Selling to retailers using wholesale platforms – with Em Royston- Chasing Threads

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Welcome to the Bring Your Product Ideas to Life podcast, practical advice and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products. Here's your host, Vicki Weinberg.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:00:21

Today I am speaking with Em Royston from Chasing Threads. Chasing Threads makes stitch book accessories and cross-stitch kits for the modern world, the first collection of unique, stylish and functional accessories that can be stitched and personalized. Born from the idea to sew where you go. I had a really great conversation with Em today. We spoke a lot about the inspiration for her products, how she got started, and also about wholesaling. Em has wholesaled her products for years now and she's achieved a lot of this via wholesaling platforms. Um, specifically Faire. I haven't yet spoken to anyone who uses one of these platforms to wholesale their products. So as you can imagine, I was really interested, um, we spoke about this in lots of detail and if you you have ever considered wholesalers, but perhaps the thought of picking up the phone or sending whole emails is putting you off. I really think this is something that you're going to be interested in. So I'd love now to introduce you to Em.

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So, hi Em. Thank you for being here.

Em Royston: 00:01:11

Hi Vicki. You know, it's great to be here.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:14

So can we start with you? Please give an introduction to yourself, your business, and what you sell?

Em Royston: 00:01:18

Yeah, absolutely. Um, yes, I'm Em Royston. Um, and my brand is called Chasing Threads. Um, and basically it's a kind of, um, modern cross stitch travel accessories brand. Um, and we make, well the original idea was to sew where you go. So it all started from the idea of, um, just marking kind of a destination with a cross. Um, and that grew into a number of products, which I developed, designed, um, I get manufactured, um, and now I yeah, sell market and sell kind of internationally through my own website and throughout the platforms and wholesale.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:54

Wow. We have a lot to talk about.

Em Royston: 00:01:57

Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:01:59

So I'm going to start right at the beginning if that's okay, Ash.

Em Royston: 00:02:02

Sure.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:02:02

And can you tell us how and why you started Chasing Threads? So were you a big cross stitcher? Where did it all begin?

Em Royston: 00:02:08

Yeah, so, um, yeah, basically I've always loved making things. Have been kind of sewer and crafty sort of person since forever. Used to make my own clothes and things when I was a kid. Um, and then I went on to study design, um, at university. And I always, yeah, I loved product design. That was kind of the area that I went into and yeah, it wasn't so much cross stitch necessarily back then, but it was just like, yeah, making things. Um, this idea of kind of personalizing things I got really, um, interested in at university and how the kind of the customer can personalize things and make them their own. Um, and that was sort of worked through projects that I did at university. Um, yeah. And then I just went on to try and find a job in any kind of design capacity, um, which isn't always the easiest. So I actually just ended up working for other small design brands that I liked. Um, and I actually started in kind of more of a sales sort of role because I was just like, I need a job. Um, and so I worked for other little design companies, one of which being Suck UK, which is like a kind of quirky design brand, bit of a bad name. It was. Everyone's like, Suck UK? Um, but um, yeah, and, and it was that kind of company, um, after a few others that I, I worked for about five years and sort of worked my way back into design a bit more. And I designed a product for them, um, which was called a cross stitch map. And the idea was that it was, well actually going back again, the, um, yeah, so I designed the cross stitch map for them and the idea was, um, a map of the world that printed on a cross stitch fabric. Because I'd done a road trip in America with my partner and cross-stitched the actual roadmap that we'd used. Um, and it showed the travel in thread. And I thought just, I love this idea of showing your travels in thread and that you kind of, um, yeah, marked this map with little stitches. Um, and see I developed that product for them and they, they still sell it and distribute it now. Uh, and then a few years later I went on to start my own brand. And that was one of the kind of key ideas that I wanted to take forward. Um, which I developed into a range of passport covers, notebooks, tote bags, all this idea of stitching where you've been. So I don't know if yeah, makes sense.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:04:12

Yeah, that's great. No, that does make loads of sense. And I'm sure I read something on your website. Am I right in thinking that you weren't actually in the UK when you set the company up?

