How we choose stores
Whether a shop will carry your product comes down to three things: whether they already sell things like yours, whether they are actively buying right now, and whether we can reach the person who decides. We break those three into 27 signals we can check, score every store out of 100, and only send you the ones above 70. Every store comes with three pieces of evidence and the links, so you can check our work.
Fit. We read the store's website and Instagram for the brands they already carry, the sections they merchandise (local, gift, pantry), the price range of what is on their shelves, and how they describe themselves. A store that posts "now stocking" twice a month is looking for brands like yours. A chain with four or more locations is not on our list.
Activity. We look at how many Google reviews a store picked up in the last 90 days compared with the 90 before, whether Google shows popular times, how often they post and how recently customers tagged them, whether they run tastings or pop-ups, whether their online shop has new arrivals, and whether they already buy from small brands on wholesale platforms. A store that has gone quiet for six months does not get a letter.
Reachability. We find the owner or buyer by name from the About page, local press, and social profiles, and we verify every email address before we send. Writing to a named owner gets noticeably more replies than writing to info@. When an owner has said in an interview what they look for in a brand, we quote it.
Location. We check the block: the density of coffee shops, bakeries, and bookstores within a short walk, nearby hotels and campuses, and whether local press has put the store on a best-of list.
Exclusions. Closed or closing, chains, online-only, discount, anyone already stocking you, anyone inside your distributor's territory, and anyone on your do-not-contact list.
Then we write to each store individually, in the store's morning, midweek, from your own email address, with one specific fact about that store in every first email. Three emails at most, ever. A reply stops the sequence and goes straight to you.
The six dimensions and their weights
Every store is scored out of 100 across six dimensions. A dimension we could not verify is left out of the denominator rather than scored as zero, so a store is only judged on what we actually checked. A dimension we checked and found empty does count as zero.
| Dimension | Weight | What we look at, and where |
|---|---|---|
| Brand fit | 25 | Brands the store already carries (its online shop, Instagram captions, in-store photos). A matching section such as local, gift, or pantry (shop categories, Instagram and Google photos). How the store describes itself: curated, local, handmade, gift (About page, Instagram bio, Google category). How often it posts "now stocking" or "new arrivals". Number of locations: four or more counts as a chain and is excluded. |
| Store activity | 25 | Google reviews added in the last 90 days against the 90 before. Whether Google shows popular times. Instagram posts in the last 30 days and how recently customers tagged the store. Tastings, pop-ups, and markets on Instagram, the website, or local event listings. Hiring posts. The most recent new arrivals in the online shop. Expansion, a second location, or a move in local news. Whether the store already buys from small brands on wholesale platforms. Seasonal rhythm, such as holiday gift guides. |
| Reachability | 15 | The owner or buyer named on the About page, in local press, on social profiles, or on LinkedIn. The type of email address on the Contact page or Google business profile: a named address is best, a generic address on the store's own domain is the most likely to bounce. The verification result for that address: valid, catch-all, or invalid. Anything the owner has said in an interview, podcast, or post about what they look for in a brand. The owner's own social profiles, including recent trade show visits. |
| Foot traffic and location | 15 | The density of coffee shops, bakeries, bookstores, and bars within a short walk on Google Maps. Nearby anchors: hotels, campuses, tourist draws, markets. Whether local press has put the store on a best-of list. |
| Price band match | 10 | Your suggested retail price against the price range of similar items in the store's online shop. A $12 hot sauce does not belong in a store where everything is under $5, or in a boutique where nothing is under $40. |
| Competitor on shelf | 10 | Whether a direct competitor is already stocked (the store's online shop and Instagram). This is not an exclusion: a competitor on the shelf confirms the category fits. We take a few points off and change the angle of the first email. |
What you get for each store
- Six scores and a total out of 100.
- The three strongest pieces of evidence, each with a link. For example: an Instagram post from 12 August saying now stocking a brand like yours; 14 new Google reviews in the last 90 days; an About page naming the owner as the buyer.
- The first line we would write, and which piece of evidence it uses.
- The date we last verified the store. A store not verified in the last 90 days does not go on your list.
How we send
- In the recipient's morning, mostly Tuesday to Thursday, never on a Monday morning or a holiday.
- Every email is rewritten for the store. The paragraph about why this store cites one specific fact we found.
- Three emails at most: the first, one five days later, and a last one fourteen days after that. A reply stops the sequence. An opt out stops it permanently.
- A store receives at most three emails on behalf of any one brand, and appears on at most three brands' lists in any 30 days. Nobody gets buried under our clients' emails.
- From an address on your own domain, with SPF, DKIM and DMARC configured, warmed up for two weeks, and never more than 35 emails a day.
What we do not do
- We do not buy lists. Every store on your list has been looked at by us, one at a time.
- We do not mass send. There is no such thing as the same email to 500 stores.
- We do not guess email addresses. If an address does not verify, we do not send to it.
- We do not touch your existing stockists or your distributor's territory.
- We do not describe any of this as artificial intelligence or big data. Every conclusion points to a web page you can open.