Despite noise to the contrary, gaining traction with a top-notch pet product distributor is still one of the best ways to get your product into the most doors.  Many pet product manufacturers would like to get into distribution, but don’t know how to get started.  Or perhaps they are already in distributors, but want to find out how to get their product more attention and stand out from the crowd of 10,000+ products.  Join John Lawton, former Vice President of Vendor Development for Phillips Pet Supplies, and moderator Carol Frank, who owned a distribution company that she sold to Central Garden and Pet, to learn the ins and outs of how to successfully use pet distributors to build your manufacturing company.  Among other things, you will learn:

• Distribution 101: The pet specialty product launch tool kit. Increase your organizations’ awareness about how distributors and key retailers make decisions on what brands and items they will add to their portfolio
• Product Attributes: Enhance your chance of success by understanding how your products stack up to the competition and what may or may not already be on the retailer’s shelf.
• Building Blocks: Discuss the structure and strategy behind product launches and timing to pet specialty, big box (Petco and PetSmart), midsized pet specialty chains, E-commerce, alternate formats (farm and feed, hardware) and food/drug, mass.
• Stand Out: How you can use your ingredients, packaging, and programs to make your brand and your position with distributors and retailers more interesting and compelling
• Post Launch Goals:  What does it take to maintain and grow your business with distributors and retailers once the product has launched
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