How to Get Product into Laura Canada
This is a Canadian fashion designer and retailer with amazing styles for women. The retailer produces outfit for women within the age bracket of 30 – 45.
Laura’s Shoppe Inc. is a Canadian women’s wear boutique chain founded in 1930 by Laura Wolstein, the first Laura store was located on St. Hubert Street, Montreal and later moved to Verdun Avenue in Verdun, a suburb of Montreal.
Laura Canada filled for creditor protection in 2015 as it had liabilities of more than $20 million. Though the retailer has since bounced back into the marketplace, it has had to face bigger competitors such as H&M and Zara. According to a news report, it was stated that: H&M and Zara have unrivaled supply chains, making it difficult for Canadian retailers to compete without squeezing profit margins.
According to the retailer, “Our carefully curated collections are featured in Laura and Melanie Lyne stores from sea-to-sea throughout nine Canadian provinces, from Victoria, British Columbia to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to the bustling downtown cores of Toronto and Montreal. The website laura.ca launched in 2012, and melanielyne.com followed two years later in 2014, making Laura Wolstein’s empowering, original vision of the do-everything woman accessible to every woman in the comfort of her own home.”
The rich history of Laura Canada has helped it to study the fashion industry for decades. The retailer has been in the industry before women had voting rights in Canada. It has helped Canadian women define their appearance over the years. Generational retailing saw women and their daughters and granddaughters shopping at Laura Canada.
With focus on the workplace dress, outdoor wear, bridal dress, and other women clothes, Laura Canada presents class and style to its customers.
This is a fashion products retailer with affordably-priced products. There is always a unique style on display. Fashion trends change and a new style might trigger this. This is why you have to be unique.
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.
This fashion product retailer 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 Laura Canada 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.
How to get your product into Laura Canada
- 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 Laura Canada 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 Laura Canada
There are several ways to get a product placed in Laura Canada. 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 Laura Canada, 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 Laura Canada.
1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to Laura Canada, 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 Laura Canada would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with Laura Canada, can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to Laura Canada, or do you want to license your product to a manufacturer that will handle distribution?
2. Be prepared to profit.) Does your product offer enough of a profit margin for Laura Canada? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check Laura Canada 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 Laura Canada 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 Laura Canada is the right store for your product.) The relationship between you and Laura Canada starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If Laura Canada already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local Laura Canada 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 Laura Canada.
If your company is minority or women owned, check Laura Canada and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.
4. Pitch your product to Laura Canada) Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to Laura Canada. 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 Laura Canada, 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 Laura Canada. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product to Laura Canada.
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 Laura Canada 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 Laura Canada paperwork.) Often Laura Canada will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by Laura Canada, you should contact a buyer at Laura Canada 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 Laura Canada 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, Laura Canada 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 Laura Canada, 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.
Submit Your Product Now
(est. time 3 minutes)