How to Sell to Brookstone & Become a Brookstone Vendor

Learn everything you need to know to become a Brookstone vendor

Karen Waksman, founder of Retail MBA. Today we’re going to talk about the retailer Brookstone. Now the reason I decided to create this particular video is because I teach thousands of product companies across the globe on how to sell to Brookstone comes up a lot. So I deal with a lot of inventors. I deal with a lot of people with lots of different categories, like Amazon sellers, this and that. I deal with a lot of different kinds of people. But inventors love Brookstone because if you have ever been to Brookstone, they have the coolest gadgets. It’s really really interesting. Inventors seem to love it and they want their product in there. So they’re always asking me about it that’s why this video is created.

If you become a Brookstone vendor it is a tremendous opportunity for your business

So first of all, they have over 300 stores that they are responsible for. They’re usually in high traffic areas. So they’re usually in malls, or certain areas where there are a lot of people. So if you get your product into Brookstone, definitely exciting because a lot of people will know about your product. It’s an amazing opportunity for you to get products at the store if you have an invention. 

There is a good amount of competition to become a Brookstone vendor

The problem with that store is that all inventors want to sell to Brookstone so there’s so much competition. Your product really has to be interesting, innovative, and unique. Also they can be private label and all sorts of other things. But generally speaking they don’t have a lot of room in their stores. There’s just really not a lot of wiggle room in that particular store because they’re generally not that large compared to Walmart or bigger space retailers. They could be a little bit more challenging because everybody wants to sell to them and they’re just a little bit more complex. Not impossible but you just really really have to have something interesting and innovative. 

So what could I tell you about them that could support you in this quick little short video? They have a huge e-commerce and catalog business and actually more so I would say than their actual store. So the great news about that is that if you get rejected by the retail buyer, Brookstone, there’s actually a buyer responsible for the e-commerce and catalog.

The online buyer is different from the store buyer

Here’s a quick tip for you guys–in retail usually the buyer for stores is different from the buyer on the online store. So the online buyer is different from the store buyer. They have a whole other set of issues they’re dealing with the physical stores, you need to have the best packaging, you have to have everything lined. As I said, they’re a small store so they’re really picking only the most exclusive products in stores.

Sell to Brookstone Online

But when it comes to online, they have a little bit more wiggle room, they don’t have to buy as many units because they don’t have to account for every particular store that they’re buying for. Because it is online, they can drop, they can do all sort of other things. Also, they can basically test more products out, right? Because there’s not a limited shelf space and so forth. So, there is an online buyer for Brookstone, there’s also catalog buyer and so forth. And so if your product is great for photos, you might want to consider reaching out catalog and online buyer. 

First, get your products there, do well, start generating revenue with them, and then they’ll probably be more inclined to get your products in stores. At least you can get started and start telling people that you got your product in to Brookstone. 

Now, how do you actually pitch Brookstone your product?

 That’s a whole lot of other video. It takes a little while for me to explain to you. And if you want to learn more, you can take a look at my Retail MBA website retailmba.com. I actually have a free training series, six-part training series–really really powerful–on how to sell to retail chains. You just put in your email address to retailmba.com and then you can get access to that training series.

Once you become a Brookstone vendor other retailers will accept your products

Or if you want to just go after retail chains and you want someone to specifically tell you, in a weekend, everything you will ever need to know about retail, you might want to take a look at my Retail MBA training program. In one weekend, I teach you everything there is to know about retail chains. And then you’ll be able to go after stores next week.