How To: Find Distributors These middlemen can get your product on store shelves. Here's how.
By Jan Norman
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When Ronn King started his own company to make a new type ofpaint mixer, the toughest part wasn't coming up with theidea--or even figuring out how to manufacture it. The toughest partwas persuading retailers to stock it.
Most national retail chains would rather buy a hundred productsfrom one supplier than one product each from a hundred differentsuppliers. So small manufacturers have a tough time breaking intothe game, says King, 47, co-founder of Site-b in Spokane,Washington.
King's company makes a paint-stirring device called theSquirrel Mixer. More than 120,000 were sold worldwide in 1997through such major stores as Home Depot.
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