March 27, 2025 • 29 mins
How do you go from zero to over a thousand stockists in under two years?
That is exactly what we are talking about today. I am joined by Andrew Kemp, co-founder of Bare Kind and Candid Founders, a YouTube channel helping businesses grow through wholesale.
Bare Kind is not your average sock company. They sell socks that save animals, supporting 40 different charities along the way, and they have successfully expanded into over a thousand retailers.
In this episode, we look at the strategies behind that growth—using B2B ecommerce platforms, targeting niche markets, and building trust through certifications.
Even if you do not sell wholesale, there is plenty here for you! Andrew’s approach to finding and keeping customers is valuable no matter how you sell.
[02:20] How Andrew scaled the brand so quickly in the early days
[06:04] The biggest mistakes businesses make on the Faire platform
[10:22] How Andrew helps retailers succeed with wholesale
[12:49] One lesson Andrew wants founders to learn about retail
[15:31] How to find contacts in your niche market
[26:19] Ways that retailers can stay ahead in the wholesale market
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
How do you grow your number ofstockists to over a thousand
(00:03):
in just under two years?
That's what we're going to beexploring in today's podcast.
I am joined by Andrew Kemp, the cofounder of Bare Kind and also Candid
Founders, which is a YouTube channelhelping people grow with wholesale.
Hi, I'm Catherine.
I am the founder of the Resilient RetailClub, which is my membership group and
mastermind for product business owners.
(00:24):
You can find out more about myservices at resilientretailclub.com.
I'm also your host today, and I'm goingto be diving in with Andrew to get into
the nitty gritty of how he grew his sales.
Now, even if you don't have a productthat you wholesale stick around, have a
listen, because what Andrew talks aboutis applicable to finding customers for
your business, no matter how you sell.
(00:48):
Welcome to the Resilient Retail GamePlan, a podcast for anyone wanting to
start, grow or scale a profitable creativeproduct business with me, Catherine Erdly.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
(01:12):
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
(01:32):
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
Welcome to the podcast, Andrew.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Do you want to start off byintroducing yourself and your business?
Hey, Catherine, it's Andy herefrom Bare Kind and Candid Founders.
(01:53):
We sell socks that save animals.
I've got a little prop here.
This is our ducks.
We save ducks.
We've supported 40 differentcharities and then we got into over
a thousand different retailers.
So we started a little YouTube channeland we're just trying to share with other
businesses how we grew from zero retailersto a thousand in a couple of years.
And I think there's a lot that otherbusiness owners can learn from that.
(02:15):
So we're just trying toshare that kind of journey.
So thank you so much forhaving me on the pod.
No, it's my pleasureand let's jump in then.
So a thousand retailers, that'sno small feat in two years.
How did you manage to scale so quicklywhen the brand was still so new?
Well, it was honestlya really crazy thing.
So we've been running Bare Kind forbasically just coming up to eight
(02:36):
years now in a couple of months time.
And the first couple of years we wereselling metal straws, plastic t shirts,
bamboo socks, recyclable tote bags.
Kind of everything and anything that wethought could help improve the world.
And we kind of did a bit of anexperimentation and we tried a
whole bunch of different productsand our bamboo socks took off.
Funny enough, you can't really communicatethe feel of a plastic t shirt, the metal
(03:01):
straw with a bit of a kind of fad, and itturns out no one actually buys tote bags.
They just kind of get them.
So we went into the animal socksand that was going really well.
But we were just kind of,not stuck, is the wrong word.
But we were just focusing ondirect to consumer e commerce,
kind of that bread and butter.
Like everyone saw in COVID, kindof massive return on ad spend.
(03:23):
And we were doing really well, so wedidn't really need to look elsewhere.
So then we got to a point,essentially, where we were introduced
by one of my friends, Martin.
Who said, "Actually, Faire is comingto the UK." And I was thinking:
what's this Faire platform?
Essentially, Faire in the US wasthe way that direct to consumer
businesses were getting in frontof the long tail of retailers.
(03:45):
There's so many retailersaround in the world.
As you guys know, better than most, right?
I mean, we're kind of sitting, howdo we get in front of podiatrists?
How do we get in frontof physiotherapists?
Really everyone and anyone who wouldwant to save animals with socks.
And yeah, so Faire came to the UK.
They had this stonking offer,which was 400 pounds, which is
crazy to think for introducingretailers to the Faire platform.
(04:09):
And so we went out and we foundthose kind of rich niches.
And this is what we're recommending tobusinesses like the ones that follow
your kind of podcast, Catherine, isgo into those deep niches where they
might not have had a product before.
And kind of want a product.
And the way that we think aboutthat is service based businesses.
Because every service based businesswants to be a product based business.
(04:31):
Every product business wants to bea service business and vice versa.
So we just thought about everyservice business that's out there
that might be interested in socks,and podiatrists came to mind.
We went really hard on that.
We acquired pretty much everypodiatrist in the country.
And then, yeah, we've managedto hold onto quite a few.
And now we've got, yeah, a thousand.
A long answer.
I'm sorry, but I get a bitexcited about how to do it.
(04:54):
Oh, that's fascinating.
And that was all possiblethrough the Faire platform
because they were then using it?
Or you were introducingpeople to Faire at that point?
Yeah, exactly.
And Faire was heavilyincentivized to do that.
Obviously, once you get toFaire, you then are more likely
to shop other products as well.
So there's definitely a transactionalelement of Faire versus kind of
(05:14):
that relationship building retailexperience that you'd expect in kind
of like a brand going directly to aretailer rather than via a marketplace.
What I would say is like, youknow, and this is something that
we hear all the time is peoplesay, "Oh, well, I'm not going to
be able to build the relationship."
Well, actually that might be fine.
And I don't know about you guys, butthere's quite a lot of businesses that we
(05:36):
manage that are probably doing, you know,half the average order value compared to
someone who has a relationship with us.
Yeah.
More importantly, there's absolutelyzero operational overhead.
I don't have to speak with them.
The order comes through,I get guaranteed payment.
There's just absolutely no risk.
And so it's super easy.
Pipe straight in from Faire intomy Shopify, then into my warehouse
(05:58):
order goes out, I get paid.
So there's definitely pros and cons, butI think it's definitely worth testing out.
So let's talk about thenthe Faire platforms.
You've seen a lot of brands thattry to get stock through Faire.
But what are some of the biggestmistakes you see business owners make
when it comes to the Faire platformand what should they do instead?
Number one we hear is, "Oh, I've listedall my products on Faire. I still haven't
(06:19):
gotten an order." And that's becausetypically 99 times out of a 100, when
someone says that they haven't done abit more work to get the next order.
So they've listed everything,they've got a great product range.
They've developed their page.
It looks fantastic.
Maybe they haven't done B2B focused SEO.
That's step one.
Make sure it's really easy to search.
Faire is a much more underdevelopedplatform in comparison to Google has
(06:42):
been doing SEO for 20 plus years.
