Information on Bargain Hunt
Founded in 2004, Bargain Hunt, formerly Essex Bargain Hunt, is an American Discount store chain. Bargain Hunt is headquartered in La Vergne, Tennessee with retail locations in Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Arkansas.
The stores sell name brands at a discount of 30% to 70% on regular prices and plays in the extreme value retail space. The store also utilizes a discounting program that drops the prices on items by specific percentages depending on the time they have been on shelves. The company will eventually discount its merchandise on a 30, 60, and 90 day cycle (30 days gets 30% off, 60 days gets 60% off, etc.)
Bargain Hunt sells products such as electronics, movies and music, furniture, home improvement, clothing, footwear, jewelry, toys, health and beauty, pet supplies, sporting goods and fitness.
According to the retailer, “Bargain Hunt is an extreme value retail chain where our customers buy quality name-brand merchandise 30-90% below normal retail prices. We specialize in buying excess products from the nation’s largest retailers and manufacturers to provide our customers with a constantly changing assortment of goods at deep discounts. Expect to find amazing savings on clothing, home goods and domestics, baby, toys, electronics, sporting goods, indoor and outdoor furniture, and seasonal items.”
Customers are different and they have their peculiarities and these need to be addressed differently. Each customer has to be connected to separately. This means, the supermarkets try to address the needs and interests of individual customers. This is by offering local, international, and metropolitan products. Thus, as a vendor, you should be looking at getting varieties to the retailer.
Bargain Hunt places its strong point in the market on three things: price, customer service, and topmost quality. To achieve price, the retailer must get the products at affordable prices from the suppliers. Customer service is with the company. The last part is topmost quality. This is also a point with the supplier. The retailer would sell what the supplier supplies. Thus, to maintain the standard, the products must be of topmost quality.
As a vendor, you need a unique selling point. This is what strikes you different from other vendors. Your offerings are seen differently when you have uniqueness to your market offerings. If you don’t have one at the moment, look at what you offer in products and services and see how you can make it better. It could be a payment service, or the large varieties you present, or the extra-special freshness of what you offer. Just do something differently.
Bargain Hunt has a reputable brand and its retail offerings are quite large. It sells thousands of products and can be a profitable retail outlet. If your products are quite popular in the local market, it will be easy for you to easily pitch to this retailer. You have to bring your product to top quality to help you with the pitch of the product. More, you have to ensure that your products conform to regulatory standards.
Submit Your Product to Bargain Hunt Foods
Skip the cold outreach. Mr. Checkout presents products to corporate chain buyers and also works a network of thousands of independent retailers that build real reorder proof. Tell us about your product below and a real person will read it.
Become A Bargain Hunt Supplier
The journey into Bargain Hunt begins by exploring their vendor options located on the home page footer under Vendor Information.
How to get your product into Bargain Hunt
- Understand you client: Before you spend a lot of time and money creating a product, you should know if anyone will want to buy it. Learn more about Market Research
- Learn if it’s protectable: Know if you can defend your product against cheap copies if it gets knocked off. Learn more about Copyright and Patent your product
- Test your product: Make sure that there’s a demand for your product and the customer understands what you are selling when it’s on the shelf and nobody is there to explain it. Learn more about Product Testing
- Perfect your pitch: Before you speak to decision makers, know your numbers, know your retailer and know your logistics in and out. Learn more about Pitching Your Product
- Don’t do it alone: If you haven’t been successful in retail before, a secret of success is that you can’t do it alone. Having great sales staff, customer support and marketing partners can take you from zero to success faster than if you tried on your own. Learn more about Retail Partnerships
Contact Bargain Hunt Buyer
Do not trust any “list” of buyers.
Typically retail buyers change either companies or positions every few years. This strategy helps retailers know that their buyers are not taking “kick-backs” and are selecting the very best product for the very best position each time.
Buyers are typically held to a very rigorous standard of sell-through volume that they must hit and because of this they are risk averse. Your job as a supplier or vendor is to convince them that the buyers going into the stores not only know about what you’re selling but are actively seeking the product in the store currently.
How to Submit a Product to Bargain Hunt
There are several ways to get a product placed in Bargain Hunt. However, most entrepreneurs only dream about getting their product distributed to major retailers, few actually do it. We have experienced a significant rise in interest since the show Shark Tank started airing on NBC. Mr. Checkout has had the pleasure of working with a few Shark Tank success stories such as KISStixx and 180 Party Cups which are now currently being distributed around the country to stores like Walmart, Target, Kroger, 7-Eleven and more.
If you envision your product would be a good fit for Bargain Hunt, we have a few steps to help you get your product on their shelves.
Here are the 6 steps you need to take to have your product placed in Bargain Hunt.
1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to Bargain Hunt, you need to ask yourself a few basic questions. Do you need to build demand for your product, or is there already a demand for it? Do you know that Bargain Hunt would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with Bargain Hunt can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to Bargain Hunt, or do you want to license your product to a manufacturer that will handle Bargain Hunt?
2. Be prepared to profit.) Does your product offer enough of a profit margin for Bargain Hunt? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check Bargain Hunt guidelines for other fees that you will have to build into the cost of your product in order for you to be able to turn enough of a profit to make the effort worth your while. If you work with a discount retailer, they will try to strip your profits down to zero in order to keep their prices as low as possible.
The typical breakdown of margins are: If a products costs $1 to produce, that product will retail for $4. That product that retails for $4 will wholesale for $2 to distributors and stores that purchase direct. Big box retailers like Bargain Hunt may offer to pay $1.25 to the manufacturer if the product costs $1 to produce. That is the typical profit margin.
3. Determine if Bargain Hunt is the right store for your product.) The relationship between you and Bargain Hunt starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If Bargain Hunt already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local Bargain Hunt to see what kind of products they are selling, speak to the manager and see if he thinks your product will sell well in their store. Picture in which zone your product would best fit on the shelf and keep in mind that the most precious asset that these big box stores value are their shelf space. Keep this information in mind when you are preparing your presentation to Bargain Hunt.
If your company is minority or women owned, check Bargain Hunt and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.
4. Pitch your product to Bargain Hunt) Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to Bargain Hunt. Your presentation depends heavily on your strengths as a businessperson as they will most likely ask financial questions and logistics questions.
It’s common for companies to hire a broker to pitch their product to Bargain Hunt, as it will be more likely that your product will make it to the next stage if the individual pitching your product has industry knowledge or a personal relationship with Bargain Hunt. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product to Bargain Hunt.
We at Mr. Checkout have experience dealing with brokers and know that there are several retail brokers that have poor business practices that can potentially damage your brand. If you are seeking a legitimate Bargain Hunt broker, please give us a call for a recommendation. It could save you a huge headache and a lot of money.
5. Complete the required Bargain Hunt paperwork.) Often Bargain Hunt will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by Bargain Hunt, you should contact a buyer at Bargain Hunt and let them know your intentions. Having a contact inside of the company will potentially move your application more smoothly through the process.
6. Anticipate the need for increased volume.) Having Bargain Hunt agree to stock your product will most likely mean a significant increase in volume. You should be prepared to ramp up your production and informing your manufacturer of this opportunity.
Having production, logistics and distribution to sync is not only difficult, it requires a significant amount of time invested in customer relations. Also, Bargain Hunt may have stipulations in the contract that may penalize you for delays in shipping and production. Have an attorney explain all contracts to you if you don’t understand the terms.
If you’re looking to sell your product to Bargain Hunt, be sure to thoroughly assess the marketplace, carefully prepare for production growth, and take full advantage of resources available to help you grow your business.
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