Em Royston: 00:04:20

Yeah, so it was, I was working in like UK um, at the time. And then, um, yeah, my husband got an opportunity. Moved to Hong Kong. Um, and I thought it was, you know, a great chance for me to sort of, I've always wanted to start having my own company. I don't know why. I've just always kind of imagined myself having, um, my own brand. And when I was at Suck, I was always just jealous of like the product design meetings going on when I was in the sales team. And then when I was in more of a product side, I was, you know, wanted to know what the kind of the bigger brand strategy was. And I just, yeah, I found the whole process really interesting. So I, I knew I kind of wanted to, to have my own brand to have kind of more control over everything. Um, and so yeah, so when we moved to Hong Kong, uh, that was the chance to, um, I just kind of worked part-time and then started on the side developing products, um, and designing and then getting kind of manufacturing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:08

And where, do you mind me if, I hope you don't mind me asking this, but where were you getting your products manufactured?

Em Royston: 00:05:12

So locally to us, so it was, um, it was actually, yeah, a really kind of interesting place to be because it's, it's so close to, you know, the hub of Shenzhen and China and manufacturing and everything. Um, they say everything kind of happens more quickly in Hong Kong. It's like a very, you know, fast paced, uh, sort of place to be in. I found that was really true. You know, you could get samples back from suppliers within a day or two. And yeah, it was just a, yeah, a really great place to be for that. And I've worked with one supplier still that I met then and just regularly traveled to visit them and developed the products and, and now they're, yeah, at a really trusted supplier. So that's been. Yeah, invaluable really to have that proximity.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:51

That's amazing. That's really, what's the word, Serendip? Serendipitous. I think that's the right word.

Em Royston: 00:05:55

Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:05:55

Because I, I speak to lots of people who sort of set products from China, but for, for lots of people, particularly over the last couple of years. But actually in general, because it's so far away and so expensive, um, most people, yeah. Never get to meet their supplier face to face or go and have a walk around because it's, you know, there's, there's so many reasons why that isn't possible. But that must have been amazing.

Em Royston: 00:06:15

Absolutely.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:06:15

You could visit and really get to build relationships.

Em Royston: 00:06:19

Yeah, absolutely. I think, um, you know, it's obviously, there's mixed sort of, um, opinions on, on trying to manufacture and things and I, I totally understand. Um, but it's been, yeah, it was amazing to sort of, you know, actually see and experience and get to know a company because it's obviously a a lot different when you're just on the other side of the world ordering something blindly. Um, and I definitely had learned my lessons from other suppliers as well, um, where I didn't go and check kind of the products before they were sent out and that kind of thing. And, um, you know, you get a horrible surprise when it's not what you'd expected and the quality wasn't the same as a sample and that kind of thing. But yeah, now I just know, you know, the suppliers that I do work with, um, totally trust and have been working with them for years. So, yeah, that's a nice outcome.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:07:02

Yeah, that's really good. And, and coming back to when you got started, am I right in thinking that you, you ran a Kickstarter campaign in the early days?

Em Royston: 00:07:10

Yeah, so it wasn't actually for the very first, first product, but um, to develop. So the passport cover was like my kind of original, and that was like, um, still is the best seller actually. It's like the kind of the starting product. It's still the star. Um, but I wanted to develop other products and I didn't really have the, the cash to reinvest in another production run. So yeah, I did do a kickstart product project. Sorry for the, um, notebook. So, um, yeah, that was really, it was quite a scary thing to do actually. The kickstart I found. I thought it was going to be just like, oh yeah, you know, you'd see, I've seen ones really take off and, um, generate about 20,000, you know, just, um, easily. But obviously it's, when you're actually doing it, it's quite a lot of of work. Um, and I think I raised over 5,000 pounds to, um, to kickstart the production of that notebook. And, um, yeah, it was really exhilarating when I did finally get that, that kind of, um, pledges all. Um, in from, um, people that, yeah, obviously originally friends and family, but then also just people that like the product. So yeah, it was really good if you are, you know, at the beginning and you have a kind of, I think it works really well with sort of simplistic ideas as well, kind of products that people understand quite quickly and, um. Yeah, I think it was definitely worth doing as a way to, to get some funds to, to launch something new without that big risk.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:08:25

Um, I guess there was an advantage that it wasn't your first product because presumably you had some customers and people who liked what you did, that then you could then approach, you know, for your Kickstarter. Um, yeah, because yeah, exactly. We had someone on here talking about, um, Kickstarter campaigns or, or any kind of crowdfunding last year. And the big thing I took away from that episode is how much work it is. I had no idea that it would be almost like a full-time job to, to run a campaign. Was that your experience?