So focus on those like top tier keywords.
This is our duck sock, right?
So go back to it.
You know, what we say on our website is wetitle this the Save the Ducks Bamboo Sock.
But on Faire, it's duck sock,duck bamboo sock, blue sock.
You know, really top level key terms.
(07:04):
And that's what we recommend.
And then the second part is go out andfind retailers that you can introduce
to Faire and send some of yourretailers to purchase through Faire.
You get guaranteed payment andthey get more retailers onto
that platform and they're goingto push you in their algorithm.
Every business to a T that I've seen dothat has massively increased their sales.
What do you recommend Catherine?
(07:24):
Is there anything you've kindof seen so far in that space?
I think you make a great point thereabout the discoverability, because
I think that Faire is used by somany retailers for discovery, right?
They are looking forsomething very specific.
But I think there's also youknow, making sure that you're
shouting about your credentials.
People who are retailers who curatetheir products, they often will
(07:47):
have very specific criteria, right?
So they want it to be you know,some people will only buy things
that are plastic free, for example.
Or they might buy things that areyou know, organic or regenerative.
So whatever it might be, makesure it's really easy for people
to see what your said credentialsor your selling points are.
I think that's a really interesting pointthere about actually seeing that in a
(08:09):
uptick when you introduce people to theFaire platform, which makes sense, right?
Cause Faire want more,they want more retailers.
They want more demand onthe platform for sure.
That's always going tobe their goal, isn't it?
They want to reach more retailersand they want to boost the demand
for their people on their platform.
I think it's just really thinking abouthow the retailer is going to be using it,
which is a lot of the time for discovery.
(08:30):
Right, they're trying to findsomething new and different and fun
and interesting for their customers.
That's always the question thatthey're asking themselves is
my customer going to love this?
That is such a good insight.
And really like the key part, I thinkthat the value proposition that Faire
brings to brands like ourselves is thatit makes discoverability so much easier.
Whereas previously, maybe youwent to spring Faire, maybe you
(08:52):
went to the big trade shows.
Maybe you kind of were hoping thatsomeone finds you, but now there's
that one place, one stop shop tofind new brands that align with all
of your values and go through that.
And you don't have to be inthese really expensive places.
And I think as well, the other thingthat I would say about a lot of
retailers is that they're trying topresumably it's the same for these rich
(09:12):
niches, like the podiatrists, right?
They're trying to find productsthat are going to be really unique
to them and really set them apartfrom their local competition.
I think that's the great thing aboutFaire as well is this whole range
to choose from and you can createsomething that really reflects you as
the business owner, what you want toput in your store and then also helps
(09:34):
set you apart so that you're not justselling carbon copy of what somebody
down the street is selling, right?
Because that's why we go to independentsto get something unique that is really
reflective of the owner's perspective asopposed to just kind of a generic product.
That is such a good connection and fammakes that easy with the exclusivity.
By just making it super simple.
(09:55):
Okay, I can get exclusivity as aretailer at a relatively small amount,
depending on what the brand is offering.
And that gives you that certaintythat actually I'm going to be the
only person stocking this in town.
That's the number one thing.
So many indies I know, they just wantto know that they're going to have a
unique kind of selling point or yournext door neighbor sells thought or
(10:16):
maybe they sell some other type ofbrand, but actually I want to be the
only people selling that kind of socks.
Yeah, that's actually a great connection.
Yeah, it means a lot to them.
I think it's a greataddition to the platform.
So you could have kept all of thiswholesale knowledge for yourself, but
instead you launched Candid Founders.
What was it that made you want to helpother people with their wholesale journey?
The whole thing for us with Bare Kind isthat we donate 10 percent of the profits
(10:39):
from the sock to the animal on the sock.
And we wanted to continue that,I guess, ethos and mission.
Not just for our business,but for all businesses.
So what we're trying to do isshare all of the great knowledge
that we've gotten on Bare Kind.
One of those ways is by the mission drivenelement of our brand, where we donate
10 percent of profits from the sock.
We support over 40 different charities.
(11:00):
And I can't tell you how oftencustomers come into bat for us.
We're the number one rated sockon Trustpilot because we do so
many great things other thanjust build the world's best sock.
And then so many people are behind us.
So we're really trying to encourageother businesses, whether that's a
retailer, whether that's a brand toconnect to a purpose, which makes more,
(11:20):
which makes sense for you, obviously.
Donating to animal charity isn'tgoing to work for every business
or maybe you're a fashion business.
Maybe you focus onhomelessness or something.
Whatever works for you guys.
We think that the world wouldbe a much better place if people
did donate 10 percent of profits.
You know, we did profitsrather than revenue because
every business is different.
And it's a relatively achievable amount.
And if you don't make a profit thatyear, then you don't have to donate.
(11:43):
And that's kind of, I thinka really strong position.
To kind of say to a business owner,like this can do great for the world.
You know, why don't you think about it?
So that's why we are sharingeverything and anything that we
can on through Candid Founders.
That's fantastic.
Yeah, I'm a big believer indoing good through business.
I worked with a work for good charity.
They've been on the podcast beforework for the platform, I should say.
(12:04):
Really fascinating.
They're also big campaignersfor people donating.
And I think the point that they madewas that if even if one in 10 businesses
donated 1 percent of revenue, then itwould add billions to the charity budget.
You know, charitable donations.
And I think that it's so true.
I think if 10 percent feelsreally unachievable, even
(12:26):
if you start with 1%, right.
It's just a way of starting.
And then, over time, you can inch it up.
Because if you can run your business on ahundred percent of what you're getting in,
then 99 percent it's got to be workable.
And you can put that 1 percent aside.
But it's a really fascinatingmodel that more and more
businesses can be a force for good.
I'm a big believer in that, sono, that's absolutely brilliant.
(12:49):
What's one thing that you wishmore founders understood before
they dived into wholesale?
Cause it can be overwhelmingfor small businesses.
What do you think is a goodsomething to really get your
head around before you start?
There's so many.
I think it's just one of those areasof how do you start to capture the real
benefits of being a small business?
(13:10):
But kind of iterate and inventwhere it makes sense for you.
So when we started Bare Kind,we wanted to change everything.
And the longer we've gone, we'verealized that pretty much everything's
been done for a pretty good reason.
So just setting your business up inthe right way for success long term.
(13:31):
So small things like getting SKUs so thatyou can track products, not just through
Shopify Faire or the other platforms.
Just kind of that likeoperational improvement, right?
Yeah, yeah.
I'm laughing because I do a lot ofwork with my clients and we do, I'm
reporting and looking at your sales andlooking at your sales across channels.
(13:51):
And let me tell you the number oftimes I say to people, "please,
SKU numbers," because it's so mucheasier to pull data across channels.
If you've just got one numberthat represents that product.
You can make up whatever number it isyou want, but just have a code because.
People name things differentlyacross different channels and
(14:12):
it's just such, so much more workto try and pull it all together.
So yes, I love that.
