Industrial Marketing?
February 26, 2021 8:22 AM Subscribe
I have invented a thing to sell on the retail/consumer market (see link in my profile) but I don't want to be in the retail business. I want to sell large numbers to large companies who would then sell at retail. How?
It is a retail musical accessory for (mostly) guitarists. Let's call it the gWidget. I have a patent pending on the gWidget and have applied for a formal utility patent. I also have a trademark on the name. I have a website for the gWidget where it can be purchased for $19.95 (again, see link in my profile). I also have an Instagram account for it on which I've made a handful of posts. I have not done any advertising, e.g. on Google Ad Sense. The thing is, I don't want to be in the retail business. I want to sell a lot of gWidgets (10,000? more?) to large guitar manufacturers or musical accessories companies. So this is "industrial marketing". There is probably a better term for it. What kind of company does this sort of marketing? Who can I hire?
It is a retail musical accessory for (mostly) guitarists. Let's call it the gWidget. I have a patent pending on the gWidget and have applied for a formal utility patent. I also have a trademark on the name. I have a website for the gWidget where it can be purchased for $19.95 (again, see link in my profile). I also have an Instagram account for it on which I've made a handful of posts. I have not done any advertising, e.g. on Google Ad Sense. The thing is, I don't want to be in the retail business. I want to sell a lot of gWidgets (10,000? more?) to large guitar manufacturers or musical accessories companies. So this is "industrial marketing". There is probably a better term for it. What kind of company does this sort of marketing? Who can I hire?
Response by poster: To clarify an issue that bbqturtle touches on: I would be responsible for the manufacturing, i.e. someone would say We want 10,000 of these. Then I would do all the work getting them manufactured and deliver 10,000 gWidgets to this someone. I am in the U.S. but manufacturing and/or sales could be international.
"Consumer packaged goods broker" may be the term I was looking for.
posted by falsedmitri at 8:36 AM on February 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
"Consumer packaged goods broker" may be the term I was looking for.
posted by falsedmitri at 8:36 AM on February 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
You could do this through a distributor or a network of sales reps, depending on the situation. I've worked for a couple small business in the gift/personal care industry and it's common for companies like that to hire sales reps (typically groups, not individuals) and pay commission on wholesale sales to retailers. The manufacturer (you) then fulfills those orders (make and ship product). The key here is that you need a foot in the door at the retailer, and they're unlikely to find you randomly themselves. Sales reps do that legwork for you.
It's been a number of years since I was in that world, so the landscape may have changed.
posted by that's candlepin at 8:45 AM on February 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
It's been a number of years since I was in that world, so the landscape may have changed.
posted by that's candlepin at 8:45 AM on February 26, 2021 [2 favorites]
I agree that hiring a sales rep to go directly to the retailers is your best bet if you want to handle the manufacturing.
Existing vendors to those retailers are more likely to want to license your IP than to buy it from you. For one they can probably get it made much cheaper than you can due to their scale and existing relationships with their factories.
If you do want to go this route then there are companies that help inventors do that. Your other option would be to handle it yourself and contact someone at the guitar manufacturers (or whatever) to see if you can get a meeting. Someone in product development, marketing or sales is likely to be the person to talk to. I get contacted like this fairly regularly but to be frank it is rare that these ideas actually hold any interest for us.
posted by nolnacs at 9:22 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Existing vendors to those retailers are more likely to want to license your IP than to buy it from you. For one they can probably get it made much cheaper than you can due to their scale and existing relationships with their factories.
If you do want to go this route then there are companies that help inventors do that. Your other option would be to handle it yourself and contact someone at the guitar manufacturers (or whatever) to see if you can get a meeting. Someone in product development, marketing or sales is likely to be the person to talk to. I get contacted like this fairly regularly but to be frank it is rare that these ideas actually hold any interest for us.
posted by nolnacs at 9:22 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: >>Existing vendors to those retailers are more likely to want to license your IP than to buy it from you
I would prefer to handle the manufacturing myself for fear of losing control and it being manufactured unlicensed. This may not be realistic, but it is my preference. I do not have an international patent. I was debating whether to do that or not after I get the US patent (late summer 2021 I would expect)
posted by falsedmitri at 9:53 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
I would prefer to handle the manufacturing myself for fear of losing control and it being manufactured unlicensed. This may not be realistic, but it is my preference. I do not have an international patent. I was debating whether to do that or not after I get the US patent (late summer 2021 I would expect)
posted by falsedmitri at 9:53 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
large guitar manufacturers or musical accessories companies
Mmmm. I think in that situation it's more likely that someone like Dunlop or D'Addario would want to buy the product/patent rights off you and do all the manufacturing and sell it under their own brand name(s).
I want to sell large numbers to large companies who would then sell at retail.