Em Royston: 00:08:53

Yeah, like I definitely didn't put as much into it as I could and should probably have. But yes, it was because it's like you kind of launch and I think there's an expectation that the, the website will generate quite a lot of views for you. But actually there's so many projects going live all the time that unless you are picked up by Kickstarter team, you know, it's very unlikely that you're going to get traction without bringing your own. So yes, it was a lot more work than, um, than I kind of expected and it was a bit scary when you are only halfway and you've gone over the half the time because it is all or nothing. Um, but yeah, and I was also already wholesaling a little bit then, so that was quite good. I could also, um, I had a few shops that pledged to sort of stock the products. Um, so that was the nice thing as well as using direct to consumer customers that I'd already had. Um, but kind of using those stores that I'd been working with, um, yeah, to get behind the project and the, a new product.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:09:45

And that's great and we'll talk about that, um, in a moment, a little bit more, where you were selling and how that came about. But one thing I'd love to know actually is with the Kickstarter, hypothetically, let's say you came up with a completely new product idea. Now, would you, would you do it again?

Em Royston: 00:09:58

Yeah, good question. Um, I think because I'm now working with supply that I don't have to sort of, um, commit to massive quantities. Um, and the things I'm making, I sort of, you know, don't order so many, and it's not like there's not a big tooling investment or anything. Um, I wouldn't, unless, unless there was a product that was like, you know, I need to order a big amount to make it happen, or there's a big kind of, um, initial startup cost. Um, and then yeah, I would consider it, I would definitely consider it for that, um, purpose. I can't see that at the moment, but um, yeah, I'd be open to it because it is such a clever kind of idea of having the kind of almost pre-sold the stock before you've even manufactured them. I think it's, you know, it's a very good way of reducing risk for, for brands that are kind of giving something a go if you're not entirely sure it's going to do well.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:10:48

Yes, because you're right. Because as well as getting those original sales, you're also getting people to sort of put their money where their mouth is and say, yes it is actually a good idea. Which can be hard, can't it? People will often tell you they think something's good, but then will they actually part of any money? It's a different thing.

Em Royston: 00:11:02

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. It's like, yeah. And that kind of, um, emphasis on supporting the community and, and supporting small designers. Um, yeah, it's, it is really interesting area.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:14

Well, it's really good to know that, um, it's something that hasn't, you know, tightly put you off doing again.

Em Royston: 00:11:18

No

Vicki Weinberg: 00:11:19

Um, so you mentioned before that you were selling direct to consumers and that you also were doing wholesale at that point. So can we talk a little bit about sort of yeah, all of that really. So where you started selling and how that evolved. So did you start off with just a website, for example? Let's, let's go from there.

Em Royston: 00:11:36

Yeah. I basically just, um, at first I was using a WordPress, a very basic WordPress site that I sort of taught myself, you know, how to make. Um, it just did the trick with commerce, but it was a bit, you know, a bit shoddy. Um, and then got my products on Etsy. I actually very nearly didn't continue to put my products on Etsy because I thought they will have to be kind of hand -made to be on there, but I, in the end I would just thought, oh, I'll put them on there. Um, and you know, if they tell me to take them down, then fine. But I think their policies have changed and it was an original design still. Um, so it didn't matter that I wasn't the one actually physically making them. Um, and yeah, that's been one of my biggest platforms. Etsy still does, yeah, probably half of my direct consumer sales is through Etsy, um, because it's such a good kind of international marketplace and a lot comes from America, from Etsy. And then, you know, it's obviously grown in the UK as well in the last few years, quite a lot. So yeah. And then more recently, well a few, three years ago maybe, um, got into Not on the High Street as well, which is obviously again like a really nice platform that's got a good, um, you know, customer base and the products work well because it's, yeah, that kind of creating your own, um, idea and, and personalization, that kind of thing. So, uh, yeah. And then I've since, um, developed my store on Shopify, which is a lot better than the e commerce one. A lot less glitchy, um, and yeah, I've kind of dabbled in doing Facebook ads and things to get the air traction on that, going a bit better. And yeah, I think that's about it. There's a few other marketplaces I am actually, I do have some of the products listed on Amazon, but I haven't really invested much time in that and I'm, yeah, it's probably not the main focus for my products at the moment. But um, yeah, the se, the central world as well is just so unpleasant to be in and I just can't spend too much time there.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:26

Oh, well if you ever need a hand, you know where I am.

Em Royston: 00:13:28

Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:30

Well it sounds like you're doing really well and, um, I agree with you about Shopify as well. I think Shopify, if anyone is wanting to build their own site to sell their products per personally. Now, like I said, this is not, yeah. Um, I've got no links with Shopify, but I just think it's great because it is so easy.