It's one of those really small, very well,it's like one of those super uninteresting
things, but it makes a massive difference.
So I was really glad you said that.
Well, and it's really intimidating,I think, to begin with.
You know, like, "Oh, what's a SKU?"Never heard of it outside of, you
(14:33):
know, business but just start easy.
What we did with our socks andyou can always change the SKU.
That doesn't matter.
We started with duck.
Duck sock for seven, for thesize and the actual sock.
But now it's, you know, DCK.
It says then a little bit moreabout information about it, the
sizes, and then we've got batchesand that type of thing afterwards.
And so now whenever I need to findout, "How is this duck sock 4 to
(14:55):
7 going?" You're exactly right.
And that makes it easy to then trackinventory, then track sales, then
track the stock that you've got in.
Maybe to begin with, you manage your ownstock and then it goes out to a warehouse.
They'll expect the SKU and thenyou whack it onto a barcode
and it's just step by step.
Start with a SKU and then everythingelse can come up with that.
Yeah, for sure.
You touched on these kind of richniches and how you went through
(15:18):
and got like every podiatrist.
And I've heard you speak about thisbefore, but I would love you to share
it on the podcast because I think a lotof people when they hear things like
that, they just kind of go, "Well, howwould I even do that? How do I find
like all the podiatrists in the UK?"
And I think probably the answeris less exciting and more
obvious than you might think.
But can you just talk us through alittle bit about how you kind of, when
(15:40):
you find a niche that you want to diveinto, like how you actually go about
finding people and contacting them.
So nuts and bolts, likewhat's every step on this?
And like I told you last time, Catherine,it's such a good way to think about it.
Making it as simple as possible.
So we wanted a service based businessthat would be interested in our products.
We knew that podiatrists already stockedsocks, but they're all medicinal.
(16:03):
They're all focused on soft cuffs.
They're these stockingsthat you do use for flying.
And it's really a technical basedbusiness, but podiatrists have people
coming through all year, every year.
Because feet needs are alwaysgoing to continue to evolve, right?
So you've got that kind of niche.
Okay well, I've identified who thatcustomer is, who does that customer for?
(16:23):
So who do the podiatrists trust?
That's the key insighthere: the trust element.
And we knew that there's going to beprofessional body for someone like this.
So it makes sense from amedicinal standpoint, you've got
podiatrists, you've got the RoyalCollege of Podiatry in the UK.
If you've got another type of area,maybe you sell building materials,
who's the building industry trade body?
And we went through RoyalCollege of Podiatry.
(16:46):
We got our socks certified by them.
And we're now trusted by theRoyal College of Podiatry.
And then we paid them a small amount ofmoney to advertise our socks to their
members and this offer to their members.
Easy step, identify them, find outwho do they trust and then see if
there's a way where you can set up somefinancial metrics that incentivizes
(17:10):
the Royal College of Podiatryto send an email on your behalf,
advertising to all of their members.
I don't need to get all of the10,000 members of UK Podiatry.
They can hold, that's fine, butintroduce them to our product.
And I can see that working acrosspretty much every business out there.
I mean, that's an amazing point.
And I think a lot of people probablydon't think of it like that.
(17:30):
The question I always say to people islike, always think about who already has
a relationship with your ideal customer.
And that's a great example of howyou not only identified who has
that relationship, but you actuallyleverage that relationship to
get certified and get trust in.
I think trust is a reallyimportant element and probably
one that a lot of people overlook.
But then how did you actually goabout working out who to contact?
(17:52):
Did the Royal Society of Podiatrists havea list of members or were you Googling?
Like what were you doing?
Yeah, we went out to theRoyal College of Podiatry.
They had like a contact us number.
So I just gave them a call andI said, "Hey guys, this is me.
I sell socks.
I want to sell some socks to your members.
You know, what do we do?
How can I get involved?" And mostof these professional bodies will
(18:14):
get money from a few sources.
One will be membership.
Two will also be professional membershipswhere businesses sponsor the industry
bodies to put on shindigs, gettogethers kind of industry sharing of
best practices, that type of stuff.
And so then, nine times out of ten,you get on that call, you speak
to someone at the reception desk.
(18:36):
And they'll put you through to theright member of the team, or maybe
they'll give you an email address.
I think we got an email address.
We just kind of sent our pitch offto them, see what they thought.
To begin with, we were kindof just thinking, okay we'll
do maybe an email blast.
They listed all of their members online.
So you could have gone throughindividually, found them, and mailed them.
But obviously you want to tryand avoid that where possible.
(18:58):
And get out to people via the, likethe trusted source, like you say.
And then they were super open to it.
It took a bit of back and forth, maybeover the course of a month or two.
Initially I thought, "Oh, maybethis doesn't actually do anything.
Maybe it's a bit too much work,but sticking through it, it
was just a great experiment.
It might've gone nowhere, but inthe end it actually went somewhere.
Yeah, no, it's amazing.
(19:19):
And then did you duplicatethat for other niches?
Or was it really focusingon podiatrists for socks?
Yeah.
The other niches for us werearound like spas, hotels.
That kind of, again, anotherservice based business.
And then by the time we'd donethat, we were off to the races on
the Faire algorithm because we hadso many great five star reviews.
And if you've got a great productalready and you're ready to kind of
(19:40):
sell to more people, then you justneed to get in front of those eyeballs.
So now we're in a wholebunch of independent fashion
retailers on the socks.
We're in a lot of gift stores, Fairetrade, eco conscious stores, that
type of thing, refillable stores.
We've got a lot of socks thatare perfect for the coast.
And so before you know it, all ofthose other niches that weren't
thinking about your business or oursocks before are now interested in it.
(20:04):
And so, you know, maybe you've gota tea towel business and you've been
selling pretty much to home goods stores.
Well, I can guarantee you there's10,000 home goods stores in the country.
They probably all go through sometype of independent trade body.
And how do you kind of win that for you?
Yeah, yeah.
It's such an important message as wellbecause it's not a magic wand, right?
There's a lot of legwork involved.
(20:26):
But with that legwork and persistenceand it paid off and then finally,
as you said, the algorithm didpick up and start picking up
some of the heavy lifting, okay.
I mean, if I just think we helpsome businesses do this now.
Because obviously somebusinesses are just super busy.
As you know, they've got to do everythingunder the sun: the operations, the product
(20:46):
management, managing the direct consumer.
So we help some businesses do this on B2B.
And I know of, say, forexample, One Drinks brand.
It's a drinks brand in theU.S. That we work with.
They've got a fantastic product.
Absolutely gorgeous.
They're brand new as a business.
And so actually, they might actuallybe too advanced on their branding
to kind of demonstrate how goodthe rest of their operation is.
(21:09):
So people kind of see this brand like,"Oh, my God, that brand's amazing. How
come I've never seen it before?" Andthey're asking questions on quality.
But what we're doing with that brand is wewere like, okay, well, it's a great brand.
It's got some type of caffeine in it.
