Stuff we love……Stock My Store

Written by Julia Bickerstaff // July 11, 2014 // Daily Juice // No comments

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Now THIS is a clever idea! It’s a website that connects boutique wholesalers (maybe YOU?!) to retailers (maybe YOU?!) It’s called Stock My Store and isn’t it just fabulous?!

I had tea with Stock My Store co-founder Nicole McIver! Here’s what we talked about:

What does Stock my Store do?

In short. Connects Retailers & Wholesalers. Think of it as a trade show, but online.

Why did you start it?

Brands were approaching me all the time to work for them, I couldn’t take them all on. Trade shows are great, but they aren’t an option for some brands and stores. B2B advertising is not so easy to come by. There just needed to be an option that was online, 365 days a year, from any location in the world that provided a service similar to a trade show.

How hard is it for small businesses to get stocked by retailers?

Fairly hard, depending on how niche the product is. Sometimes you can never pick it what is going to take off and what will take its time. Retailers are doing it tough so they are usually only likely to take on a new brand if it has good pricing/profit margins, good images, good packaging, good marketing and good terms eg. Low minimum orders to give stores a chance to try out a new brand in their store

I’m just getting into wholesaling. Can you give me some tips for dealing with retailers?

Support them. Find out what they need. Eg. A brick & mortar store may really need a good point of sale unit and in store poster to sell your product. Or, an online store may need really good quality images of your product to put on their website. Find out what each stores needs are and build a relationship with the store. They need to know they can count on you, trust you and that you are thereto help their business succeed as well, not just your own.

What sort of payment terms do retailers expect?

Of course retailers want account terms. We all want time to pay off our bills. But on this issue I’m a fence sitter. Some retailers are excellent payers, some take a few calls & emails to finally get overdue payments, some you will never see the money again. Make sure as a wholesaler you have a good credit application form with references and personal details and perhaps do a few orders with a store first and then give them an account with a set credit limit and strict due date.

Have you got any tips on pricing for wholesale

In short retailers want to double their cost. So if you wholesale a hat for $10+GST, a store is going to ideally want the RRP to be around $22. Some higher priced items don’t always have this type of mark up and sometimes very cheap products have an even better mark up. For non GST registered wholesalers, keep in mind the stores you sell to are probably registered for GST so that comes out of their RRP, so make sure you still have your wholesale pricing set so they are still making an ideal profit margin.

Do I need to be a certain size to showcase on Stock My Store?

Not really. If you are a mum that makes a pretty hairs clips and sells at markets, you may not be ready to succeed in wholesale OR you may be sitting on the next big brand in hair clips. We are here to offer all the advice we can and help your brand grow, but it comes down to what the brand can put in, where they see themselves realistically in the future. Same goes for a huge established brand, if a massive brand in TV’s came to us, I don’t know if we would be the best place for them either. Our brands and stores are more “boutique”. Our brands will more so cater for medium size businesses.

As seen in Stock My Store!

Do I need to be an Australian business to showcase on Stock My Store?

No, at the moment its mostly Australian with a small amount of overseas brands and stores, but in the next 12 months we definitely want to have stores and brands worldwide using Stock My Store.

How long has Stock My Store been in business?

We launched on the 26th of May 2014, however many months of work went into planning and creating the complex website, but it was certainly worth the wait.

What has running a business taught you about yourself?!

How passionate I am. I am in love with my business and what I do. If I could do it for free I would. It has taught me though that I need to sometimes stop and focus this on my family & friends & myself as well, I pour so much time into my work that sometimes I forget that I have other loves too that need my attention.

What aspect of running your business do you find toughest?

Basically as above, learning when to stop. When to put the emails down and have a break.

What aspect of running your business do you like best?

The feedback. I am pretty proud of what we have accomplished but when someone else tells you how great it is what you are doing, there is nothing better.

What’s your best tip for getting stuff done?

Make a list and apply yourself to it.

What has most surprised you about running a business?

That it’s not a hobby. Its part of your life and becomes part of your life. Its like your other child.

How do you pick yourself up on a bad day?

Have the day off.

Who inspires you?

Future Husband #3, Sir Richard Branson. He speaks my language. I am sure a lot of business owners look up to him and love what he does and says, but I feel like it’s more than that, he literally says exactly what I think. If I could have one weekend away with him (with of course future husband #2 by my side to keep my on track!) to just talk business for 48hrs, that would be probably the one and only thing on my bucket list.

As seen in Stock My Store!

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

See above – To have the day off on a bad day.

A business book you’d recommend?

I’m ashamed to say I stopped reading books ages ago, it’s really bad. There are so many great books and articles out there and I just don’t make time for them. I do like to read Nett Magazine when I get it, can that count?

What’s your personal motto or favourite quote?

Richard Branson and everything he says. Told you. Obsessed.

A blog you like to read?

Okay another confession. I am new to reading blogs and blogging. Took me a while I know. So at the moment I am still trying to find the write ones for me and then make myself actually read them and appreciate them and learn from them.

Final Note….

A huge shoutout of love & appreciation to my business partner Simone. She is equally as invested and passionate about Stock My Store as I am. We have worked together for many years and are great friends and great co-owners and co-workers.