Issues in Selling to Wal-Mart and What to Know About Co-Branding

Posted by Paul Christ July 17, 2009

Labels: Branding, Distribution and Product Movement, Legal Issue in Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Retailing

Highlighted Marketing Stories:

The Profits and Perils of Supplying to Wal-Mart (BusinessWeek) - Gaining distribution in Wal-Mart is viewed by many marketers as being the pinnacle of marketing success. But that is not always the case especially for smaller firms that do not fully understand what they are getting into.

The contract, commonly known as the vendor agreement, outlines the mechanics of how the supplier and retailer will work together. The agreement generally addresses sales and delivery timeframe, arbitration, and termination rights, and liability.

While the initial contract is important, renewing a contract seems even more important. Why?

The Pros and Cons of Co-Branding (BusinessWeek) - As companies search for new ways to build revenue the idea of sharing brand responsibilities with another company may seem attractive. While this story discusses advantages to co-branding, it also discusses why companies should be cautious when going down that road. The story also has a nice list of companies involved in co-branding.

Co-branding is not just for giant national or international brands. While a small business may have difficulty linking up with Nike or Procter & Gamble, there are an increasing number of off the shelf co-branding opportunities of which many businesses can avail themselves.

So how exactly does one company start a conversation with another company to consider co-branding?