Retailers, stand out with your own private collection, simplified.

Private labels are everywhere today, but they might seem to be out of the reach of the small retailer. Private label goods are those that you, the retailer, make in collaboration with a designer. The product is exclusive to your store, and is made to serve your own, unique shoppers. But while Target and Neiman Marcus expand their brand with their private labels, the process has been too risky for most small retailers to take on. Until now.....

Target is a great example of using private label goods. They partnered  with Neiman Marcus, who enlisted 24 designers to contribute to its limited edition holiday collection. With their private label goods (Missoni, Mizrahi, etc.) Target takes the upscale cache of expensive designers, and makes them available for the average Target shopper. The result is that Target becomes known for high fashion and great design at an affordable price.

In your shop, you’ve created a brand and a style through the judicious purchase of products that your buyers will love. But what if you could take that great design and tweak it, so it was just perfect for your shop? What if you could collaborate to create the just-right scent, or color, or pillow from a designer your customers already love? The collaborations don’t just provide you with a new source of products, they also strengthen your relationships all around. Your vendors become your partners (and get a taste for the demands of your work), and your customers become loyalists, knowing the you will do anything to bring them exactly what they want to buy.

But the process of creating a private label product can be fraught with risks. You have to find a vendor you trust, who can both incorporate your feedback and ideas and still maintain their own style and high quality. You need someone who will deliver on time (nothing like getting a new Christmas line delivered in February!), and someone who will keep you in the loop throughout the process.

To help you find those special vendors (and avoid the endless googling!), we’ve created a new free matchmaking service. You have the shop + the vision, we have the vendors, manufacturers and the software to make the whole process simple. After one quick phone call, our sourcing specialists go to work finding you options. Then we connect you, and let you work it out. But it’s not an never-ending parade of emails and faxes, your partners will put all their samples on Vianza’s networked platform, so you can see it, buy it and then track it as they come to you. The whole process in one, easy to manage place.

(Interested? Email Megan to get started finding your new just-for-you product)

image credit: NYC♥NYC

• taraswiger's blog