Em Royston: 00:13:46

Definitely.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:46

And it looks really nice as well.

Em Royston: 00:13:48

Yeah, it is. It's so easy to set up a shop like in a day, really you can. And um, yeah, and it, it kind of, it syncs to everything, so yeah, it's great. I definitely also highly recommend Shopify.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:13:58

So you mentioned, um, so we've spoken a lot about selling direct to consumers. So you mentioned earlier that you were stocked in a few stores as early as a few years ago. So how did you first start wholesaling and talk us through, through what you did there.

Em Royston: 00:14:12

Yeah, sure. So that was actually probably one of the biggest benefits of, um, when I started at Suck UK, I was working in the kind of sales side, which wasn't really my intention. I just wanted to get kind of into a product design world. Um, but actually it's, it was so useful because I was essentially, um, kind of an ad, you know, uh, account manager for these wholesale shops. So selling stock products to stores and being. Yeah. Uh, customers, yeah. Yeah. Being the kind of admin person for those sales. So I really understood, uh, when going to trade shows for them. I was, um, sorry, I I, yeah, so I used to go to the trade shows for them. Um, and I would, I just got to learn kind of the wholesale pricing, um, how to approach stores, um, you know, all of that pack sizes stuff that I just, I suppose I would have just had to learn from. When I started my business later, I kind of had all that knowledge. So it wasn't so scary. I think I approached Halsa right from the beginning. It wasn't actually a case of waiting for that long. I think I, I launched a Top Drawer, um, in my first or second year because I, I just, that was like the way, that was the path that I knew that you would sell some direct to consumer, but wholesale was sort of the end goal for me. Um, yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:15:28

Yeah. It must have been invaluable having that experience. When I was selling my range of products, I never did much wholesale, just a few local shops, because to me it was just an absolute minefield of things that I didn't know. So I can imagine having all of that experience and contacts as well. I, I assume, um, I mean, you don't need to tell us whether you were speaking to the same, but you don't need to disclose that. But I imagine just knowing people in that world must be really helpful.

Em Royston: 00:15:54

Yeah, definitely. Yeah. And just kind of, um, just having yeah, having that kind of, background knowledge of, of how, if you want to approach a department store, you know, you just give it a go. Um, and the big guys are probably doing the same as, as little businesses just, you know, trying to look up buyers' details and, and get in front of them as easy as they, you know, the best way they can. Um, and sending samples and all that kind of thing. Um, so yeah, it was really invaluable and yeah, I was lucky to get a few wholesalers sort of straight away. Um, and since then it's grown.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:16:26

So the first wholesalers you got where they through Top Drawer, you mentioned that you went there where you were just sort of starting thinking about wholesaling. Was that what kicked it all?

Em Royston: 00:16:34

Yeah, I think I had, um, just from direct emailing some other stockers that I knew, I had a couple of, of, um, customers before then who were actually selling through, Not on the High Street, and I wasn't selling it, not through, Not on the High Street at that time. So it was quite perfect. They kind of dealt with that side of things and I would sell wholesale to them. So that was my first wholesaler I remember, which was, yeah, so exciting when I first got the first orders, I was like, oh, it's actually happening.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:16:59

So where are they selling your products? On Not on the High Street?

Em Royston: 00:17:03

Yes, they were. Yeah, so they, since they don't anymore now, I, I took it over because I wanted sort of my brand to be there as a whole. But yes, originally they were buying my products a wholesale and then selling them on, Not in the High Street.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:16

That makes sense. And I guess that also probably gave you some confidence when you decided to sell them on Not on the High Street directly, because presumably you knew then that they were, they were selling on Not on the High Street, and obviously they'd passed the application process to get on there in the first place.

Em Royston: 00:17:30

Yeah, exactly. And they were based in the UK and at that time I was still in Hong Kong. So it was, it just made more sense. Um, I think at the very beginning, I, I didn't have a warehouse, so I, yeah, I was relying on sort of me posting out orders or having friends in the UK helped me post out orders. Um, so it was a bit difficult until I was established with a, a warehouse properly.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:51

I didn't actually think about that. So, of course. So how many years were you running your business from Hong Kong?

Em Royston: 00:17:55

Uh, yeah, like, um, I think like four.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:17:59

Oh wow, that's quite a long time.

