The Supply Side: #OnShelf hopes to help with turnkey vendor services

Startups are nothing new for Clint Lazenby. He has been for many years an investor and mentor in the local entrepreneur scene. But this time around the retail veteran took the dive himself with Bill Gerads and two other industry professionals to launch #OnShelf late last year.

#OnShelf is a third-party supplier company that offers a set of services for product inventors, manufacturers who are looking to get items into retail stores. Based in Bentonville, Lazenby and Gerads and two other partners soon to join the firm full-time have amassed 27 years in merchandising and operations for Wal-Mart Stores, two decades of domestic sales, consumer packaged goods (CPG) experience, and national account responsibility as well as 16 years in international sales, distribution and foodservice.

“We are able to leverage our global network to provide a comprehensive range of services from direct sales calls to the evaluation of markets on a global basis,” said Gerads. “We offer a turnkey option for small to median-size manufacturers including the sales presentation to retailers and the day-to-day management of that retail business, but that’s just part of what we are equipped to do.” 

The team has connections with the gamut of retailers from mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Target and Costco to dollar stores, top grocers and drug stores along with specialty retailers and online players like Amazon. They are also dialed into the international arena with experience and connections to Tesco, Carrefour, RTmart and others.

Another part of the company’s strategy is to enlist independent sales reps across the country that have relationships with key retailers such as Target in Minneapolis or Publix in Tampa. Gerads said part of his duties include recruiting independent sales reps.

Lazenby and Gerads each have logged time overseeing international sales for multiple CPG companies from ConAgra to Mars Inc., with Gerads also spending the past six years as senior director of global supply development at Wal-Mart.

The tandem said they have known each other for several years and kept bumping into one another in various work or civic functions. This past fall Lazenby said the timing felt right for the team to give this startup venture a go. Lazenby, an investor in Acumen Holdings and NewRoad Ventures, jumped in with both feet in October 2014 after more than eight years with ConAgra Foods/Lamb Wesson. Gerads said he left Wal-Mart in January and came onboard full-time. The other two partners will soon join the venture.

Gerads said they are bootstrapping the lean operation themselves and there is no shortage of potential customers looking for help and insight on how to get products into various retailers. With former Wal-Mart execs making up half of the foursome, Gerads they can’t help but use the everyday low cost strategy in this startup venture.

“For us, now it seems that time is the biggest shortage we face. We want to focus on those products and ideas that have the most potential and we have the team to evaluate that potential and then manage and grow sales opportunities for our customers,” Gerads said.

Gerads said the company is working with a local manufacturer and some suppliers in household chemicals, toys and sporting goods. Given the team’s past experience in the pet category along with foods, they expect to see more potential and small suppliers looking to grow their business with additional product innovation and multiple channel exposure. Gerads said they also will work with a partner that furnishes store merchandising services such as checking modular set-ups and stock levels. 

The partners declined to disclose their one-year revenue projections, but said they have three potential revenue streams that consist of consultant fees, percentage of sales generated at retailers and retainers for the ongoing management services.

The partners know it will take time and effort to build out the business clientele but say they are pleased with the results they’ve seen in just three months time.

#OnShelf partners are not deterred by larger competitors in the market, saying a bigger threat for them is making sure they recognize the right items that customers want.  Gerads said entrepreneurs with no experience in retail are leaning on them to analyze the market potential, get the product mock-up, make the presentation to retailers, handle the logisitics and service of accounts they get placed into retail. That goes for products headed to Wal-Mart, Kroger, Cabella’s or some dozen other retailers, including international.

“We have the knowledge and connections to help, but without the right products that consumers want, it doesn’t matter,” Gerads said.