Sale of products for babies and children.

Many inventors come up with ideas for babies and toddlers, whether they are toys, clothes, or other products. While selling to Toy-R-Us or other major retailers can be difficult, the baby/toddler market has many small retailers and the industry is fairly inventor-friendly, with a well-attended trade show, several key trade magazines and a good established network of manufacturer representatives. Inventors with strong products can usually set up a network of reps to launch their products without too much trouble.

ABC Children’s Exhibition

Every inventor’s starting point should be the ABC Kids Expo. This show has sections for toys and games, clothing, furniture and, of greater interest to inventors, a special section for Mompreneurs (entrepreneurial mothers). I usually recommend that inventors attend this fair before presenting their own products. At the fair, inventors can:

1. See how products are displayed and priced.

2. Meet other inventors who have recently introduced products and get tips from them on how to find reps and introduce products.

3. You may find another inventor who is willing to partner in a joint marketing effort to cut costs.

4. Meet with representatives who might be willing to sell the product. You can meet reps just by going to different booths and taking vendor cards, many will be reps, just talking to people at lunch and break tables, going to a hotel bar in the evening and networking with the people.

Use trade magazines

The industry has two main trade magazines, Baby Shop Magazine, which includes maternity products, and Playthings, which focuses on toys. Trade magazines often have information on reps, but their most important aspect is the new product sections. These sections allow you to submit brochures from a wide variety of companies with complementary products. Often the literature will come with the names of representatives who are in your local area. You can meet with those reps, and if they like your product, they will often give you advice on how to move forward.

sell locally

One of the great benefits of the toddler market is that almost every major city has several small shops where inventors can start their product. Inventors will find it easier to build a network of representatives to sell their product nationally if they can first demonstrate that the product will be sold in their local stores. You need to be pretty aggressive in marketing to local stores and keep your momentum going if you want to get sales reps interested. You can offer products on consignment, where stores only pay for the product if they sell, offer products on a guaranteed basis, where you agree to pick up unsold products and give a full refund. You can also give out coupons, hold demonstrations, and arrange to run stories in local newspapers to build sales momentum.

Develop a list of manufacturing sales agents

Most of the activities I’ve listed to date are to help you build a list of reps you can approach to sell your product. Only one in 20 reps may sign up to sell your product, so you need a large list to get started. Trade shows and trade magazines will help, in some cases you can also check out local gift markets, visit http://www.giftmarts.com. Often some of the representatives within the markets will also carry children’s gifts and other children’s products. You can also purchase a list of representatives here.

Offer of property to well-established representatives

One of the reasons you want to meet with local reps is that you might want to offer a portion of your product to a rep who will take over the sales of your product. This is highly recommended for inventors with no sales and marketing experience. The rep will know the promotional and advertising strategy, which trade shows to attend, plus they will have strong contacts with select retailers as well as reps across the country that they have worked with on other products. An ownership position of 10-25% will attract a good rep if they like the product.

JPMA Security Product Certification

In some cases, when your product has moving parts, you may want to consider getting a safety certificate from the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association. The safety certificate will help you at many retailers and will be an advantage if retailers require you to carry product liability insurance.

Attract and Register Sales Representatives

From the moment you start thinking about presenting your product, you should start thinking about the package of materials that you will send to reps. Get lots of photos of your product use, testimonials, and evidence of the product being sold in local stores. Work with a local representative to explain the promotional programs, sales discounts, and shipping terms that will be included. Once you have your list of reps, start mailing packages to 10 or 20 reps at a time. Follow up with some of the reps you haven’t heard from to find out what they didn’t like about your offer to see if it could be improved.

You can get local help in developing a manufacturer representation agreement and making sure you have all the paperwork to start a business in order from your local SBDC or SCORE.