How To Get Into Lucky Stores
The story of this store is one that shows a little bit of luck and resilience. Lucky Stores is an American supermarket chain founded in 1935 in San Leandro, California by Charles Crouch. At inception, it was a subsidiary of American Stores. In its over eighty years of existence, the company has been bought and rebought by many parent companies. First in 1998, Lucky Stores parent company, American Stores, was taken over by Albertsons, and then by the next year the name “Lucky Stored” had vanished. Subsequently in January 2006, Albertsos was acquired by SuperValu, CVS Pharmacy and Cerberus Capital Management for $17.4 billion. The Albertsons stores were shared between SuperValu and Cerberus. Ceberus retained Albertson Stores as the name of its stores. Although subsequently it sold of its stores to Save Mart Supermarkets. All these happened in the same year, 2006.
It was in 2006 that the name Lucky Stores resurfaced when SuperValu and Save Mart Supermarkets began re-branding some Albertsons stores as Lucky Stores. However, the struggle of survival for the name “Lucky Stores” hadn’t ended. In the same year, another unrelated retailer from North Carolina named Grocery Outlet also began branding its stores as Lucky Stores. It claimed that since Albertsons retired the name in 1999 it could use it. The court in 2009 ruled against Grocery Outlet and the name Lucky Stores was here to stay for good. The brand is currently managed by Save Mart Companies which acts as her parent company.
The North Carolina divisions of the company was acquired by Save Mart Companies in 2007 and in 2015 it was branded “Lucky California”. Currently it has sixty-nine stores with nearly five thousand employees. Lucky California offers a blend of Bay Area culture, California sourced foods and a variety of meal solution at a competitive price.
If you are interested in partnering with Save Mart Companies, you can do so as a Supplier or as a Vendor. If your company offers products to The Save Mart Companies for resale, then you are considered a Supplier. A vendor on the other hand, provides goods and services to Save Mart that are not intended to be for resale to the general public.
To be vendor or a supplier, there are certain criteria to be met. One of such criteria is Insurance. Save Mart takes insurance very seriously and requires that all Vendors and Suppliers maintain appropriate insurance coverage as determined by Save Mart. Another criterion which they take very seriously is tax compliance. For both suppliers and vendors, a W-9 form is required to be signed with Company name same as that on the supplier or vendor Agreement form.
It appears the process of selection for both can be quite onerous and a jealously guarded secret. Thus, if you are interested in being either a Vendor or a Supplier, your best option is to log on to supplier savemart for more information or approach a Senior Category Manager at Save Mart for more clarifications.
How to get your product into Lucky Stores
- 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 Lucky Stores 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 Lucky Stores
There are several ways to get a product placed in Lucky Stores. 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 Lucky Stores, 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 Lucky Stores.
1. Start with the right questions.) Before you try distributing your product to Lucky Stores, 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 Lucky Stores would be interested in selling your product? If you can strike a deal with Lucky Stores, can you handle the production volume? Do you want to sell directly to Lucky Stores, 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 Lucky Stores? Can you sell your product at a reasonable enough profit to cover the packaging, shipping, commissions, marketing and wholesale distribution? Check Lucky Stores 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 Lucky Stores 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 Lucky Stores is the right store for your product.) The relationship between you and Lucky Stores starts with you browsing their store for competing products. If Lucky Stores already has a similar product, it is going to be very difficult to get your product picked up. Spend some time at your local Lucky Stores 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 Lucky Stores.
If your company is minority or women owned, check Lucky Stores website and see if they offer specific opportunities for those designations.
4. Pitch your product to Lucky Stores.) Decide whether it will be you or a representative to present your product to Lucky Stores. 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 Lucky Stores, 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 Lucky Stores. The percentage of commission verses, however generally a broker will take around 5% to represent your product to Lucky Stores.
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 Lucky Stores 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 Lucky Stores paperwork.) Often Lucky Stores will have you go through an application process. However, before submitting the paperwork required by Lucky Stores, you should contact a buyer at Lucky Stores 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 Lucky Stores 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, Lucky Stores 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 Lucky Stores, 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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