In this episode...

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies 

Laura Hargrave: Welcome everyone here at Boss It. We would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boss It community by heading over to our website, bossitclub.com, and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community of fellow Boss It BFFs, and we want you to be a part of it.

Okay, Sophia Noreen, let's dig into this. I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here.

Sophia Noreen: Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big-box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full-time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family, and self-care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day.

There should be no hesitation. Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you!

Sophia Noreen: What's up everyone. Welcome to another fantastic episode of the boss podcast. I am here today to talk to a little bit about a question that I keep getting, and that is how did our brand also Sophia get into Walmart. I know some individuals are still scratching their heads today because we're a pretty small company for getting into such a large retailer, but I'm gonna tell you.
 
About our story today because I feel like it's a little overdue. I have mentioned it on the podcast in various forms, through our lessons learned. And so I'll put a link below this video, if you're catching us on the YouTube if you wanna go back to previous episodes, which are audio and you can find us on Spotify, but I wanna get a little bit deeper into why was our brand selected for the shelf at Walmart?
 
Talk to you about a few struggles that we've had along the way, because we've actually launched our product in the middle of the pandemic. It hit the Walmart shelves, April, 2020. So I will let you sit down and take a moment to absorb that because during that time it was. Locked down. We were locked down.
 
And so we launched our seasonal product in the middle of a pandemic. And I wanna share my story because I want to highlight a few things that if you are a new business owner, you need to be able to take the story as an example. And. Use it to fuel any of your battles with barriers as you move your business forward.
 
So take a seat and let's get started. All right, now that you're seated and ready to go. I wanna talk to you about why I think we were able to get into Walmart and I believe provided us an advantage, but I want you to also take this information and apply it to your own business. If you are a business owner or an aspiring business.
 
And you do wanna serve the large retail space. Remember if you go into large retail, there's a lot of other confounding variables that you need to manage. You scale a lot quicker. So definitely keep that as an option for one of your sales channels. And I'll say this, when we were providing our customers with products, we knew that our customer was shopping at Walmart.
 
And so naturally when I was designing the product, I would design the product for a Walmart customer. And that was in regards to the packaging that was also in regards to the price. And when we were at a show, we were at like a vendor's market. And so the products were already made for Walmart without being on the Walmart shelf.
 
And what I mean by that is that it was packaged in a way that was very eye catching. The packaging was very clean. It had all the elements of a package that you would see on a shelf. And so when we had a corporate member from Walmart walk by our stall, now we were at an event that was like a shopping event.
 
It was like a market and it was housed within a larger meeting slash convention for women. And so it was specific to our community. These women were attending the sessions and then during their breaks, they would come to the market and they would go shopping. And one of the members of that. Was working at Walmart at the time, or she had worked in Walmart.
 
And so she saw the product and she actually came up to us and was kind of like Walmart needs this product on their shelf. They're looking for vendors for this particular niche. And again, we're niche down. Right? So our also Sophia brand provides culturally specific products for minority festivals in north America.
 
And so because of that, it was a really easy way for that particular member corporate member of Walmart to say, Hey, I need to introduce you because this is gonna help out the customers at Walmart. And if you are willing and able, then your brand and company can also, you know, benefit. So if you are now thinking like, oh, I wanna do something similar.
 
My suggestion is, think about the retail space. You wanna see your product in. And then start almost reverse engineering, what you are going to create. So if it's say a clothing brand and you imagine your clothing brand to be amongst the Chanels of the world, then you'll have to reverse engineer that and say, how can I, of course, create a brand and create a product that will fit in line with that particular customer and their need.
 
I always say, try to think of a problem too, that you can solve, because it's easier than for you to create a solution or a product. And then you, no doubt will be able to sell it because you're solving a problem for your customer. And so really that sums up the initial introduction for the Walmart. It was really being at the right place the right time.
 
So I will never discount luck, but it was the fact that the product had already been made for that Walmart customer. It had already been created for that person in mind. And when. Member of Walmart walked by. They were like, oh, okay. That's a perfect product for the shelve. And after that, it was a very super fast ordeal, but there was some steps of slowness as well.
 
So let's get into that next. Okay. So once we got that Walmart buyer category manager connection, and we were discussing what to do next was when it became very interesting. It was 2019. And so we had launched in 2018 and 2019. We were still very, very new at that point. We were on the shelf at local stores at indigo, and that was simply me going to the store managers and expressing the need for the product for the community.
 
And they were completely in line. And I was thinking we would just be at indigo for a day to hold our event and have the products there, but they actually wanted it on the shelf because they realized that they were also lacking in this category. And so when Walmart came in 2019 and they're like, we need the products in a month, I didn't have the products for them and that's fine.
 