Okay, where are the big caffeine users?
Cafes.
Do cafes have that many otherproducts in them outside of coffee?
Pretty much no.
So where are all the greatcoffee bean roasters and where
(21:33):
are all of the products going?
And then how do we maybe sellcross sell through that channel?
"Hey, look, we'd love you to send an emailintroducing our brand. Here's a thousand
pounds to do so, would that work?"And just see if people say yes or no.
You could go on that just forpretty much all businesses.
Yeah, so it's like collaboration andgetting in front of other people's
(21:53):
audiences as long as they're aligned.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, and exactly why wewanted to come on this pod today.
You guys are doing such a great jobat helping other businesses grow.
And you know, we kind of had abit of a chat on LinkedIn said,
"Hey, you know, would you guys beinterested in a bit of a cross share?"
And this podcast is built.
So yeah, collaboration, absolutely.
The way to go on from a B2B standpoint.
(22:15):
Yeah yeah, for sure.
And I also really like how you thinkoutside the box somewhere as well.
Well, a lot really.
I mean, it's like, it'd be easier tosay, right, okay, well I sell socks.
Okay, I'm going to go for giftstores or clothing stores.
Or in the case of drinksthinking, "Well, it's got to be
supermarkets or grocery stores."
But it's like really putting yourself,I guess, in the consumer's mindset.
(22:38):
How do you kind of come up withthe just kind of brainstorming
when you're working on these ideas?
I wish I knew, but I think the mainthing is just thinking like you've said.
I think you've hit the nail on the head,the end consumer: where are they going and
who might be interested in the product?
Let's take anotherbrand that we work with.
It's a tea type of business.
They work with tea leaves.
(22:59):
So where is that personbuying their tea leaves from?
And then you've got kind of likea complimentary product to it.
Fantastic.
Let's find out where they are.
We work with another businessthat does like games.
Kind of like card games,that type of stuff.
Where are all of those peoplebuying those products now?
Probably gift stores, probably gamestores, and just find what that might be.
(23:22):
Where else could that be?
Well, this is a playing card gamethat's all about kind of like fostering
connections and that type of thing.
So where else do you foster connections?
I don't know, maybe an internet cafe.
There's going to be a wholebunch of ones that you get wrong.
But there'll be some that youget right, and no one ever cares
about the ones you get wrong.
You're the only personthat ever remembers it.
So roll the dice.
(23:43):
Yeah, I love that.
And I think that's such a good antidoteto the because wholesale, it can be hard
and it can be kind of a little bit souldestroying if you reach out to like a
hundred people and you don't hear back.
Or I'd say a lot of the time withwholesale, I hear people say like, "Oh,
well. I've reached out to five people andI didn't hear anything. So I guess maybe
it's not wholesale, it's not for me."
And it's a lot biggeroperation than that often.
(24:05):
But I think probably because a lot ofit is that legwork to work out where
are the people who are going to respond.
But once you find the peopleresponding, then your time becomes
a lot more productive, right?
Wow.
W hat a soundbite.
We have emailed over 80,000 businessesin the past eight years and we are
(24:26):
a total failure because we've onlygotten a thousand plus of them.
Yeah
But guess what I don't talk about?
I don't say it took us 80,000 failedattempts to get a thousand businesses.
All I ever speak about is the successof 1000+ businesses we work with.
Oh, what a just go hard.
People can say no, that's fine.
(24:47):
No problems.
That's such a good point becauseI think people just don't.
And that's probably actuallynot far off the ratio.
I remember I worked for the companyonce that really wanted to push their
wholesale outreach and they wantedto get one new stockist a week.
So they employed somebody full time, andthat was their goal was to reach out to 70
to 80 people a week to get one stockist.
(25:08):
And I think that obviously that may bemore or less depending on your niche.
But like when people think aboutwholesale and they're like, "oh, it
didn't work." But you know, when you'retalking about that kind of ratio, 1:70,
then it just goes to show, it's justa question of being relentless, right?
(25:28):
It's the most soul destroying job.
But also at the end of it, the thing thatis going to build your business the most.
It's one of those ones where it's superuninteresting, super boring, super hard.
Everyone says no.
But if you just do it,it works really well.
And that's why we recommendemail because it's lower touch.
(25:49):
You know, people aren'tgoing to say no to your face.
They just hang up on you if you're ona telephone call, but email's fine.
They just delete it,whatever move on next.
And under GDPR, if you have alegitimate reason to email a
fellow business owner, you can.
Or a fellow business you can.
So go out and do that.
As long as you've got alegitimate reason for doing so.
And you're not spamming heaps of people,you're not sending your socks to, I don't
(26:12):
know, a kitchen business that has noreason that they ever stock your socks.
As an example, fine.
No problems.
Yeah.
I love that.
Such a great message.
So, looking ahead, how do you see thewholesale landscape changing in 2025?
What do you think that small businessesshould be thinking about to stay ahead?
The big one for us, we justcame back from Spring Fair.
So for your non UK audience, that is oneof the largest trade shows in the UK.
(26:37):
Your UK audience probablyalready knows it.
But we just came back from SpringFair 2025 and we had an absolutely
stonking show year before last.
And it was amazing.
So good.
I reckon footfall wasdown 50 percent minimum.
And so we are seeing trade shows andobviously there's a space for it.
But we're seeing kind of trade show buyersno longer turning up to trade shows.
(27:00):
Last year we were opposite the food court.
The food court was standing room onlythe entire time from 10 o'clock onwards.
They'd get the tea.
They'd roll straight through to lunch.
They'd have afternoon tea.
And by the time it was closed,it was still standing room only.
This year, anybody andeveryone could get a seat.
Seats were abundant, no issues.
Nothing else changed.
(27:21):
So we think that in personretail is getting harder and
harder for the trade show side.
Of course, everyone knows in personretail is getting harder already as it is.
But how do you make it easierfor in person retailer?
I think, you know, rather than goingup to a trade show for a day, taking
a day, maybe two out of the businessto go to multiple trade shows.
Jump on the B2B ecommerce placeslike Faire, Ancestor, Creoate.
(27:43):
Whatever they are in yourindividual countries.
And have a look at what's available.
Try something new and then take it there.
So I think it's that continued pushfrom physical into the kind of the
non trade show space and online.
That's the big one for uswe're seeing for brands.
And I think it also makesit easier for retailers.
That's my idea.
Yeah, Yeah.
(28:03):
Yeah.
fantastic.
Well, thank you so much.
I really appreciate you sharingall of your golden nuggets.
Do you want to finish this off by tellingpeople where they can find out more about
you, both their kind and Candid Founders?
Absolutely.
So find us at barekind.comand then @candidfounders, you
can go candidfounders.com.
But also check out our YouTube.
I just searched for Candid Foundersand really anything to do with Faire.
(28:26):
We give away everything thatwe do on people's accounts
for free on that YouTube.
We just don't have enough timeto give us a shout, but pretty
much everything and anything youcan do to improve your presence.
