How can I score some green goods?

December 17, 2006 4:33 PM

Where do sites like ThinkGeek get their expansive inventory, and how can I do the same?

Does ThinkGeek have buyers, or do they just scour the web for cool geeky gadgets and strike up a deal with the manufacturer? A friend and I would like to start a similar online niche shop, but target it more towards green (eco-friendly) gifts and gadgets, rather than geeky ones (although I imagine there will be a lot of overlap). Any suggestions, tips, or pointers on how we can go about getting said items?

posted by (bb|[^b]{2}) to shopping (9 comments total)

ThinkGeek may have a sales & marketing division, which would specifically deal with shipping outlets while following various leads. A number of online outlets, however, have a "Don't see it? Ask for it!" policy. By requesting unusual wish lists from customers, the store might get lucky and discover offbeat distribution outlets, or at least manufacturers seeking new vendors.

Trade shows, if you and your friend can afford to attend them, can provide invalueable insights. If you're on a more modest budget, tracking RSS feeds from tech blogs and following the hyperlinks would be your most obvious route.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:59 PM on December 17, 2006

thinkgeek has buyers. If you look at their About Us page, and click on the individual pictures, you can get a feel for who buys what.

As far as where they get them, ... that's the secret of buyers. Trade shows, extensive googling, tons of emails every day offering their gadgets and whatnot... partnerships with suppliers that introduce them to new products as they're made available, the list goes on. Buying isn't necessarily something you have to have a degree to do (although I do have one).

I suspect that a significant percentage of thinkgeek's inventory is drop-shipped via parternships with suppliers. For instance, I can't imagine them maintaining a warehouse full of Bawls... that I would suspect is drop-shipped from a local distributor to your doorstep to minimize freight charges. The supplier serves as a supplier and a shipping point for many companies, and would keep ThinkGeek from having to maintain a warehouse, inventory, etc. on big-ticket items.
posted by SpecialK at 5:05 PM on December 17, 2006

I doubt they carry a significant inventory. We live in a just-in-time on-demand world. They might carry a small buffer for popular items.
posted by clord at 8:16 PM on December 17, 2006

clord - My bet is actually that they carry all of their t-shirts in stock, because by the nature of the manufacture type it's necessary to make them in batch lots for both popular and unpopular styles.

Books would probably be shipped on a 'just in time' basis from a book wholesaler in order to fulfill your order. High-end electronics are in a similar boat -- they probably just get a commission for selling them, and electronically relay the order to a fulfillment house in Ohio or somewhere.

It's worth noting that ThinkGeek is a subsidiary of VA software. There's some decent money backing them now -- I could be *very* wrong about their inventory levels. They started out as a back bedroom kind of op, but they're certainly not at that level now.

Other things, like trinkets, mugs, ... they keep them in inventory, like as not. No offens, clord. This is the kind of stuff that you order in bulk from wholesalers because there's no profit in ordering in small batches according to EOQ principles.

The general gist of EOQ - Economical Order Quantity - is that you need to balance variable savings from ordering a large number of items PLUS your carrying cost (cost of storing it, plus cost of having the capital tied up in it) over a set period PLUS the fixed amount that it costs you to place the order (shipping and handling, your cost of placing the order in time and resources, and the other company's cost of fulfilling your order.) over your expected use. This tells you how many to order at a time to maximize your profit and minimize your costs. It's generally used to keep people from ordering too *much* when they're offered discounts (it's easy for many buyers to fill warehouses...) for ordering in quantity, but it's also used these days to judge when it's a good idea to order 500 trinkets for a minimal carrying cost when you'll only sell 50 a month, but ordering 50 each month would wipe out your entire profits in shipping costs.

unpronounceable-equation-with-all-the-b's ... if you intend to this, make sure you read a few Supply Chain Management textbooks before you get started.
posted by SpecialK at 8:28 PM on December 17, 2006

unpronounceable-equation-with-all-the-b's ...

It's a Shakespearean regex I believe. Genius I might add.
posted by markr at 1:20 AM on December 18, 2006

wow, never noticed that nick. sweet.
posted by zpousman at 8:21 AM on December 18, 2006

Doing buying for my shop, a thing that really worked for me was to find brick and mortar stores that carried items I liked and then googling- " Name of Store" "retailer" "name of city store is located in" . This generally led me to a site of an unknown wholesaler, showing said store on their list of retailers. Bingo!
posted by BrodieShadeTree at 10:19 AM on December 18, 2006

My bet is actually that they carry all of their t-shirts in stock, because by the nature of the manufacture type it's necessary to make them in batch lots for both popular and unpopular styles.

SpecialK: Unless I'm misunderstanding you, I wouldn't say that. Several of ThinkGeek's styles were created by and are still sold by J List. I'd say at the very least that J List's San Diego warehouse is drop shipping those styles for ThinkGeek. I doubt ThinkGeek keeps J List-created merchandise on hand since J List already has a Stateside warehouse.

(bb|[^b]{2}), everyone that's mentioned it here is right. Buyers spend an enormous amount of time just tracking down things to sell. However, I'm starting to think some of them are actually reaping the rewards from the RSS feeds of Cool Hunting and its ilk, honestly. You see some independent manufacturer's neat thing on these websites and the next thing you know, it's at Williams-Sonoma.

If you're working on green items, there's no shortage of that. Maybe you should let Treehugger or Hippyshopper help you. Green gadgets? To me, gadgets are sometimes bits of lifestyle detritus. You might have a problem there. With just plain gadgets you can pick up any neat thing and sell it, but you've decided to go the extra niche-y mile. You might have to do a little more work by defining exactly what you're after in order to find it.
posted by fujiko at 10:32 AM on December 18, 2006

Heh. My sister's a buyer for Williams-Sonoma. And yes, she coolhunts.
posted by SpecialK at 10:09 AM on December 20, 2006