Getting a product sold in Petrol stations/Shops

Old Gill

Hi, Im looking at importing a product (lets says its air freshners) and having it sold in garages/shops especially in the Dublin area. I know I will be the cheapest supplier (this is all very vague I know but this part isnt important/what Im looking advice on).

Whats Id like to know is how I go about having it sold in Esso's, Shell garages etc as well as motor factors. I dont mind supplying them up front 1st, I just need to know who I should contact, how and advice from anyone who has done similar in the past.

Should I go round individual garages and sell directly or do these big firms have 1 sourcing dept I should contact?

niceirishfella

Old Gill wrote: »

Hi, Im looking at importing a product (lets says its air freshners) and having it sold in garages/shops especially in the Dublin area. I know I will be the cheapest supplier (this is all very vague I know but this part isnt important/what Im looking advice on).

Whats Id like to know is how I go about having it sold in Esso's, Shell garages etc as well as motor factors. I dont mind supplying them up front 1st, I just need to know who I should contact, how and advice from anyone who has done similar in the past.

Should I go round individual garages and sell directly or do these big firms have 1 sourcing dept I should contact?

PM Hammertime here, he's in that biz and will inform you - he gives good advice here.

Old Gill

niceirishfella wrote: »

PM Hammertime here, he's in that biz and will inform you - he gives good advice here.

thanks. Ive been told by a friend I should find a distribution company..would that seem to make sense?

shoutman

Yea I'd imagine finding a distribution company would be the natural way to go.

From my understanding, these companies have a range of products and approach the companies, petrol stations in this situation, with a view to getting them stocked.

Often companies find it easier to deal with distribution companies as they can get most of their products from one company as opposed to having to get them from many different ones, therefore its a lot easier to get a product sold if you do it via a distribution company.

That said I have zero experience in this market and as said already Hammertime would be the guy to talk to, no doubt he will see this thread and reply anyway.

Any news on this Old Gill ? Am looking into something similar.

Old Gill

Deleted User wrote: »

Any news on this Old Gill ? Am looking into something similar.

none so far.. got the product sourced and ready to go but need an order 1st!

What have you tried so far ?

joePC

Info recieved.

The Guvnor

I will go on record and say a distributor is not the way to go.

1. First of all they will add 25% to the final price or take 25% from your final price.
2. They might be keen to have it so no one else can distribute it but this does not guarantee you they will be motivated to push it for you.
3. It is probably not a product that cannot be copied so be careful of somebody stringing you along whilst sourcing it themselves.

I would be interested in how you get on with this as I have similar plans albeit from a perishable goods perspective.

Whatever it is did you register a domain name(s)? Did you look at trademarking this name? Don't forget the north.

From just thinking out loud about this a lot of the forecourts are spar type shops so maybe this is your first port of call.

I'm pretty sure you cannot be any worse pitching an idea to them than this year's apprentice candidates!:)

Best of luck mate.

Old Gill

The Guvnor wrote: »

I will go on record and say a distributor is not the way to go.

1. First of all they will add 25% to the final price or take 25% from your final price.
2. They might be keen to have it so no one else can distribute it but this does not guarantee you they will be motivated to push it for you.
3. It is probably not a product that cannot be copied so be careful of somebody stringing you along whilst sourcing it themselves.

I would be interested in how you get on with this as I have similar plans albeit from a perishable goods perspective.

Whatever it is did you register a domain name(s)? Did you look at trademarking this name? Don't forget the north.

From just thinking out loud about this a lot of the forecourts are spar type shops so maybe this is your first port of call.

I'm pretty sure you cannot be any worse pitching an idea to them than this year's apprentice candidates!:)

Best of luck mate.

Thanks.. that makes sense, I will be providing it free so dont want to be paying a distributor to take it.

The Guvnor

Will you let us know how you get on with this?
As one other poster said a member of boards runs a petrol station(s) so he would be worth pm'ing to test the water.

I find boards.ie is pretty good for this kind of thing by and large the members are decent and on the level and where possible keen to help etcetera.

killiank

Hi,

I do accounts work with one of the petrol station companies in Ireland. Approx 13 sites at last count. If you want to PM me & let me know what you are selling then I can pass on the details to the man who makes the decisions & see if he is interested.

How most of the fuel companies work is that they buy the majority of their goods from a central supplier i.e. spar/centra/londis/musgraves. So one way to go about it is to get in the door with these people. Their sales reps will then push your goods to all of their sites. This goes through what they call "central billing" & makes administration for the garages a lot easier as everything essentially coming in from one supplier. So there is an obvious benefit to the retail site to buy everything this way.

That said in the current environment money talks & if you go direct to the garages then it should mean that you arent sharing your profits with one of the wholesalers.

As I said if you want to pass me on your details I can pass on the details. I would also have some level of contact in one of the symbol group companies. Not enough to pass on your details but could prob get the name of the person who deals with their purchasing.

streamy

Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent but can anybody tell me, as an electricity salesman, should I approach individual managers in shops/garages in relation to switching to a cheaper company. Will I be told to go through the chain e.g. Esso , Londis...:cool:

Atlas_IRL

streamy wrote: »

Sorry to go off on a bit of a tangent but can anybody tell me, as an electricity salesman, should I approach individual managers in shops/garages in relation to switching to a cheaper company. Will I be told to go through the chain e.g. Esso , Londis...:cool:

Are you door to door thats get paid on commission?

FusionNet

Killiank,

Thats very helpful information, thanks for sharing that. Can I ask you. If I had a product which would be supplied free of charge and also save a company a good few Euro per year maybe even hundreds to thousands is that something your managment would be interested in???

streamy

Atlas_IRL wrote: »

Are you door to door thats get paid on commission?

I'm wondering would a manager of the shop/garage have the autourity to swicth provider. I already know how to get paid.:cool:

Bandara

What rates are you offering for electricity?

Symbol groups have seriously competitive rates agreed centrally with most of the big companies Energia etc. About 40% less than the normal competitive rates they offer to business

also dealing with a salesman of a small company would not interest me tbh (no offence meant)

The Guvnor

Hammertime wrote: »

also dealing with a salesman of a small company would not interest me tbh (no offence meant)

HT, are you referring to electricity/utilities or any small CO as per the OP's perspective?

Bandara

The Guvnor wrote: »

HT, are you referring to electricity/utilities or any small CO as per the OP's perspective?

I suppose I mean any small company, in saying that I deal with several tiny 1 and 2 man operations simply becuase I like them and the person I am dealing with is the owner and I know that if something goes to sh1t they will sort it immediately. I find the same cannot be said when dealing with a salesman from a small company, I would never deal with them as once something out of the ordinary happens and I need assistance they are nowhere to be found.

In summary my issue is dealing with an employee rather than the owner. Small companies need to convince me that they are better than the big companies through their service and attention to detail. If they can do that I'll happily commit to them even if they are a bit dearer than the big boys.