We give out for free on the YouTube.
So have a look at that and check it out.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Why not head over to Instagram@resilientretailclub, let me know where
you are listening, share a picture of youout on your dog walk, or what you're up
(28:47):
to when you're listening to the podcast.
I always love to see those.
Let me know what you thought abouttoday's episode, and if you have a
moment to rate and review the podcastit makes a huge difference, and if you
like, subscribe, or follow, you'll bethe first to know about each new episode.
How do you grow your number ofstockists to over a thousand
(00:03):
in just under two years?
That's what we're going to beexploring in today's podcast.
I am joined by Andrew Kemp, the cofounder of Bare Kind and also Candid
Founders, which is a YouTube channelhelping people grow with wholesale.
Hi, I'm Catherine.
I am the founder of the Resilient RetailClub, which is my membership group and
mastermind for product business owners.
(00:24):
You can find out more about myservices at resilientretailclub.com.
I'm also your host today, and I'm goingto be diving in with Andrew to get into
the nitty gritty of how he grew his sales.
Now, even if you don't have a productthat you wholesale stick around, have a
listen, because what Andrew talks aboutis applicable to finding customers for
your business, no matter how you sell.
(00:48):
Welcome to the Resilient Retail GamePlan, a podcast for anyone wanting to
start, grow or scale a profitable creativeproduct business with me, Catherine Erdly.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
(01:12):
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
(01:32):
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
Welcome to the podcast, Andrew.
Thank you so much for joining us today.
Do you want to start off byintroducing yourself and your business?
Hey, Catherine, it's Andy herefrom Bare Kind and Candid Founders.
(01:53):
We sell socks that save animals.
I've got a little prop here.
This is our ducks.
We save ducks.
We've supported 40 differentcharities and then we got into over
a thousand different retailers.
So we started a little YouTube channeland we're just trying to share with other
businesses how we grew from zero retailersto a thousand in a couple of years.
And I think there's a lot that otherbusiness owners can learn from that.
(02:15):
So we're just trying toshare that kind of journey.
So thank you so much forhaving me on the pod.
No, it's my pleasureand let's jump in then.
So a thousand retailers, that'sno small feat in two years.
How did you manage to scale so quicklywhen the brand was still so new?
Well, it was honestlya really crazy thing.
So we've been running Bare Kind forbasically just coming up to eight
(02:36):
years now in a couple of months time.
And the first couple of years we wereselling metal straws, plastic t shirts,
bamboo socks, recyclable tote bags.
Kind of everything and anything that wethought could help improve the world.
And we kind of did a bit of anexperimentation and we tried a
whole bunch of different productsand our bamboo socks took off.
Funny enough, you can't really communicatethe feel of a plastic t shirt, the metal
(03:01):
straw with a bit of a kind of fad, and itturns out no one actually buys tote bags.
They just kind of get them.
So we went into the animal socksand that was going really well.
But we were just kind of,not stuck, is the wrong word.
But we were just focusing ondirect to consumer e commerce,
kind of that bread and butter.
Like everyone saw in COVID, kindof massive return on ad spend.
(03:23):
And we were doing really well, so wedidn't really need to look elsewhere.
So then we got to a point,essentially, where we were introduced
by one of my friends, Martin.
Who said, "Actually, Faire is comingto the UK." And I was thinking:
what's this Faire platform?
Essentially, Faire in the US wasthe way that direct to consumer
businesses were getting in frontof the long tail of retailers.
(03:45):
There's so many retailersaround in the world.
As you guys know, better than most, right?
I mean, we're kind of sitting, howdo we get in front of podiatrists?
How do we get in frontof physiotherapists?
Really everyone and anyone who wouldwant to save animals with socks.
And yeah, so Faire came to the UK.
They had this stonking offer,which was 400 pounds, which is
crazy to think for introducingretailers to the Faire platform.
(04:09):
And so we went out and we foundthose kind of rich niches.
And this is what we're recommending tobusinesses like the ones that follow
your kind of podcast, Catherine, isgo into those deep niches where they
might not have had a product before.
And kind of want a product.
And the way that we think aboutthat is service based businesses.
Because every service based businesswants to be a product based business.
(04:31):
Every product business wants to bea service business and vice versa.
So we just thought about everyservice business that's out there
that might be interested in socks,and podiatrists came to mind.
We went really hard on that.
We acquired pretty much everypodiatrist in the country.
And then, yeah, we've managedto hold onto quite a few.
And now we've got, yeah, a thousand.
A long answer.
I'm sorry, but I get a bitexcited about how to do it.
(04:54):
Oh, that's fascinating.
And that was all possiblethrough the Faire platform
because they were then using it?
Or you were introducingpeople to Faire at that point?
Yeah, exactly.
And Faire was heavilyincentivized to do that.
Obviously, once you get toFaire, you then are more likely
to shop other products as well.
So there's definitely a transactionalelement of Faire versus kind of
(05:14):
that relationship building retailexperience that you'd expect in kind
of like a brand going directly to aretailer rather than via a marketplace.
What I would say is like, youknow, and this is something that
we hear all the time is peoplesay, "Oh, well, I'm not going to
be able to build the relationship."
Well, actually that might be fine.
And I don't know about you guys, butthere's quite a lot of businesses that we
(05:36):
manage that are probably doing, you know,half the average order value compared to
someone who has a relationship with us.
Yeah.
More importantly, there's absolutelyzero operational overhead.
I don't have to speak with them.
The order comes through,I get guaranteed payment.
There's just absolutely no risk.
And so it's super easy.
Pipe straight in from Faire intomy Shopify, then into my warehouse
(05:58):
order goes out, I get paid.
So there's definitely pros and cons, butI think it's definitely worth testing out.
So let's talk about thenthe Faire platforms.
You've seen a lot of brands thattry to get stock through Faire.
But what are some of the biggestmistakes you see business owners make
when it comes to the Faire platformand what should they do instead?
Number one we hear is, "Oh, I've listedall my products on Faire. I still haven't
(06:19):
gotten an order." And that's becausetypically 99 times out of a 100, when
someone says that they haven't done abit more work to get the next order.
So they've listed everything,they've got a great product range.
They've developed their page.
It looks fantastic.
Maybe they haven't done B2B focused SEO.
That's step one.
Make sure it's really easy to search.
Faire is a much more underdevelopedplatform in comparison to Google has
(06:42):
been doing SEO for 20 plus years.
So focus on those like top tier keywords.
This is our duck sock, right?
So go back to it.
You know, what we say on our website is wetitle this the Save the Ducks Bamboo Sock.
But on Faire, it's duck sock,duck bamboo sock, blue sock.
You know, really top level key terms.
(07:04):
And that's what we recommend.
And then the second part is go out andfind retailers that you can introduce
to Faire and send some of yourretailers to purchase through Faire.
You get guaranteed payment andthey get more retailers onto
that platform and they're goingto push you in their algorithm.