Em Royston: 00:18:00

Yeah, it was and it was, yeah, it obviously had its drawbacks as well as its sort of advantages, you know, the kind of time difference thing was sometimes awkward and I would get, you know, look at my phone in the middle of the night and get emails and be like, oh God, no. Only, you know, the having different working hours was quite difficult. Um, but basically because I had the warehouse set up, um, and orders would just go out through them. It was, it wasn't too much of a barrier, but it was obviously, yeah, it's e it's been a lot easier since I've been back in the UK, but then I was establishing that sort of the supplier side of things in Hong Kong. So yeah, it's a good mix.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:18:35

So when you were, um, getting started to wholesaling, was, was the idea always to find wholesaler hard, find stores in the UK? Was that always the intention?

Em Royston: 00:18:44

I was actually open, I've always been open to kind of stocking everywhere. Yes. Like definitely the UK has always been sort of my strongest market for stockists and it's now definitely kind of where I have the most stockists. Um. But yeah, I, I was kind of, again, from the start, I was confident that we could sell anywhere, um, in theory. And America was one of the places that even from quite early on, I had a few stockists there. And yeah, you know, I was looking also for distributors because I used to deal with distributors at Suck UK, so I knew that was another option. And I did work with a few distributors, uh, in Europe. And it has, some of them have worked out, some of them haven't. So, But, um, yeah, I was very much open to like, I'll sell anywhere.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:19:27

Well that's great. And I, I, you know, I don't think I've ever spoken to anyone who's sold via distributors, so would you mind just explaining a little bit about how that works? Because that, that might be interesting to someone who's never thought of going down that route.

Em Royston: 00:19:39

Yeah, sure. Like, I think, um, especially at the moment, especially in Europe, I think it's, can be a really good solution. Um, because obviously since Brexit, all the import issues have, have been a nightmare personally. And I think lots of other brands also found that what used to be quite a straightforward process of just importing is, you know, delays and expensive import fees. And, um, so yeah, if you can find a distributor, I worked with some good ones in camp for Germany, for example. And basically they would have exclusivity for Germany with my brand. So I wouldn't sell to any other, um, shops in Germany. And if anyone approached me in Germany, I'd say, please get in touch with our distributor. And so, yeah, they would basically buy at like maybe 30, 35% discount on my wholesale price, but the benefit is that they were buying bulk and they would sort out the delivery from my warehouse. So yeah, so they would kind of deal with the whole, they would just pay me in a lump, then they hold the stock in Germany, um, and then sell to stock stores from their warehouse. So for, for stores in Germany, it made sense for them because they weren't having to import and worry about duty charges and excess things like that. And then the distributor would do trade shows to promote the brand and yeah, contact there. And they would obviously represent other brands as well. So they would go to a store with, you know, selection of different brands and they could sell products from all these different companies. So yeah, in, so in theory, it's, it's a really good. I mean, it is a really, can be a really good model.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:21:09

That's really interesting. Is approaching a distributor, because I'm assuming it's, it's a case of you approaching them in a lot of cases. I'm sure that now your brand is, you know, really well known. Maybe you're getting people approaching you, but when it comes to approaching distributors yourself, does it work in a similar way to approaching retailers?

Em Royston: 00:21:26

Yeah, I'd say very similar. I think like the best way probably to find a distributor is to look at brands that are similar to yours or brands that you know, not necessarily in competition because you don't really want to have competing brands, but brands that yeah, you, you are in the same realm. You know, they're distributors for very specialist things, so you'd have like maybe kitchenware distribution or I think generally I would always fit into kind of gift, um, distributors, but you want to be like, not at that novelty level. So, um, yeah, finding kind of the right kind of fit. If you can see that the products that they're selling, you would see those in a, in a store next to yours usually um, then it's probably a good fit. And so, yeah, I, I would usually just approach the, yeah, the same way as a retailer, basically. Yeah. Just contacting and saying could be a good fit. Would you like conversation? And if you can go to trade shows to meet them, that's another good, good thing to do. If you have the, the time and, and money to do it, to go to, you know, visit ambiente, for example, or, or and, and see the, the kind of the biggest stands where they're representing a few brands. Um, yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:28

Oh, of course. I didn't think about the fact that distributors, of course, are attending trade shows as well.

