Finding stockists & retail buyers
An independent sales rep carries your line into shops in their territory, writes orders, and takes a commission on what ships. They do not buy your stock, they do not warehouse it, and they do not take the credit risk. You still invoice the shop, pack the order and chase the payment.
That is the crucial difference from a distributor, and it is why reps suit a small brand earlier. You keep the margin and the customer relationship; you pay for the selling only when selling happens. What the other arrangement costs instead is set out in retail distributor.
What a rep actually does for you
Reps have something a new brand does not: a room full of buyers who already take their calls. A good rep in gift or home carries a dozen or so lines, visits shops on a rotation, works a showroom at trade markets, and knows which of their accounts has space in your category this season.
Practically, that means three things.
They get your line in front of buyers who would not have opened your email. A buyer who declines a cold message will look at a sample a rep puts on the counter, because the rep has already sold them four things that worked.
They shorten the sell-in. A rep writes the order on the spot with a buyer who trusts them, instead of the three-message sequence an unknown brand needs.
They tell you the truth about the product. A rep who cannot sell your line will say why: the price is wrong for the shelf, the case pack is too deep, the packaging does not photograph, the category is full. That feedback in the first season is worth as much as the orders.
What it costs
Commission in independent retail typically runs in the mid-teens as a share of the wholesale value of shipped orders, sometimes lower on house accounts you brought yourself, sometimes higher for a rep who also carries inventory or works a showroom.
Run it against a real margin before agreeing. A candle at thirteen dollars wholesale and seven dollars landed cost leaves six dollars. A commission around two dollars a unit takes a third of your contribution. That is defensible when the rep is producing orders you would not otherwise have, and it is painful when the rep is collecting commission on accounts you found yourself.
So define the account types in writing. House accounts, which you opened before the rep existed or which came in through your own site, pay a reduced commission or none. Territory accounts pay the full rate. Accounts a rep opens stay commissionable for as long as the rep is active, which is the standard expectation and the thing brands most often try to change later, unsuccessfully.
Also decide when commission is earned: on shipment or on payment. On payment is safer for you and reps generally accept it, provided you pay promptly once the invoice clears. Late commission payments end rep relationships faster than poor sales do. The invoice timing itself follows your own terms, discussed in wholesale payment terms.
When a brand is ready for one
Three conditions, and all three matter.
The product has sold through somewhere. A rep sells with evidence. Ten shops that reordered is a story a rep can tell; a beautiful product with no history is a story they cannot.
You can supply reliably. Reps stake their own relationships on your lead times. One late shipment into a shop the rep has served for six years and you have cost them something they will not risk again.
The commercial terms are finished. Price list, case packs, minimums, freight policy and lead times all fixed and written down. A rep cannot sell from a brand that is still deciding, and every question they cannot answer is an order they do not write. The one-page version they will carry is described in wholesale terms sheet.
If any of those is missing, spend the season selling direct instead. Fifty qualified shops approached properly will teach you what the rep would have needed to know anyway, and how to build that list is in independent retailers.
Finding reps worth having
Reps are found roughly where buyers are found, with one addition.
Ask your existing stockists. A shop that already carries you knows which reps call on them and which ones they are glad to see. This is by far the best source, and the question is simply: who are the reps you actually look forward to?
Walk the showrooms at a trade market in your category. Rep groups exhibit their lines together, and the lines on their walls tell you immediately whether your product belongs in that room.
Look at the stockist lists of brands a little larger than yours in the same category, then find out who sells for them.
Check the trade associations for reps in gift, home and related categories, which maintain directories organised by territory.
Then qualify them the way you would qualify a shop. Which lines do they carry now, and does any of them compete directly with yours? How many accounts do they call on in your category? Which shops in your target list do they already sell to? How often do they visit rather than email? A rep who carries a directly competing line is not a fit, however good they are.
The agreement worth writing
Short, and there are five things it must say.
The territory, defined by geography and by account type, and whether any accounts are carved out as house accounts.
The commission rate, when it is earned, and when it is paid.
What you provide: samples, a sample case, line sheets, photography, and whether samples are sold to the rep at cost or loaned.
The performance expectation, stated as a volume or an account count over a defined period, and what happens if it is not met.
Notice on either side, and what happens to accounts and to commission when the arrangement ends. Thirty days of commission on orders already in progress is a common settlement and avoids an ugly ending.
Do not grant a national territory to one rep. Territories are regional for a reason: a rep covers the shops they can physically visit, and a rep holding a whole country holds the shops they will never reach.
Working with a rep once they start
Reps carry many lines and put their hours into the ones that are easy to sell.
Give them a sample set that survives a car boot and unpacks in a minute. Give them a single page of product knowledge with the three sentences a shop assistant should say. Answer their questions the same day, because they are standing in a shop when they ask. Send them a list of your existing accounts in their territory so they do not walk into an awkward conversation.
And ask for the feedback, every month. Which shops said no, and why. A rep hears the objection you never see, because buyers tell reps the truth and send brands a polite decline. What the buyer is weighing when they say no is covered in retail buyer.
If you are trying to work out which territories are even worth covering, the geography of your category is the input you are missing. Paste a product link into WholesalePilot and look at the preview of the retailers and distributors that stock comparable products, and let the clusters on that list decide which regions justify a rep at all.
Questions brands ask about sales reps
Can I have reps and sell direct at the same time? Yes, and most small brands do. The house account rules are what keep it from becoming a dispute.
Do reps charge a retainer? Some ask for one, particularly to take on a new brand with no history. A small retainer for a defined period is reasonable if it is credited against commission earned.
What about showroom fees at a market? Rep groups often charge a share of showroom costs during trade market weeks. Treat it as a marketing cost and judge it on the orders written during that market, not on the season as a whole.
How long before a rep produces? A season to learn the line, a season to sell it. Judging a rep after three months is judging the sampling period rather than the selling.