Every business to a T that I've seen dothat has massively increased their sales.
What do you recommend Catherine?
(07:24):
Is there anything you've kindof seen so far in that space?
I think you make a great point thereabout the discoverability, because
I think that Faire is used by somany retailers for discovery, right?
They are looking forsomething very specific.
But I think there's also youknow, making sure that you're
shouting about your credentials.
People who are retailers who curatetheir products, they often will
(07:47):
have very specific criteria, right?
So they want it to be you know,some people will only buy things
that are plastic free, for example.
Or they might buy things that areyou know, organic or regenerative.
So whatever it might be, makesure it's really easy for people
to see what your said credentialsor your selling points are.
I think that's a really interesting pointthere about actually seeing that in a
(08:09):
uptick when you introduce people to theFaire platform, which makes sense, right?
Cause Faire want more,they want more retailers.
They want more demand onthe platform for sure.
That's always going tobe their goal, isn't it?
They want to reach more retailersand they want to boost the demand
for their people on their platform.
I think it's just really thinking abouthow the retailer is going to be using it,
which is a lot of the time for discovery.
(08:30):
Right, they're trying to findsomething new and different and fun
and interesting for their customers.
That's always the question thatthey're asking themselves is
my customer going to love this?
That is such a good insight.
And really like the key part, I thinkthat the value proposition that Faire
brings to brands like ourselves is thatit makes discoverability so much easier.
Whereas previously, maybe youwent to spring Faire, maybe you
(08:52):
went to the big trade shows.
Maybe you kind of were hoping thatsomeone finds you, but now there's
that one place, one stop shop tofind new brands that align with all
of your values and go through that.
And you don't have to be inthese really expensive places.
And I think as well, the other thingthat I would say about a lot of
retailers is that they're trying topresumably it's the same for these rich
(09:12):
niches, like the podiatrists, right?
They're trying to find productsthat are going to be really unique
to them and really set them apartfrom their local competition.
I think that's the great thing aboutFaire as well is this whole range
to choose from and you can createsomething that really reflects you as
the business owner, what you want toput in your store and then also helps
(09:34):
set you apart so that you're not justselling carbon copy of what somebody
down the street is selling, right?
Because that's why we go to independentsto get something unique that is really
reflective of the owner's perspective asopposed to just kind of a generic product.
That is such a good connection and fammakes that easy with the exclusivity.
By just making it super simple.
(09:55):
Okay, I can get exclusivity as aretailer at a relatively small amount,
depending on what the brand is offering.
And that gives you that certaintythat actually I'm going to be the
only person stocking this in town.
That's the number one thing.
So many indies I know, they just wantto know that they're going to have a
unique kind of selling point or yournext door neighbor sells thought or
(10:16):
maybe they sell some other type ofbrand, but actually I want to be the
only people selling that kind of socks.
Yeah, that's actually a great connection.
Yeah, it means a lot to them.
I think it's a greataddition to the platform.
So you could have kept all of thiswholesale knowledge for yourself, but
instead you launched Candid Founders.
What was it that made you want to helpother people with their wholesale journey?
The whole thing for us with Bare Kind isthat we donate 10 percent of the profits
(10:39):
from the sock to the animal on the sock.
And we wanted to continue that,I guess, ethos and mission.
Not just for our business,but for all businesses.
So what we're trying to do isshare all of the great knowledge
that we've gotten on Bare Kind.
One of those ways is by the mission drivenelement of our brand, where we donate
10 percent of profits from the sock.
We support over 40 different charities.
(11:00):
And I can't tell you how oftencustomers come into bat for us.
We're the number one rated sockon Trustpilot because we do so
many great things other thanjust build the world's best sock.
And then so many people are behind us.
So we're really trying to encourageother businesses, whether that's a
retailer, whether that's a brand toconnect to a purpose, which makes more,
(11:20):
which makes sense for you, obviously.
Donating to animal charity isn'tgoing to work for every business
or maybe you're a fashion business.
Maybe you focus onhomelessness or something.
Whatever works for you guys.
We think that the world wouldbe a much better place if people
did donate 10 percent of profits.
You know, we did profitsrather than revenue because
every business is different.
And it's a relatively achievable amount.
And if you don't make a profit thatyear, then you don't have to donate.
(11:43):
And that's kind of, I thinka really strong position.
To kind of say to a business owner,like this can do great for the world.
You know, why don't you think about it?
So that's why we are sharingeverything and anything that we
can on through Candid Founders.
That's fantastic.
Yeah, I'm a big believer indoing good through business.
I worked with a work for good charity.
They've been on the podcast beforework for the platform, I should say.
(12:04):
Really fascinating.
They're also big campaignersfor people donating.
And I think the point that they madewas that if even if one in 10 businesses
donated 1 percent of revenue, then itwould add billions to the charity budget.
You know, charitable donations.
And I think that it's so true.
I think if 10 percent feelsreally unachievable, even
(12:26):
if you start with 1%, right.
It's just a way of starting.
And then, over time, you can inch it up.
Because if you can run your business on ahundred percent of what you're getting in,
then 99 percent it's got to be workable.
And you can put that 1 percent aside.
But it's a really fascinatingmodel that more and more
businesses can be a force for good.
I'm a big believer in that, sono, that's absolutely brilliant.
(12:49):
What's one thing that you wishmore founders understood before
they dived into wholesale?
Cause it can be overwhelmingfor small businesses.
What do you think is a goodsomething to really get your
head around before you start?
There's so many.
I think it's just one of those areasof how do you start to capture the real
benefits of being a small business?
(13:10):
But kind of iterate and inventwhere it makes sense for you.
So when we started Bare Kind,we wanted to change everything.
And the longer we've gone, we'verealized that pretty much everything's
been done for a pretty good reason.
So just setting your business up inthe right way for success long term.
(13:31):
So small things like getting SKUs so thatyou can track products, not just through
Shopify Faire or the other platforms.
Just kind of that likeoperational improvement, right?
Yeah, yeah.
I'm laughing because I do a lot ofwork with my clients and we do, I'm
reporting and looking at your sales andlooking at your sales across channels.
(13:51):
And let me tell you the number oftimes I say to people, "please,
SKU numbers," because it's so mucheasier to pull data across channels.
If you've just got one numberthat represents that product.
You can make up whatever number it isyou want, but just have a code because.
People name things differentlyacross different channels and
(14:12):
it's just such, so much more workto try and pull it all together.
So yes, I love that.
It's one of those really small, very well,it's like one of those super uninteresting
things, but it makes a massive difference.
So I was really glad you said that.
Well, and it's really intimidating,I think, to begin with.
You know, like, "Oh, what's a SKU?"Never heard of it outside of, you
(14:33):
know, business but just start easy.
What we did with our socks andyou can always change the SKU.
That doesn't matter.
We started with duck.
Duck sock for seven, for thesize and the actual sock.
But now it's, you know, DCK.
