While more distributors are choosing to offer private label products, doing so requires more than just slapping your company's name on the label.
"The first time we attempted it 15 years ago, it was a miserable experience because we didn’t have all the right processes in place to ensure the quality and everything else,” says Michael Flink, president of ADI, a security and low-voltage products distributor with more than 200 branch locations.
You don't have to become an engineering firm or a manufacturer of your private label products (though some distributors do choose that route), but you do have to make sure you are answering some key strategic questions, including how to brand your private label products and how to position them within the rest of your portfolio.
As Rob Tiberi, former brand manager for global lab supplies distributor VWR International, put it: “… If you’re trying to accomplish margin improvement, and that’s your only starting point, then you may have to rethink your strategy."
How can distributors build a better private label strategy? We look at some of the key elements in the latest issue of MDM Premium:
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