I suspect (in the context of this kind of music accessory) what you're kind of looking for are "musical instrument sales and marketing rep/distributor" companies - like McFadden Sales (I have no association with them, it's just one of the first ones I found Googling.) These are basically "middle men" between manufacturers and retailers. They'll handle products from multiple manufacturers (McFadden list of companies they rep), and the business is territorial - i.e McFadden being based outside of Columbus will have a contract with Takamine Guitars that they sell in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky only, another rep company will sell Takamines in northern Ohio & western Pennsylvania, etc etc etc.
These kind of companies are not nearly as common as they used to be - lots of manufacturers have moved to dealing with retailers directly - but they do still exist. (Back in the age of dinosaurs I worked in a musical instrument retail store, we got multiple monthly visits from various rep companies, and in my current gig as an end user of music stuff we get a few visits a year from a couple of reps that have exclusive contracts for some brands for my area.) AFAIK you would be the one responsible for arranging manufacturing & retail packaging, and also any sort of "to the public" advertising - ads in Guitar Player magazine & on PremierGuitar.com & etc. - they're responsible for convincing retailers to carry your product & taking orders for same.
I dunno, in a lot of ways I think what you're looking for may not really exist in the music accessory market? At least, not as basically a startup company. Orders of 10k pieces at once from one company sounds more like the realm of Guitar Center ordering from Dunlop, which is obviously not the position you're in at the moment. Because territories, none of these independent rep companies will themselves order 10,000 pieces at once; what it is is that you'll have contracts with a dozen rep companies and each of them will order 50 at a time because this store in Kentucky wants 10 and this store in Indiana wants 5 and so on. I also suspect that there's a bunch of drop shipping involved - the rep companies take the orders, but you ship it directly to the retailer. Which means basically that you get 10k made in whatever factory and then warehouse & ship it yourself as orders come in from your rep companies.
In any case, I think you should really plan (and budget) for taking a booth at the biannual NAMM shows. (National Association of Music Merchants trade shows.) I've never been myself, but they are HUGE, manufacturers of all sizes have booths there, I know the sales rep companies send people there to scope out new products, and from being interested in guitar stuff myself this is a BIG part of how small companies find distributors and get some media attention. (I'm pretty confident in saying that a lot of "boutique" small effect pedal companies got big boosts in attention and sales from getting a write-up or bit in a video of "Check out this cool new stuff at NAMM!" from some of the major guitar magazines & websites.)
posted by soundguy99 at 10:15 AM on February 26, 2021 [8 favorites]
Mmmm. I think in that situation it's more likely that someone like Dunlop or D'Addario would want to buy the product/patent rights off you and do all the manufacturing and sell it under their own brand name(s).
I want to sell large numbers to large companies who would then sell at retail.
I suspect (in the context of this kind of music accessory) what you're kind of looking for are "musical instrument sales and marketing rep/distributor" companies - like McFadden Sales (I have no association with them, it's just one of the first ones I found Googling.) These are basically "middle men" between manufacturers and retailers. They'll handle products from multiple manufacturers (McFadden list of companies they rep), and the business is territorial - i.e McFadden being based outside of Columbus will have a contract with Takamine Guitars that they sell in southern Ohio and northern Kentucky only, another rep company will sell Takamines in northern Ohio & western Pennsylvania, etc etc etc.
These kind of companies are not nearly as common as they used to be - lots of manufacturers have moved to dealing with retailers directly - but they do still exist. (Back in the age of dinosaurs I worked in a musical instrument retail store, we got multiple monthly visits from various rep companies, and in my current gig as an end user of music stuff we get a few visits a year from a couple of reps that have exclusive contracts for some brands for my area.) AFAIK you would be the one responsible for arranging manufacturing & retail packaging, and also any sort of "to the public" advertising - ads in Guitar Player magazine & on PremierGuitar.com & etc. - they're responsible for convincing retailers to carry your product & taking orders for same.
I dunno, in a lot of ways I think what you're looking for may not really exist in the music accessory market? At least, not as basically a startup company. Orders of 10k pieces at once from one company sounds more like the realm of Guitar Center ordering from Dunlop, which is obviously not the position you're in at the moment. Because territories, none of these independent rep companies will themselves order 10,000 pieces at once; what it is is that you'll have contracts with a dozen rep companies and each of them will order 50 at a time because this store in Kentucky wants 10 and this store in Indiana wants 5 and so on. I also suspect that there's a bunch of drop shipping involved - the rep companies take the orders, but you ship it directly to the retailer. Which means basically that you get 10k made in whatever factory and then warehouse & ship it yourself as orders come in from your rep companies.
In any case, I think you should really plan (and budget) for taking a booth at the biannual NAMM shows. (National Association of Music Merchants trade shows.) I've never been myself, but they are HUGE, manufacturers of all sizes have booths there, I know the sales rep companies send people there to scope out new products, and from being interested in guitar stuff myself this is a BIG part of how small companies find distributors and get some media attention. (I'm pretty confident in saying that a lot of "boutique" small effect pedal companies got big boosts in attention and sales from getting a write-up or bit in a video of "Check out this cool new stuff at NAMM!" from some of the major guitar magazines & websites.)
posted by soundguy99 at 10:15 AM on February 26, 2021 [8 favorites]
I would prefer to handle the manufacturing myself for fear of losing control and it being manufactured unlicensed.