It says then a little bit moreabout information about it, the
sizes, and then we've got batchesand that type of thing afterwards.
And so now whenever I need to findout, "How is this duck sock 4 to
(14:55):
7 going?" You're exactly right.
And that makes it easy to then trackinventory, then track sales, then
track the stock that you've got in.
Maybe to begin with, you manage your ownstock and then it goes out to a warehouse.
They'll expect the SKU and thenyou whack it onto a barcode
and it's just step by step.
Start with a SKU and then everythingelse can come up with that.
Yeah, for sure.
You touched on these kind of richniches and how you went through
(15:18):
and got like every podiatrist.
And I've heard you speak about thisbefore, but I would love you to share
it on the podcast because I think a lotof people when they hear things like
that, they just kind of go, "Well, howwould I even do that? How do I find
like all the podiatrists in the UK?"
And I think probably the answeris less exciting and more
obvious than you might think.
But can you just talk us through alittle bit about how you kind of, when
(15:40):
you find a niche that you want to diveinto, like how you actually go about
finding people and contacting them.
So nuts and bolts, likewhat's every step on this?
And like I told you last time, Catherine,it's such a good way to think about it.
Making it as simple as possible.
So we wanted a service based businessthat would be interested in our products.
We knew that podiatrists already stockedsocks, but they're all medicinal.
(16:03):
They're all focused on soft cuffs.
They're these stockingsthat you do use for flying.
And it's really a technical basedbusiness, but podiatrists have people
coming through all year, every year.
Because feet needs are alwaysgoing to continue to evolve, right?
So you've got that kind of niche.
Okay well, I've identified who thatcustomer is, who does that customer for?
(16:23):
So who do the podiatrists trust?
That's the key insighthere: the trust element.
And we knew that there's going to beprofessional body for someone like this.
So it makes sense from amedicinal standpoint, you've got
podiatrists, you've got the RoyalCollege of Podiatry in the UK.
If you've got another type of area,maybe you sell building materials,
who's the building industry trade body?
And we went through RoyalCollege of Podiatry.
(16:46):
We got our socks certified by them.
And we're now trusted by theRoyal College of Podiatry.
And then we paid them a small amount ofmoney to advertise our socks to their
members and this offer to their members.
Easy step, identify them, find outwho do they trust and then see if
there's a way where you can set up somefinancial metrics that incentivizes
(17:10):
the Royal College of Podiatryto send an email on your behalf,
advertising to all of their members.
I don't need to get all of the10,000 members of UK Podiatry.
They can hold, that's fine, butintroduce them to our product.
And I can see that working acrosspretty much every business out there.
I mean, that's an amazing point.
And I think a lot of people probablydon't think of it like that.
(17:30):
The question I always say to people islike, always think about who already has
a relationship with your ideal customer.
And that's a great example of howyou not only identified who has
that relationship, but you actuallyleverage that relationship to
get certified and get trust in.
I think trust is a reallyimportant element and probably
one that a lot of people overlook.
But then how did you actually goabout working out who to contact?
(17:52):
Did the Royal Society of Podiatrists havea list of members or were you Googling?
Like what were you doing?
Yeah, we went out to theRoyal College of Podiatry.
They had like a contact us number.
So I just gave them a call andI said, "Hey guys, this is me.
I sell socks.
I want to sell some socks to your members.
You know, what do we do?
How can I get involved?" And mostof these professional bodies will
(18:14):
get money from a few sources.
One will be membership.
Two will also be professional membershipswhere businesses sponsor the industry
bodies to put on shindigs, gettogethers kind of industry sharing of
best practices, that type of stuff.
And so then, nine times out of ten,you get on that call, you speak
to someone at the reception desk.
(18:36):
And they'll put you through to theright member of the team, or maybe
they'll give you an email address.
I think we got an email address.
We just kind of sent our pitch offto them, see what they thought.
To begin with, we were kindof just thinking, okay we'll
do maybe an email blast.
They listed all of their members online.
So you could have gone throughindividually, found them, and mailed them.
But obviously you want to tryand avoid that where possible.
(18:58):
And get out to people via the, likethe trusted source, like you say.
And then they were super open to it.
It took a bit of back and forth, maybeover the course of a month or two.
Initially I thought, "Oh, maybethis doesn't actually do anything.
Maybe it's a bit too much work,but sticking through it, it
was just a great experiment.
It might've gone nowhere, but inthe end it actually went somewhere.
Yeah, no, it's amazing.
(19:19):
And then did you duplicatethat for other niches?
Or was it really focusingon podiatrists for socks?
Yeah.
The other niches for us werearound like spas, hotels.
That kind of, again, anotherservice based business.
And then by the time we'd donethat, we were off to the races on
the Faire algorithm because we hadso many great five star reviews.
And if you've got a great productalready and you're ready to kind of
(19:40):
sell to more people, then you justneed to get in front of those eyeballs.
So now we're in a wholebunch of independent fashion
retailers on the socks.
We're in a lot of gift stores, Fairetrade, eco conscious stores, that
type of thing, refillable stores.
We've got a lot of socks thatare perfect for the coast.
And so before you know it, all ofthose other niches that weren't
thinking about your business or oursocks before are now interested in it.
(20:04):
And so, you know, maybe you've gota tea towel business and you've been
selling pretty much to home goods stores.
Well, I can guarantee you there's10,000 home goods stores in the country.
They probably all go through sometype of independent trade body.
And how do you kind of win that for you?
Yeah, yeah.
It's such an important message as wellbecause it's not a magic wand, right?
There's a lot of legwork involved.
(20:26):
But with that legwork and persistenceand it paid off and then finally,
as you said, the algorithm didpick up and start picking up
some of the heavy lifting, okay.
I mean, if I just think we helpsome businesses do this now.
Because obviously somebusinesses are just super busy.
As you know, they've got to do everythingunder the sun: the operations, the product
(20:46):
management, managing the direct consumer.
So we help some businesses do this on B2B.
And I know of, say, forexample, One Drinks brand.
It's a drinks brand in theU.S. That we work with.
They've got a fantastic product.
Absolutely gorgeous.
They're brand new as a business.
And so actually, they might actuallybe too advanced on their branding
to kind of demonstrate how goodthe rest of their operation is.
(21:09):
So people kind of see this brand like,"Oh, my God, that brand's amazing. How
come I've never seen it before?" Andthey're asking questions on quality.
But what we're doing with that brand is wewere like, okay, well, it's a great brand.
It's got some type of caffeine in it.
Okay, where are the big caffeine users?
Cafes.
Do cafes have that many otherproducts in them outside of coffee?
Pretty much no.
So where are all the greatcoffee bean roasters and where
(21:33):
are all of the products going?
And then how do we maybe sellcross sell through that channel?
"Hey, look, we'd love you to send an emailintroducing our brand. Here's a thousand
pounds to do so, would that work?"And just see if people say yes or no.
You could go on that just forpretty much all businesses.
Yeah, so it's like collaboration andgetting in front of other people's
(21:53):
audiences as long as they're aligned.
