Contacting suppliers

[Mr.T]

Hi

I've been reading the forum for a while now, but this is my first post.

I’m planning to open a shop selling designer watches and sunglasses, i've been saving for quite a while now and have now got the funds to start the business, however I am really struggling to get the suppliers i need
I have contacted the designers/manufactures that I want to stock however i'm getting pretty much the same response from all off them. Basically they say that I need to have a premises/business before they will even talk to me about suppling me, they won't even give me a rough idea of how much the stock will cost me. The problem is I can't really get premises first and then contact suppliers to see how much all the stock will cost. So I’m pretty much stuck

Any ideas on how I can get the suppliers to talk to me without committing £1000's on getting premises before I even found out if I can make a profit??

Many Thanks

[BEN]

Hi,

I know how you feel!!

I had a call from Oakley on Friday about a project I'm working on, you ahve to have a shop....which has to be vetted by an Oaklet rep!

On top of that, I had to buy a 6k starter pack from them which included most of their range.

I know this good for them, branding, image etc....but no good for the web punter like me :-(

They dont even sell to wholesalers.

Drop me a line if you get lucky, as I'm buying from wholesalers.

Welcome BTW!
Ben.

[1stforfurniture]

perhaps you should consider the trade exhbitions? Its a good way to actually meet with rep's and barter for order values etc.

Unfortunately, you really do need to have a company formed and have trading premises before most ''big" suppliers will deal with you, fortuantely i had the contacts before starting up, which helps big time.

One the next trade fairs is trade expo, in earls court 12-14 june