hey everyone this is Karen Waxman
founder of retail MBA and today I want
to talk about getting your products sold
at the Home Depot now the reason I
decided to create this particular
segment is because I teach thousands of
product companies across the country on
the subject of selling to retailers and
one of the questions that comes up all
the time is how do I get my products
into a retailer such as Home Depot and
so I really wanted to take a minute to
give you some value and to support you
and your quest of getting your products
in the stores so let's talk about the
Home Depot well first of all you know
the reason people are interested in that
store is because you know they have over
2,000 stores that they're responsible
for so this is a retailer that has
tremendous buying power and you
obviously want to get you know your
product in front of that many people
especially if you have you know a
hardware product or you know a garden
product or you know whatever related to
kind of home improvement type products
people want to sell to Home Depot so
let's talk about one thing that I can
give you a suggestion to support you in
your quest of getting to that store now
what happens with a retailer such as
Home Depot is that they typically have a
corporate buying office where one buyer
buys products for that particular
retailer so you know for instance if you
have I don't know like a home
improvement tool or something like that
you can find a buyer that would buy that
product for all of the home depot stores
so there's usually one corporate buyer
who buys for that particular for all of
their stores but Home Depot is a little
bit different they also have the ability
to buy on a local level now this is
really interesting for some of you who
are just getting started and are maybe
having some challenges getting into the
big stores and also for those of you who
are reaching out to these retailers and
maybe you're having some challenges
working with you know Home Depot can
really make a big difference for you and
if you're getting stuck somewhere this
strategy can really support you so Home
Depot has kind of evolved into allowing
store managers to buy products on a
local level so what that means for you
is that you could conceivably sell your
product to just one Home Depot store and
not all tooth
thousand of them so again why is that
interesting to you well if you have a
product and you don't necessarily have
the financial means to go after a major
retailer such as the Home Depot right
now because you're worried about the
volume that they're gonna be handling
and so forth you know if if a retailer
has a local buying program that means
that you could conceivably just sell to
one particular store and that means that
although you know they buy a smaller
quantity which could be great for you
depending on your product and where
you're at in the process especially for
a small company so you know that's
awesome but the other thing is is that
you can tell people hey I've sold into
Home Depot but I sell on a local you
know it but you personally know that you
selling this product on a local level so
essentially what it really means is that
if you are trying to get at a home depot
and you can't get you know in front of
the corporate buying office to actually
sell that product to them consider
reaching out to the store manager at
your local Home Depot and letting them
know about your product just sincerely
go bring your product with you drive
your car to a Home Depot talk to the
local store manager and say hey do you
have a local buying program for this
particular Home Depot and a lot of times
they'll say yes and then you can work
accordingly to try and get your product
in that particular store again it's just
a really great way to get started with a
new product and you know to support
yourself but while having you know this
big brand name of having people know
that you sold in the Home Depot
but not maybe you know selling to all of
their stores you could start out small
and the cool thing is is if you do well
with that Home Depot product you know at
that particular store you could go and
drive to other Home Depot's sell to
those stores and then ultimately build
your brand that way show proof of sales
and then I guarantee at that point if it
does well you can actually sell to Home
Depot corporate and really grow your
brand so this is supportive in so many
ways especially for a small company or
just a company who's really just trying
to grow their business anyways there's
so many other things to know about salon
and Home Depot so if you're interested
in learning more please take a look at
the the link below my website is retail
and b.com essentially we have a training
program that supports people on
how exactly to get into a retailer such
as Home Depot so if you want to learn
more please take a look at our training
program because we're there to support
you anyways this is Karen Waxman with
retail MBA please also take a look at
additional training series that were
we're continuing on about different
retailers and some additional
information to support you thank you so
much