Em Royston: 00:22:32

Yeah, usually. Um, so they might find you, like for the top drawer, often we get some distributors kind of wandering around, um, and they might find you that way, but, and also if they're, they'll be exhibiting, um, on their home turf. Um, yeah, which is where you could find them if you are, um, yeah, if you're particularly looking for, for France, for example, then yeah, go to Maison Objet and see kind of the stands.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:22:56

Yeah, that's really interesting. And actually thinking about it, when I went to Top drawer last September, um, that was the first time I'd been, and I did actually meet a toy brand distributor that who was, had a, who had a stall there as well. And um, I know, you know, they were a distributor because I spoke to them, but I, I think it's probably fair to assume that some of the bigger stands could have been distributors. Yeah, certainly not all of them. Some of them would've been brands, but I'm sure that it, I think if it's probably a case of if you were interested, I, I don't know what your thoughts on this are but I, I suggest that people maybe go to a trade show, walk around, talk to some people, and yeah, just keep an open mind and just see who you can meet.

Em Royston: 00:23:34

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Talking to, talking to other brands that you kind of admire or that are on the same sort of, same path as you, um, is yeah, really, really invaluable to, to get those contacts and, um, it's often by like a, a word of mouth introduction. Like, oh, you should try, yeah. Try talking to these guys. And that's certainly how, yeah lots of my agents and distributors have worked out, so yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:23:56

Oh, that's good. That's good to know that it is infact useful to try.

Em Royston: 00:23:59

Yeah, definitely.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:01

So you mentioned earlier that you also wholesaling your products in the US so how did that come about? Because I'm, I don't want to assume that you didn't go away from there and hold a lot of trade shows, but, um, did you do that or did you do something different?

Em Royston: 00:24:13

Yeah, no, I've never done a trade show in America, actually. I would like to, but no, um, it definitely, I don't think it's necessary to get started. And yeah, I actually sell, um, through Faire and that's probably, the, the majority of my US stockers have come from, um, is through this wholesale platform called Faire.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:24:32

That's really interesting. I think, um, I've heard of Faire because again, when I went to Top Drawer, they were one of, I believe, I think they might be one of the sponsors. They were certainly giving out coffee at the station anyway, and uh, yeah, that was the first time I'd come across them and I've had a look and I've been, am I right in thinking they're a wholesale platform? Small, well, perhaps not only small, but retailers can go on there and they can buy product in wholesale direct from the site. Is that how it works?

Em Royston: 00:24:57

Yeah, exactly. They've just basically kind of made it like a, a sort of Etsy platform for business to business. So yeah, you list your products, it looks just like an online store and then customers can buy only in packs of your minimum quantities, um, at wholesale price. And I think they have to qualify through Faire, you know, to prove that they're like a physical store or they have a website. But yeah, once they're qualified, it's kind of the orders just come to you. It's, it's very much, um, like an easy kind of way of just turning on a tap orders. Like you don't really have to sort of have that, you know, usually with stockists you'd kind of get in touch and introduce the products and send the catalogue. Send over a price list, whereas it's, it's a lot of kind of cold customs coming in and just having an order that you accept, which is great because obviously it saves all that time of, um, you know, you finding the customer and things. Um, so yeah, we've had a lot of success with Faire. And another great thing about them, although this might be changing now, is that they have been, um, covering the delivery fees for you and the customer. So, um, that's been kind of amazing really, that, you know, um, you just have to say, I guess I accept this order, and then you ship it with your, you know, FedEx, whoever, and then you type in how much it costs. And then Faire will cover the, the cost of that shipping.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:26:19

That, that's amazing.

Em Royston: 00:26:20

Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty, it's it like, it's, it's kind of too good to be true, and I think now they are actually starting to say that those offers are limited and it's only limited to insiders, and soon Faire.It's just, yeah, definitely worth being aware that those. I think they wanted to get, you know, all the, they want to get as many shops buying that way as possible, get as many brands on the platform as possible, and the terms will probably be less favourable, I guess, after the initial sort of getting you on. But it's still a really great platform. Like I, I, I wouldn't have, you know, I've, I've had, I don't know, hundred, a few hundred kind of stockers that I, I'm really sure would, would never have found my products without being just unfair.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:27:01

That's amazing.

Em Royston: 00:27:02

Yeah, I mean the, you know, they can have smaller, well, I, you can set your minimum order as well. So these are kind of generally smaller orders. I think I've set my minimum quite low just to make it easy. But yeah, it's worthwhile because you get you, it's very low effort. Um, I would say definitely if you are, if you're going to do go through Faire and I would recommend just trying it because it's free to list the product. Just be, yeah, the first order is 25% commission to Faire and then reorders, you'd pay 15% commission to Faire. So it's really worth, um, nurturing, still nurturing those kind of customers. I always try and send, um, like a thanks so much for email message and, um, you know, kind of try and get them onto my mailing list, um, as well, so that in the future, so um, so they'll come back in the future and place another order and, you know, reorders, yeah, it's going to be less commission. So it's worth kind of keeping them as a customer. Um, and if you send them your link directly, then it's 0% commission. So it can be a really good way for customers that are maybe already ordering that they can make the most of a free shipping deal that Faire is offering, or, um, there's discounts that they often have that I give 5% Faire, give five. So the customer can really, um, yeah, make the most, and they can order any time. It's not like having that back and forth of business in stock, um, because it follows my Shopify, uh, stock levels. So it's like live ordering, um, which I don't have as, I don't have a wholesale platform that does that. So, um, yeah. So there's lots of benefits.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:28:31

