Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!mit-eddie!uw-beaver!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tektronix!psueea!!warren From: warren@.cs.pdx.edu (Warren Harrison) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: Marketing product to computer stores Message-ID: <2363@psueea.UUCP> Date: 11 Feb 90 08:12:56 GMT References: <2489@leah.Albany.Edu> Sender: news@psueea.UUCP Reply-To: warren@eecs.UUCP (Warren Harrison) Distribution: usa Organization: /etc/organization Lines: 37 Getting a retail chain to actually carry your products "on the shelf" is almost impossible for a small company. In most cases, you probably wouldn't be able to support the volume it would require anyway. If Egghead carries a couple of copies at every one of their outlets, you're probably looking at more copie sthan you'd normally sell in a year. What they *will* do however is place special orders from you if someone wants to buy a copy. *Maybe* if they get enough such orders, you might be able to get them to start stocking your product (you can hope anyway). Many companies have accounts, etc. with retailers like Corporate Software and Egghead. It is less hassle for them to buy your product from the retailer than it is to buy it from you, so they'll order your product from teh retailer, give them your address & phone and the retailer will call you up and place an order. Sounds kind of inefficient, but you'd be surprised how many outfits do business this way. Expect to give the retailer between 30%-50% discount on your retail price. How can you do this? Well, when you get an order (or you can even place an order yourself for your own product just to get the ball rolling), suggest they go through Egghead - you won't make as much, but you'll start building up a distribution channel (plus it adds some to your credibility when you tell someone they can buy your product thru Egghead). If you are trying to distribute a programmer's tool, try Programmer's Shop and Programmer's Connection (get their address out of any Computer Language or Dr. Dobbs Journal). They love to do drop shipments (and so should you). It takes a long time to get retailers interested in your product. If you really want to contact the "right" people try and make the PC trade shows (eg, COMDEX) and try and meet as many people as you can. Good luck. Warren ========================================================================== Warren Harrison warren@cs.pdx.edu Department of Computer Science 503/725-3108 Portland State University