Vendor Reseller Partnerships: Insight from REI’s Award-Winning Vendor of the Year
What is a Vendor Reseller Relationship?
Since vendors rely on resellers for a significant amount of revenue, and resellers rely on vendors to stock them with products — both parties, if done properly can benefit professionally and financially from maintaining a well-balanced relationship.
Developing and maintaining a healthy relationship requires vendors and resellers to continually check-in with each other to reassess procedures, policies, objectives, goals and to avoid competition within the same ad space.
Fundamentally, communication is going to be the most determining factor throughout a vendor — reseller collaboration.
Like any healthy personal relationship, both parties must remain open to sharing their ideas and concerns to avoid independent tunnel-vision or egocentric tactics.
We spoke with Bobby Jackson, Vice President of Sales at Eagles Nest Outfitters on his company’s latest award as REI Vendor Partner of the Year (2014) and what strategies he believes were a direct result of this successful partnership.
REI Awards Eagles Nest Outfitters Inc. Vendor Partner of the Year
REI’s Vendor of the Year Award REI is a $2 billion national multichannel retail co-op headquartered outside of Seattle.
With more than five million active members, REI serves the needs of outdoor adventurers through innovative, quality products; inspiring classes and trips; and integrated customer services. REI has 138 stores in 33 states, REI.com and REI.com/outlet.
The Vendor Partner of the Year awards program was established in 1993.
Each year, companies are nominated by the co-op’s three merchandising divisions — camp/travel, action sports and outdoor wear — for their efforts to build a strategic and successful relationship focused on meeting member and customer needs, and to bring quality, innovation, outdoor stewardship and performance to the industry.
About Eagles Nest Outfitters (ENO)
From a two-man, one-van operation, the company has grown significantly since it’s founding in 1999 to become one of the highest quality relaxation product distributors for outdoor enthusiasts including parachutes hammocks and other travel accessories.
“Eagles Nest Outfitters redefined the hammock category and saw amazing growth in 2014. They are the consummate vendor partner. With their highly engaged, collaborative and strategic approach, they worked closely with REI to continue to deliver product and maintained above-market performance through the year,” Susan Viscon, Senior Vice President of REI Merchandising said.
Best Practices of an Award Winning Vendor
Out of hundreds of vendors, REI selected Eagle’s Nest Outfitters based on the following criteria:
- Quality – Integrity of products and branding
- Innovation – Creative products and practices
- Sustainability – Environmental awareness, packaging, etc.
- Retail Support – How well vendors work directly with the reseller
“In the outdoor industry, this is one of the most coveted awards. They [REI], of course is always looking for something extra. So above and beyond all of this, we were the number two selling SKU out of the whole company for the year. It’s obvious sales performance was a huge factor as well,” Jackson said.
Overcoming Vendor-Reseller Challenges
“The growth curve for our little company over the last four or five years has been steep. So while REI is growing with us and we’re enjoying a great partnership — we also have 700 other independent dealers (ex: Dick’s Sporting Goods & Bass Pro Shops). Our biggest challenge was making sure that we were able to deliver on time as close to 100 percent as possible. We were facing inventory challenges and it’s still that way today,” Jackson said.
Every year Eagle’s Nest Outfitters forecasts for the upcoming year what would be a healthy growth curve. Basically, they attempt to determine what and how much they can manage in the near future.
“When retailers are demanding more and more – I’d say the biggest challenge was keeping REI in stock and making sure they had enough product to be selling at all times. As far as the relationship: I wish every retailer was what REI is to us. There is a true relationship and a partnership there that goes beyond what we’re doing here — which is selling.”
Advice for Vendors
Although no one has a crystal ball, Jackson shares his company’s best practices to maintain healthy, balanced reseller relationships:
- Contingency Planning – Have back-up procedures in place to avoid chaotic pitfalls.
- Constant Communication – Keep an open point of contact at all times.
- Cross Channel Support – Provide easy access to quality product images, descriptions and videos for B2B use.
- Participated in Collaborative Work & Sustainability Issues – Ensure factories and supply chain meets (or exceeds) industry standards.
- Personalized Support – Staff available for in-store clinics, daily visits, after hour calls, and in general sales support.
- Look Beyond Business – Vendors should look beyond the business and professional relationship and find some common threads. It’s kind of why we are in this industry because we all love what we sell and making sure that that is always in the back of our minds is also very important.
For more information on how to build a healthy vendor-reseller relationship check out our white paper below.
This guide includes why vendor – reseller partnerships matter, key elements to consider, and expert advice on how both parties can find success and maintain balance within their own SEM relationship.
Topics Discussed Include:
- How Vendor & Resellers Can Avoid Increasing CPCs
- 4 Questions for Vendors to Consider in Resellers SEM Relationships
- What is a Vendor-Reseller Relationship?
- Expert Insight from Award-Winning Vendor Partner of the Year
How to Build Healthy Vendor-Reseller SEM Partnerships
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