Wow. Yeah. I mean, I'm sold. There's, not like I sell anything. Yeah. Should I, I would be sold because that does sound great. It should, yeah. Does it completely sync with Shopify then? Does it pull in the product details and everything?

Em Royston: 00:28:44

Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, so you can like upload the products that way just by, um, getting them synced over and then you can choose not to, or you can choose to sync it to your Shopify for stock. So yes, so it's just one more thing list thing to manage. If you know you're marking things that's out of stock, um, it should just do all of it for you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:29:02

Yeah. Wow. It's certainly a lot more passive. So making lots of phone calls or sending emails, and I'm not saying there's anything wrong with doing that because I think there's, well, you've definitely, you know, told us you're doing, you're doing both, but it definitely sounds worth doing as something additional maybe.

Em Royston: 00:29:17

Yeah, definitely. If you can afford to be selling, you know, to, um, without 25% commission, like it's, it's definitely worth giving it a go. Yeah. It'll be interesting to see how it kind of progresses from here, because obviously, yeah, I think they, they have all these big incentives and free shipping and they were even covering duties and taxes, which is, you know, amazing because I think that's something that puts, um, international customers off from ordering from, you know, um, UK brands, for example, in America, they, you know, they don't like that there might be duty and taxes on bigger orders. And yeah, Faire for a while we're covering all of those. So that was just like a really good thing to be able to say, like, don't worry if you do get charged, you know, Faire will cover it. So yeah, it's, I I would definitely recommend. Um, the other one is Ankorstore as well. I don't know if you've heard of, of them.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:06

No I haven't.

Em Royston: 00:30:07

So that's another, um, B2B marketplace and I think they're more, um, focused on Europe and I do sell on there as well, but a lot less, because I haven't really been put putting that much effort into it. But, um, it's another, it's very similar. I think the commission rate's probably kind of the same, but yeah, they, they kind of specialize, I think more in Europe. So that's another one to check out if you're looking for b2b, that's really worth knowing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:30:30

Thank you. And I, and I'm assuming that certainly at the moment, there's no restrictions to how many you can be on, so none of them say all you have to be on us exclusively at the moment. I know these things change.

Em Royston: 00:30:39

Yeah. Yeah. No, um, no, as far as I know, and I think, you know, they've have, I think at the moment they just want to grow as big and as quickly. I went to some of their kind of drinks and they've got big plans. So, um, I think, yeah, they're not keeping on top of it, in that way at the moment. No. So, um, yeah, I would say kind of no po, no reason not to be on multiple platforms.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:31:02

Thank you. And is there anything else you think people should know about using wholesale platforms? Any tips or advice? I mean, you've told us a lot already, so don't worry if there isn't.

Em Royston: 00:31:11

Um, no, I mean I think, um, you know, I guess your images really have to sell the product because there's not much else to go on. Um, and you, you know, you don't really have a, like a pretty catalogue necessarily that they're going to, people are going to see. So yeah, just make sure images are good and I think adding new products regularly helps you stay sort of at the top of the, the page and to be on, on the found section. Um, so it can come in lulls. I find that it's very much when I'm busier, I get busier and busier. I think maybe, you know, if, if brands are ordering, I think you tend to climb up the ranks. Um, at the moment it's really quiet. Obviously it's January as well. Everyone's a bit quiet, but, um, yeah, so maybe, you know, in the quieter times, adding new products and maybe putting on a little sale or discount, um, just to entice people, it's probably worthwhile.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:31:58

That's really good to know. Thank you. And I think that, that certainly makes sense. I think that work, a lot of platforms work that way, don't they? That the more sales you get, the more you are shown and therefore the more you get, which is why it can be so hard to even get started.

