A sample review
Marlowe & Fern
Marlowe & Fern is a demonstration brand created to show the format and level of detail in a Wholesale Brand Review.
What we reviewedThe brand’s page on a buying group’s website, which serves as its wholesale page; the fall and holiday sell sheets; the introduction email shared with retailers; and the product photographs that appear across all of them. This demonstration set has no brand website, line sheet or lookbook. Where that matters, we say so below.
The first impression
The brand page gives the products a warm, clear introduction.
A short story with real details, three featured scents each described in a few words, and the terms a buyer needs most, stated plainly near the top. The sell sheets and the email carry the same photographs and the same numbers, so the brand feels consistent wherever a buyer meets it.
The next step is less clear. The page offers four ways to go further, and none of them opens anything yet. That, and a few details a buyer needs to place an order, are where we would begin.
What is working
Strengths worth keeping.
One look across every piece
The page, both sell sheets and the email share the same photographs, palette and type. A buyer who sees any one of them would recognize the brand in the next.
Terms stated plainly, and the same everywhere
A 10% member discount, a $150 opening order and a $100 reorder appear near the top of the page, on both sell sheets and in the email, and the numbers match each time.
Scent descriptions a buyer can repeat
“Warm spice over soft cedar.” “Green fig and garden herbs.” “Smoky amber and vanilla.” Each is short enough for a shop owner to pass on to a customer in her own words.
A story with real details
A farmers market table in 2017, two sisters, one signature scent, the Blue Ridge foothills. Specific details like these make a small brand easy to remember.
Where we would begin
Five priorities, in order.
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01
Correct the brand name on the product labels.
What we noticedThe jars in the product photographs carry labels that read Willow & Fern. A buyer comparing the photographs with the name on the page may wonder whether she is looking at one brand or two, and the same photographs appear on every piece.
What we recommendRetouch or reshoot the jars so the labels read Marlowe & Fern, and replace the photographs on the page, the sell sheets and the email at the same time.
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02
Make wholesale information easy to find.
What we noticedThe page invites a buyer to go further with four buttons: Visit Wholesale Site, Everyday Order Form, Seasonal Line Sheet and Shop the Catalog. None of them opens anything yet, so an interested buyer reaches the end of the page without a next step.
What we recommendConnect each button to a real document or page, or remove it until one exists. One button that works, leading to the line sheet and how to order, will serve a buyer better than four that do not.
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03
Put the ordering details beside each product.
What we noticedThe terms tell a buyer what she must spend, but nothing in the set tells her the size, wholesale price, suggested retail price or pack quantity of each candle, so she cannot build an order without writing first.
What we recommendCreate a simple line sheet: each product, including the diffusers and room mists the brand page mentions, with its size, wholesale price, suggested retail price (clearly labeled as retail), pack quantity and item number. For a range this size, a short line sheet will do more for ordering right now than a lookbook. A lookbook can wait until the range grows.
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04
Say exactly what each collection contains.
What we noticedThe fall sell sheet introduces “five scents built for autumn reorders” and shows three. The holiday sheet shows the same three. A buyer planning a fall order cannot tell which two scents she has not seen.
What we recommendName all five fall scents with a photograph of each, or change the line to describe the three that are shown.
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05
Make the buyer introduction easier to respond to.
What we noticedThe introduction email presents the scents and the terms beautifully and closes with a single button, See the line. It does not name a person, give a phone number or email address, or invite a reply, so a buyer who prefers to answer an email has no one to answer.
What we recommendSign the email from a named person, add the phone number and email address already on the page, link the new line sheet, and close with one simple question that is easy to answer. Keep it short enough to read comfortably on a phone, and long enough to carry what a buyer needs to reply.
Two smaller notes
- “Ships in 5 days” appears on both sell sheets but not on the page. It is worth adding beside the terms.
- The holiday sheet offers free freight on orders over $300 “booked by the end of the quarter”. A date would help a buyer plan.
The conversation
Then we would talk it through together.
Thirty minutes, after you have read the review. We go through the priorities and your questions, and you decide which changes you would like to make yourself and where you might like help.
Wholesale Brand Review
Let’s take a look together.
If you have been wondering whether your website and sales materials are doing your products justice, this is a place to begin.
$295