I own a retail store (just had our 1 year anniversary!) but have been keeping my eye out for an opportunity to buy a vendor, since it seems that manufacturing scales easier than retail.
Today, we went to re-order with one of our vendors only to find out she had closed up shop. I contacted the sales rep group they use and was able to get the contact info of the owner (they said they thought it was closed for personal reasons).
I asked the owner if she would consider selling and she said yes, to follow up with her via email. So I sent the email a little while ago asking about inventory levels, what price she would consider selling for, to send me the financials, etc.
We'll see what she comes back with, but here are the complications.
#1. Her warehouse where she ships/receives is located on the other side of the country from me.
#2. She mentioned the product is manufactured in Thailand, so I did some research and found her manufacturer.
After finding her manufacturer, I was able to figure out that her gross margins are 50% (2x markup), which seems low after accounting for import fees/shipping and paying a sales rep firm, correct?
There's nothing stopping me from going to the manufacturer directly, but I don't know anything about the import/export business.
With her shutting down the business, I could fill her spot by bringing in the items myself with a new brand name, but there has to be some value to keeping her brand & established retailer relationships, but how much???
Today, we went to re-order with one of our vendors only to find out she had closed up shop. I contacted the sales rep group they use and was able to get the contact info of the owner (they said they thought it was closed for personal reasons).
I asked the owner if she would consider selling and she said yes, to follow up with her via email. So I sent the email a little while ago asking about inventory levels, what price she would consider selling for, to send me the financials, etc.
We'll see what she comes back with, but here are the complications.
#1. Her warehouse where she ships/receives is located on the other side of the country from me.
#2. She mentioned the product is manufactured in Thailand, so I did some research and found her manufacturer.
After finding her manufacturer, I was able to figure out that her gross margins are 50% (2x markup), which seems low after accounting for import fees/shipping and paying a sales rep firm, correct?
There's nothing stopping me from going to the manufacturer directly, but I don't know anything about the import/export business.
With her shutting down the business, I could fill her spot by bringing in the items myself with a new brand name, but there has to be some value to keeping her brand & established retailer relationships, but how much???
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