• Buyers are looking for innovation.

There’s no “I” in brand. When pitching your brand to a retailer, the success of that pitch is more dependent on the retailer’s needs than your intentions. If your brand moves the needle for a retailer, you stand a chance. “They’re looking for a product that is going to have a unique value proposition for their assortment,” says St. John. “They want to know they’re providing the most curated assortment with what the customer is looking for today.” She recommends brand founders ask retail buyers whether they’re developing new merchandising tactics or programs that could be relevant to their brand. St. John reasons, “There could be something you might not normally think of that a retailer would be looking for.”

• Buyers want to see buzz around your product.

A poor digital footprint isn’t like a mess you shovel into the closet when guests arrive. It’s going to be found out by buyers. “You can definitely bet that they’re going to have researched your Instagram,” says St. John. “If you don’t have a strong Instagram presence, I think that’s probably a deterrent.” Brands with phenomenal feeds, followings and press placements have a leg up because retailers will have to do less heavy lifting to sell them to customers. However, St. John says it’s not impossible to break into stores without them as long as a brand hits home runs with other critical elements such as product, packaging and story.

• It’s OK if you are brand new to the market.

Newness can give a beauty brand an advantage with a retailer if the brand suits the retailer’s beauty strategy. “Neiman Marcus built their business on trying to find that hidden gem and nurturing that hidden gem for many, many years to make it into a big shiny object,” says St. John with the caveat, “There’s a lot of hidden gems on the market today.” She points out exclusivity is a lever brands without retail distribution can pull to convince a retailer to give them a go.

• If you have a skincare brand, you will generally need to cater to all skin types.

Brands shouldn’t leave sales on the table for themselves or possible store partners if they don’t have to, and an exceedingly narrow skincare focus can result in sales being left on the table. “Especially when working with larger retailers, you have to appeal to more than just one slice of their demographic,” says St. John. “At the end of the day, it makes good business sense for you to engage [a broad customer base].”

• You may need to fill more than one shelf with your products.

It may comparably easy to bring a brand to market with one product, but it’s not easy to sell a single product in a sizable retail space. St. John says brands with one to three stockkeeping units certainly can show their tight lineup to large retailers and may be scooped up to plug a gap in their assortments. However, she adds it’s unlikely their offering will stay small for long if they have staying power. St. John emphasizes. “Especially in a larger retailer, you’re going have to fill up a foot of space, and you may need more product.”

• You need to be on trend.

Shopping habits aren’t formed in solitary confinement. Beauty consumers are sifting through untold amounts of information, and picking up on the latest skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care movements. Whether it’s K-beauty or personalization, they probably know about it and so should founders. And founders shouldn’t merely know about it, they should know how their brands fit into the trends and inform buyers that they can ride them to strong businesses. St. John notes, “It’s not just trends in your local area, it’s trends across the country, and trends across the world.”

• The natural trend continues to grow.

Green is increasingly gold in the beauty industry. Consumers are speaking loud and clear with their dollars that alternatives to conventional beauty products are compelling prospects. “They are more interested in knowing really what goes into their products,” says St. John. “I think that’s here to stay, and I think that it’s pretty apparent that every retailer is [assembling] some version of this category.” Neiman Marcus, Anthropologie, Sephora, Nordstrom, Free People, Target and CVS are a few of the retailers with versions of natural beauty selections.

• Keep it simple when approaching a beauty buyer.

No one has time to read your autobiography, however entertaining it may be. St. John underscores your pitch has to capture a buyer’s attention quickly. She says, “It’s got to be really focused, and there’s a lot of boxes that need to be checked while you’re keeping it simple.” If you can’t persuade a buyer on your brand with a straightforward and speedy pitch, how are you going to sell it to a shopper rushing through the beauty department?

• There will be costs for a brand.

St. John advises brands to not shy away from conversations about costs with retail buyers. She details they should pay close attention to their ROI targets and try to work with buyers to achieve those targets. Staffing is a factor in the ROI equation. A department store and brand often divvy up the expense of a retail employee on the beauty floor. “Every retailer has a little different scenario, but that’s a really important thing to understand,” says St. John. “It may make more sense for you to have a freelance staff.” Sampling is an investment brands must consider, too. During her tenure at Neiman Marcus, St. John recalls, “If a brand did not have samples – say sampling wasn’t on their radar – and they’re like, ‘Oh, we’ll have that in a year or two,’ that [was] a really big roadblock to what you could set in terms of revenue projections.”

• Do your homework.

Soliciting retail buyers when it’s doubtful your brand is going to be seen by them is a lost opportunity. St. John says beauty buyers are generally slammed April and March. She suggests better periods for pitching are late December, January, February, July and August when their schedules are freer. Be aware of who you’re pitching before you make your pitch. St. John prefers brand packages that are personalized. “A lot of the larger merchant organizations, they can receive five to 20 solicitations a day. The ones that are coming in that nobody ever got an email from, nobody got a phone call from, and they look like something you would never ever carry, those just go right on to the sample room and never get looked at,” she says. “But the ones that have a personal touch, I would always test their product.”