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean, and exactly why wewanted to come on this pod today.
You guys are doing such a great jobat helping other businesses grow.
And you know, we kind of had abit of a chat on LinkedIn said,
"Hey, you know, would you guys beinterested in a bit of a cross share?"
And this podcast is built.
So yeah, collaboration, absolutely.
The way to go on from a B2B standpoint.
(22:15):
Yeah yeah, for sure.
And I also really like how you thinkoutside the box somewhere as well.
Well, a lot really.
I mean, it's like, it'd be easier tosay, right, okay, well I sell socks.
Okay, I'm going to go for giftstores or clothing stores.
Or in the case of drinksthinking, "Well, it's got to be
supermarkets or grocery stores."
But it's like really putting yourself,I guess, in the consumer's mindset.
(22:38):
How do you kind of come up withthe just kind of brainstorming
when you're working on these ideas?
I wish I knew, but I think the mainthing is just thinking like you've said.
I think you've hit the nail on the head,the end consumer: where are they going and
who might be interested in the product?
Let's take anotherbrand that we work with.
It's a tea type of business.
They work with tea leaves.
(22:59):
So where is that personbuying their tea leaves from?
And then you've got kind of likea complimentary product to it.
Fantastic.
Let's find out where they are.
We work with another businessthat does like games.
Kind of like card games,that type of stuff.
Where are all of those peoplebuying those products now?
Probably gift stores, probably gamestores, and just find what that might be.
(23:22):
Where else could that be?
Well, this is a playing card gamethat's all about kind of like fostering
connections and that type of thing.
So where else do you foster connections?
I don't know, maybe an internet cafe.
There's going to be a wholebunch of ones that you get wrong.
But there'll be some that youget right, and no one ever cares
about the ones you get wrong.
You're the only personthat ever remembers it.
So roll the dice.
(23:43):
Yeah, I love that.
And I think that's such a good antidoteto the because wholesale, it can be hard
and it can be kind of a little bit souldestroying if you reach out to like a
hundred people and you don't hear back.
Or I'd say a lot of the time withwholesale, I hear people say like, "Oh,
well. I've reached out to five people andI didn't hear anything. So I guess maybe
it's not wholesale, it's not for me."
And it's a lot biggeroperation than that often.
(24:05):
But I think probably because a lot ofit is that legwork to work out where
are the people who are going to respond.
But once you find the peopleresponding, then your time becomes
a lot more productive, right?
Wow.
W hat a soundbite.
We have emailed over 80,000 businessesin the past eight years and we are
(24:26):
a total failure because we've onlygotten a thousand plus of them.
Yeah
But guess what I don't talk about?
I don't say it took us 80,000 failedattempts to get a thousand businesses.
All I ever speak about is the successof 1000+ businesses we work with.
Oh, what a just go hard.
People can say no, that's fine.
(24:47):
No problems.
That's such a good point becauseI think people just don't.
And that's probably actuallynot far off the ratio.
I remember I worked for the companyonce that really wanted to push their
wholesale outreach and they wantedto get one new stockist a week.
So they employed somebody full time, andthat was their goal was to reach out to 70
to 80 people a week to get one stockist.
(25:08):
And I think that obviously that may bemore or less depending on your niche.
But like when people think aboutwholesale and they're like, "oh, it
didn't work." But you know, when you'retalking about that kind of ratio, 1:70,
then it just goes to show, it's justa question of being relentless, right?
(25:28):
It's the most soul destroying job.
But also at the end of it, the thing thatis going to build your business the most.
It's one of those ones where it's superuninteresting, super boring, super hard.
Everyone says no.
But if you just do it,it works really well.
And that's why we recommendemail because it's lower touch.
(25:49):
You know, people aren'tgoing to say no to your face.
They just hang up on you if you're ona telephone call, but email's fine.
They just delete it,whatever move on next.
And under GDPR, if you have alegitimate reason to email a
fellow business owner, you can.
Or a fellow business you can.
So go out and do that.
As long as you've got alegitimate reason for doing so.
And you're not spamming heaps of people,you're not sending your socks to, I don't
(26:12):
know, a kitchen business that has noreason that they ever stock your socks.
As an example, fine.
No problems.
Yeah.
I love that.
Such a great message.
So, looking ahead, how do you see thewholesale landscape changing in 2025?
What do you think that small businessesshould be thinking about to stay ahead?
The big one for us, we justcame back from Spring Fair.
So for your non UK audience, that is oneof the largest trade shows in the UK.
(26:37):
Your UK audience probablyalready knows it.
But we just came back from SpringFair 2025 and we had an absolutely
stonking show year before last.
And it was amazing.
So good.
I reckon footfall wasdown 50 percent minimum.
And so we are seeing trade shows andobviously there's a space for it.
But we're seeing kind of trade show buyersno longer turning up to trade shows.
(27:00):
Last year we were opposite the food court.
The food court was standing room onlythe entire time from 10 o'clock onwards.
They'd get the tea.
They'd roll straight through to lunch.
They'd have afternoon tea.
And by the time it was closed,it was still standing room only.
This year, anybody andeveryone could get a seat.
Seats were abundant, no issues.
Nothing else changed.
(27:21):
So we think that in personretail is getting harder and
harder for the trade show side.
Of course, everyone knows in personretail is getting harder already as it is.
But how do you make it easierfor in person retailer?
I think, you know, rather than goingup to a trade show for a day, taking
a day, maybe two out of the businessto go to multiple trade shows.
Jump on the B2B ecommerce placeslike Faire, Ancestor, Creoate.
(27:43):
Whatever they are in yourindividual countries.
And have a look at what's available.
Try something new and then take it there.
So I think it's that continued pushfrom physical into the kind of the
non trade show space and online.
That's the big one for uswe're seeing for brands.
And I think it also makesit easier for retailers.
That's my idea.
Yeah, Yeah.
(28:03):
Yeah.
fantastic.
Well, thank you so much.
I really appreciate you sharingall of your golden nuggets.
Do you want to finish this off by tellingpeople where they can find out more about
you, both their kind and Candid Founders?
Absolutely.
So find us at barekind.comand then @candidfounders, you
can go candidfounders.com.
But also check out our YouTube.
I just searched for Candid Foundersand really anything to do with Faire.
(28:26):
We give away everything thatwe do on people's accounts
for free on that YouTube.
We just don't have enough timeto give us a shout, but pretty
much everything and anything youcan do to improve your presence.
We give out for free on the YouTube.
So have a look at that and check it out.
Thank you so much for tuning in.
Why not head over to Instagram@resilientretailclub, let me know where
you are listening, share a picture of youout on your dog walk, or what you're up
(28:47):
to when you're listening to the podcast.
I always love to see those.
Let me know what you thought abouttoday's episode, and if you have a
moment to rate and review the podcastit makes a huge difference, and if you
like, subscribe, or follow, you'll bethe first to know about each new episode.
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