they do care about not
taking you under um and also they're
buying so much quantity if you're really
just getting started you know you need
your manufacturing in place they can't
mess around and so forth um costco is
interesting in that the actual business
model is that they don't make as much
money on a per unit basis of a product
they actually make a lot of money on
their memberships if you actually did
research on costco
they basically take a lot of a wash on
each product but they actually make it
up on their monthly dues so if you
become a costco wholesale member then
you can shop there and so that's
actually where a lot of their money
comes from so um they're really looking
for special deals and so um that's
something to think about as well so your
pricing needs to be very epic for costco
but also because um you know they want
people to buy impulse buys products that
they would buy on the spot um obviously
a lot of businesses go there to shop buy
bulk products and stuff a lot of
families
are starting you know have been going
there um because they're looking for
bulk products and so forth uh when there
is book they expect uh discounts and so
that's another thing to consider the
bottom line is is that costco has these
massive stores um they don't make as
much money on a per unit basis they're
going to hit you hard with price they're
going to
really uh give you trouble with the
packaging which is more expensive than
what you're typically
used to because you have to create this
really thick packaging um and
you know there's a lot more criteria but
if you can get in the door with costco
they are
one of those retailers that you are
super stoked on because imagine being
able to palette after palette after
palette for every different store oh one
more thing the road show thing that i
mentioned before i've had customers who
made millions of dollars through those
road shows jewelry accessories and so
forth costco road shows
forgot to mention the reason you want to
do a road show where you're sitting in
front of your product all weekend
is because i think that's something
astronomical where like a hundred
thousand or a couple hundred thousand
people visit a costco store an
individual store over a weekend so
uh that's a lot of eyeballs and a lot of
opportunity and again um if you can set
it up right it could be great you can do
a google search for costco uh road shows
we'll be creating some training around
that but uh something to think about um
and again i've had clients who made many
millions of dollars on those road shows
so don't discount it just because it
sounds annoying
because it can be a great opportunity
for you anyways if you want to learn how
to approach pitch and sell in detail how
to sell a costco please take a look at
the links below we actually have a free
webinar on how to sell these types of
retailers uh amazing content would love
to support you we do events with
retailers uh we have do-it-yourself
programs done for you programs all of
that information is listed below this is
karen waxman retail mba i cannot wait to
support you with selling the chain
stores um for the last 12 years i've
personally taught over 100 000 people
and how to sell products to stores and i
partnered with most the major retailers
and i love what i do anyways like
subscribe join us keep in touch karen
waxman retelling me i appreciate you
thank you
you