Question about manufacturers

...one wants to run a promotion on my e-commerce site

[lschmidt]

I get my products from one main distributor, so I don't deal directly with manufacturers. However, one manufacturer rep contacted me the other day through e-mail, commenting on our selection of their products, and then asking how to run a home page promotion on our site.

I was simply wondering if this was common, do they pay for it, etc. since I've never done that before.

Thanks

[pbradish]

Fairly common, yes. As long as it is a win/win situation - it may be worthwhile. See what you can get out of doing this for them.

[vincevincevince]

See what you can get out of doing this for them [u]in the long term[/u]. Can they sell direct to you, in your kinds of quantity, and beat your distributor's pricing?

[ispy]

Make sure they do not sell directly to the public! I have worked with manufacturers who in fact do this, encouraging direct sales over the phone even when they do not have a direct sell ecommerce site. One of their requirements for a retailer was displaying the manufacturers logo on every product. Makes you wonder how many customers ended up doing a search for them and calling over the phone to order directly from them. They of course would make twice as much on the sale by selling at retail prices.

I doubt they would try to trick you this way on purpose, just be aware of all the possible angles.

[ytswy]

You might try and see if you can get any co-op advertising out of them. Go 50/50 on a print ad promoting your site and their products, or get them to contribute to your adwords spend for driving traffic to the pages that display their products.