If a company is unscrupulous enough to do that they are likely to copy your item without bothering to do a licensing agreement. Really your only protection is the patent and the fact that most US businesses do not screw their partners because of the reputational damage that it does.
As an aside feel free to memail if you have any questions on product development, retail or patents. I deal with the big boxes rather than music stores but have been working in consumer goods for over a decade.
posted by nolnacs at 11:50 AM on February 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
If a company is unscrupulous enough to do that they are likely to copy your item without bothering to do a licensing agreement. Really your only protection is the patent and the fact that most US businesses do not screw their partners because of the reputational damage that it does.
As an aside feel free to memail if you have any questions on product development, retail or patents. I deal with the big boxes rather than music stores but have been working in consumer goods for over a decade.
posted by nolnacs at 11:50 AM on February 26, 2021 [4 favorites]
Agree with soundguy99 - you need a marketing/distribution rep, and 10,000pcs orders of a unique accessory , are likely not going to happen. Which means, you’ll need to manage or source the warehousing, shipping and billing for many orders, or have a distribution company do this.
posted by walkinginsunshine at 11:50 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by walkinginsunshine at 11:50 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]
If your product is ONLY sellable to instrument players, it's a small market indeed.
posted by kschang at 12:57 PM on February 26, 2021
posted by kschang at 12:57 PM on February 26, 2021
I had a similar niche product some years ago and got a lot out of This Book.
For a plastic thing like this, getting a mold made is the expensive part and all of that happens up-front, so you have to invest a lot before you get any sense of how many you can sell. It's also pretty niche and kinda small so I imagine it might be hard for it to stand out inside of a big box retailer who is not likely gonna be incentivized to merchandise this super useful thing relative to the stuff they have from bigger companies/stuff they make higher margins on.
The ones you have for sale on your site now- are they 3D printed? If this workflow for printing and shipping them is sustainable you might want to try seeding your existing link to various guitar enthusiast forums and seeing what kind of uptake you get. You could also maybe use a platform like Shapeways to 3D print and manage the fulfillment. This is a product that this is a useful product that people will discover via word of mouth, and I would also try to send some to people who make great guitar content on youtube/instagram/tiktok.
Otherwise, I would go through guitar center and look at what companies are selling injection molded parts like this, and niche instrument accessories. That is the type of company that could be a good licensee and/or distributor.
Also shoutout to the great advice from SoundGuy99 and Nolnacs above.
posted by wowenthusiast at 7:30 PM on February 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
For a plastic thing like this, getting a mold made is the expensive part and all of that happens up-front, so you have to invest a lot before you get any sense of how many you can sell. It's also pretty niche and kinda small so I imagine it might be hard for it to stand out inside of a big box retailer who is not likely gonna be incentivized to merchandise this super useful thing relative to the stuff they have from bigger companies/stuff they make higher margins on.
The ones you have for sale on your site now- are they 3D printed? If this workflow for printing and shipping them is sustainable you might want to try seeding your existing link to various guitar enthusiast forums and seeing what kind of uptake you get. You could also maybe use a platform like Shapeways to 3D print and manage the fulfillment. This is a product that this is a useful product that people will discover via word of mouth, and I would also try to send some to people who make great guitar content on youtube/instagram/tiktok.
Otherwise, I would go through guitar center and look at what companies are selling injection molded parts like this, and niche instrument accessories. That is the type of company that could be a good licensee and/or distributor.
Also shoutout to the great advice from SoundGuy99 and Nolnacs above.
posted by wowenthusiast at 7:30 PM on February 26, 2021 [3 favorites]
I do not have an international patent. I was debating whether to do that or not after I get the US patent (late summer 2021 I would expect)
IAAPA but IANYPA. Call your patent attorney immediately if you want but haven't applied for international patent protection. Given that you've already filed in the US, it may be too late to file another application. Or did you already file a PCT application at the same time you filed in the US? You need someone to review the situation ASAP.
posted by JimN2TAW at 12:37 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
IAAPA but IANYPA. Call your patent attorney immediately if you want but haven't applied for international patent protection. Given that you've already filed in the US, it may be too late to file another application. Or did you already file a PCT application at the same time you filed in the US? You need someone to review the situation ASAP.
posted by JimN2TAW at 12:37 PM on February 28, 2021 [2 favorites]
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You probably would find it difficult to partner with manufacturers, as they have their own products to sell. Usually manufacturers deal directly with other manufacturers for partnerships like that, not with an intermediatory. Unless you need them to produce your product. In which case, that is called contract manufacturing, and there do exist consultants for this, especially for getting things made in China which is incredibly cheap, but also incredibly risky.
posted by bbqturtle at 8:28 AM on February 26, 2021 [1 favorite]