How to get your products onto the shelves of big-box stores

How to get your products onto the shelves of big-box stores

How to get your products onto the shelves of big-box stores

To get your invention into big box stores, persistence is more important than the pitch itself.

That’s according to commercial realtor-turned entrepreneur Wes Johnson, whose startup, Lawson Hammock, now has its products in two: Cabela’s and Bass Pro Shops.

And his goal for 2014? To keep up that persistence and nail more distributors, such as outdoors retailer REI, which tops his current wish list.

Johnson, based out of Raleigh entrepreneurial coworking space HQ Raleigh, has patented a camping tent that doubles as a ground tent.

“Basically, it started just from an interest in the outdoors,” he says. “I loved camping and fly fishing, always enjoyed outdoor products and ran into some parachute-type camping hammocks when I was out and about, never ran into anything that could be used for overnight camping.”

So, while working in commercial real estate, he started Lawson Hammock as a side project, raising cash from friends and family to get started.

“Luckily, with this product, we’re generating sales right away,” he says.

Specifically, the spreader bar – wooden in a traditional rope hammock – is collapsible. That, and the attachable rain tarp and bug netting sets his four-pound product apart, he says.

But he can say it’s unique all day long.

It doesn’t matter if he can’t make the sale.

So, to grab the attention of Bass Pro Shops, he did say it all day long, reaching out repetitively to anyone and everyone from the retailer on social media.

“It takes a lot,” he says. “They don’t really give out their buyer names, so you have to be really creative.”

Bass Pro Shops took over a year to see to his way of thinking – but they finally did, a few months ago.

Lauren Ohnesorge covers information technology and entrepreneurship.
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