They still really wanted to engage with us. So it took some time for us to reengage with them for 2020. But we did that. And so we put together a beautiful proposal, they liked it. And then we went ahead and we provided Walmart that year with 80 stores worth of like products for the shelf. And so they gave us an end cap and an end tap is like that section.
 
At the end of the aisle, it was a very premium placement. And many people will say, you can't get endcap placements unless you pay. But because at the time they still needed that category. They still wanted to provide that diversity. To their stores. They didn't ask any funding or payment from us, which we were very lucky to be allowed that opportunity.
 
But like I said, we were in the middle of a pandemic. So when the products arrived and I was shocked that the products even arrived because everything was logged down. And so. Our shipment was supposed to cut at the end of February, 2020. And as you know, at that time COVID and pandemic, they used to call it the coronavirus back then it was like a hot mess as it was coming out of Asia.
 
And we got our products out of Asia. Luckily right before Chinese new year had hit before lunar new year had hit. And so we got it out and at that point it only took 23 days to cross. And so we're coming. Of course Asia, all the way to Toronto. That's where we do our fulfillment from. And that was a pretty good timeframe.
 
Cuz now if you ask me today, we wait three months to get our products here and that is killing us because it's like watching pink, dry as I call it. I'm like it is as slow as washing paint dry. So we caught our products and we were able to successfully get them to the distribution centers at Walmart. So that's one thing everyone has to keep in mind.
 
You can either be direct to store delivery or you could send it to the distribution center. So we were sending it to the distribution center. Luckily in Canada, we don't have as many compared to the us, which is another huge undertaking, but we were able to do that. And the hats off to the logistics team who did all of that, because it was a very trying time for them as well.
 
There was nobody working, it was locked down, but because they. That this was the first time for us. And it was a Walmart purchase order. They were like on it and they really wanted to get it done and they really wanted to do it. Right. So I really commend them for that time for helping us to not to get into too much of the story today.
 
But I was also having a family crisis and we lost a loved one right in the middle of all of this. So stay tuned, hit the subscribe or follow, and you will, of course hear that story. But again, just highlighting the fact that you were in the middle of the pandemic, launching a seasonal product. And again, our seasonal product only stays on the shelf for six weeks and then it's done.
 
It's not like we have the opportunity to sell it later. Walmart will dispose of it the way they see fit because it is not going to move usually after season. So we usually exit the program in different ways, which I will of course cover in different episodes in the future. So again, that was really how we initially got on the.
 
I think what people don't realize is that getting on the shelf is only half of it. You need to continue to sell off the shelves. And if you don't do that, then you won't get any reorders. Again, there are so many vendors out there and you have to be cognizant that, yes, of course you are going to be serving that purchase order, but it's also your responsibility as a business owner and as a company to ensure you have a good strategy to take the products off the.
 
Yes. If your product is eye-catching again, I talk about packaging. I don't know what it is, but I love retail ready packaging. Again, I trained as a physiotherapist, so I don't understand where this has come from, but I will literally pick up packaging for other products and have a look at it and see what it is attracting me to that packaging.
 
And so if you can, right now, if you are looking to grow and scale your business, my suggestion is to look at things that will drive your customer. To grab that product off the shelf and purchase it. And if you can think of that, then usually the other elements will line up. I have so much more to this story, but I don't want this to get too lengthy.
 
So I'm gonna continue sharing what happened subsequent to all of 2020, because 2021 story is actually not that best because in Ontario, we went into a significant non-essential shopping lock. But I wanna hold that for next week. So you guys can hit subscribe and follow. If you have caught this ending of this episode, I'm super happy.
 
And I'm going to tell you all about that, but it was actually a really bad ending and much worse than the 20, 20 shutdown. So stay tuned. And again, I'm just giving you these stories today, so you can use them as examples. And I am of course, highlighting a few things that we will continue to really.
 
Understand, like I talked about the exit strategy for the products to lead the shelf. We'll go more into that later as well. And a few more of these tangible things that I really feel vendors should know if they wanna work with a big retailer and things that you may not read about, because these are things that I discovered through experience.
 
So one of the goals for this podcast is to spread the word and help more vendors and more businesses grow. And. So again, guys, thank you for joining us and make sure you hit subscribe and follow and I will catch you guys again next. Remember, make a plan and take action and yes, you can have it all take care. Bye.

Sophia Noreen: So my fellow Bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now, it's time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the Boss It Podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story, and tag us at Boss It Club. If Instagram is not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to [email protected]. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our top 50 tips for starting and scaling a business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers so don't miss out. Now, remember Bosses, make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes, you can have it all.