Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Having patented and prototyped my (2) products, I am ready to bring them to market. I have priced out packaging and have lined up my manufacturing. Question is, Should I be the person to get a UPC number and a Dunn and Bradstreet number? I have found that big stores usually will not accept single products. My idea is to approach them with a complete product. Any Ideas are welcomed.

When you are ready to approach the retailers with your product, you will need to have a D & B number. It doesn`t cost anything to get a DUNS number (don`t let them pressure you into the "rapid" service) but it can take up to 30 days. This website has information about UPCs: www.uc-council.org.

Good luck,
RF

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I would look at a private label with a major player in the market.  You are correct in that most retailers do not like to carry one SKU from one vendor.  Having said this, if the product is a good product and the buyer feels that the pull through numbers will be adequate, I have seen drug store chains carry one SKU but all in all its awfully rare anymore. 

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Michael Bloom is President of Sinotech in Portland, Oregon, which has been engineering and supplying custom mechanical and electromechanical parts to clients across the globe for over 20 years. Michael is certified by the U.S. Small Business Administration as a Global Trade Counselor and by NASBITE International as a Certified Global Business Professional (CGBP). Michael received his B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the City College of New York, an M.S. in Counseling from Long Island University and has done doctoral work in Educational Administration at Hofstra University. He is the former President and current Board member of the Northwest China Council and an advisor to Portland’s Small Business Development Center. Michael is also a speaker for the Jewish Federation of Portland’s Hope for Peace project and a founder and officer of the Oregon-Israel Business Alliance. He has published more than 50 magazine articles and conference papers and has been quoted often in various media outlets on issues concerning China.

You are responsible for having a upc and a Dunns number. This is essential to selling your product to any major retailer.  They will look at your dunns report to make sure you are not a finacial liability.  You will also need to purchase liability insurance before a buyer will purchase your product.  I know that everyone says its hard to get a buyer to purchase a one item problem and it is true because of the cost involved in setting up a vendor with only one product.  If the buyer really likes your product, they will either purchase it directly or send you to a distributor they deal with that will purchase your product.  Don't worry about having a one item product, just get the meeting and get the buyer interested in your product and the rest of the process will take care of itself.

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