Em Royston: 00:32:10

Yes, because you're just getting absolutely bike of those who are doing well. Continue to do well. Yeah. Yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:32:16

Well thank you. That's super useful. And I didn't think about that with the images, but yes, I guess it's like a lot of marketplaces where, where presumably customers are searching and then just getting a page of results, which are pictures. So that's really useful. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And that was a great point you made also about the margins as well and just making sure you can absorb those fees.

Em Royston: 00:32:36

Yeah, yeah, it's um, it's definitely worth thinking and then delivery on top or, um, yeah, or not, and yeah, I guess the last one is really just to nurture those because you know, you don't know at what point Faire might suddenly not be, not be an option anymore. It might stop, um, altogether. So if you can sort of have contact details, you, so that you don't lose that store if anything were to go wrong with Faire and they could always order direct. You know, I think it's, it's good to try and start a relationship. It was quite hard because it's quite a faceless sort of platform and I don't get much back and forth usually from customers, but sometimes, you know, it's always worth just sending a message saying, oh, thanks so much. It means a lot that you're stocking the products and sort of show that human side.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:14

That's excellent advice. Thank you. Because you're right, there's, with all of these platforms that we don't own, there is always a chance that they might just vanish so yeah, that's, yeah, that's useful. And, and I'm assuming that Faire don't give you the customer details either, so, um, unless they choose to add themselves to your mailing list or send you their email address.

Em Royston: 00:33:31

Yeah, exactly. You just have to sort of ask if they'd like to. Yeah, to, to sign up with you kind of thing.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:36

Yeah. Oh, it definitely sounds like doing that proactively. Well, thank you so much for that was just, yeah, I think that's been invaluable, everything that you've shared.

Em Royston: 00:33:44

Oh good. I'm glad.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:45

Thank you so much. Um, I've got one final question for you before we finish em, if that's okay.

Em Royston: 00:33:50

Sure.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:33:50

Which is, what would your number one piece of advice be for other product creators? And I know it's hard and I know you've shared a lot. If you wanted to leave us with something, what would it be?

Em Royston: 00:33:59

Yeah, no problem. I think it's probably maybe more down to kind of how I think, you know, a lot of product creators and small businesses work on their own and the whole kind of, um, the benefit of, of having your own business is, you know, that flexibility of lifestyle and, um, but I think that can be quite hard to kind of, to work with your own energy and like, you know, work with your own time when you are feeling creative and when you are feeling actually, like, I can't, I don't, I don't feel creative today, but you know, I guess basically what I'm trying to say is like the whole point of of being your own boss is to be a good boss to yourself and not sort of give yourself a hard time if things aren't like going that well. I, I used to just set myself kind of a nine to six working day, but actually I found that that's not necessarily the best way to be productive. And you know, if I'm just sat at my computer just not really achieving anything, then I do just go for a walk and listen to podcasts. Or I'm lucky that I can stitch as part of my kind of work. Um, even though it feels really weird, especially like a cross stitch, uh, sorry, a trade show time when I'm trying to stitch up samples and I'm manically cross stitching. It doesn't feel like work, but um, yeah, I think just kind of, yeah, allowing yourself to, to use time as, as it works for you and, and give yourself a break if, you know it's not all happening every day. Because I think I went through a few years at the beginning when I really did late hours and weekends, and I really put all of my energy into my business. And that's, you know, put me in the position I am in now, um, where I don't necessarily have to burn the candle all the time. And yeah, just allowing myself to sort of work with my energy when I'm feeling creative and, and know that it'll come back. Um, so yeah.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:35:38

That's great advice. Thank you. And I can definitely see that if you're doing something creative. You can't, it's not something you can just turn on and off, is it? You're either feeling it or you are not. So I think yeah, that makes so much sense.

Em Royston: 00:35:50

Yeah. And kind of this idea that, you know, always having to launch. I think I felt like I always had to have new products coming, but yeah, I think, you know, people just, you know, they have not, everyone's always seen everything that you've done in the past, so you can always just present a different product in a different way. Um, yeah, and still it feels new, even if you're not making new, all the time.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:08

That makes sense. Thank you so much and thank you for everything you shared then. I'm going to link to your website and your socials and everything else in the show notes.

Em Royston: 00:36:15

Lovely. Thank you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:16

We'll go and take a look and thank you again.

Em Royston: 00:36:18

That's great. No worries. No, it was great to talk to you.

Vicki Weinberg: 00:36:20

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode. Do remember that you can get the full back catalogue and lots of free resources on my website, vicki weinberg.com. Please do remember to rate and review this episode if you've enjoyed it, and also share it with a friend who you think might find it useful. Thank you again and see you next week.