Rivertown Market

“VENDOR ONBOARDING PROCESS”

At Rivertown Market, LOCAL vendors are a part of our DNA. With our store's brand pillars being fresh, LOCAL, and value, we build a BIG part of our business around supporting our hyper-local and local makers and creators in the community. To support each other, we have created a guide to inform our vendors of our onboarding process.

Please refer to the below sections to help you guide your onboarding process with us.

BEFORE YOU GET STARTED

We can’t wait to learn about your product, but first make sure you are set up for success! There are a number of regulations and requirements to sell packaged food in a retail environment. Please make sure you have carefully reviewed and currently comply with any state or national regulations applicable to your particular category of food or product. Below are links to helpful documents from the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD):

MDARD — New Food Business Information Packet
MDARD (FOOD and DAIRY DIVISION) — FOOD LABELING GUIDE

STEP 1: PITCH

We love when vendors get in touch to get their items into the market. Whether they're reaching out via social media, our website, or one of our vendor events, we'd love to learn more about the products our community has to offer. 

When the vendor reaches out, our inventory lead (Sean.Warford@meijer.com) at Rivertown Market will schedule a 15-30 minute "pitch meeting" with the relevant individuals.

The relevant individuals are:

  • the vendor

  • the inventory lead

  • & the area lead of department that product would fall into

It is essential to include the area lead of the products department at the very beginning of the process so the vendor could potentially be meeting the person they'll be working with if we choose to bring them into the store. 

Questions our Inventory Lead and Area Lead will ask:

  • the number of days you can deliver each week

  • what is your case pack?

    • can you fulfill the case pack each time?

    • do we need to set up 1 unit, is 1 case? So we don’t worry about not able to receive the product due to product issues?

  • what is the cost of your products?

    • wholesale cost (what you sell to us at)

    • suggested retail cost (what we’ll sell the item at)

  • do you have your own UPC?

    • we can provide upc for you but they only will work in our format / Meijer. Its recommended that the vender buys there own UPC’s so that they own the rights and will work throughout other companies, especially our goal is to help grow your business.

    • if we provide UPC’s for your items, its still the venders responsible to get bar codes printed out.  (These can be purchase online through various sources)

    • you can access and purchase UPC’s and EAN’s through various sources online.

  • what is the lead time needed for orders?

  • how do you prefer to take orders?

    • email

    • text

    • phone call

    • fax

    • online order guide

  • do you offer credit?

  • if your product is better for SBT or DSD?

  • have you done/and are you willing to do demos in store?

  • do you have your own social channels, if so what are they?

  • how would your items be merchandised?

  • fixtures or a display

  • refrigerated or non-refrigerated

  • other

Vendors should bring to this meeting:

  • the answers to the above questions

  • your backstory of how your products came to be! (we love this part)

  • samples for our team to try

STEP 2: FEEDBACK

The Inventory Lead will receive feedback from those that tried samples:

  • relevant Area Lead

  • relevant Assistant Manager

  • the Store Director

The Inventory Lead will follow up with the vendor and notify them of the decision and the reasoning of if we would like to stock the product at the market.

STEP 3: KICKOFF

If the vendor has been chosen to be a part of the market, the Inventory Lead will kickoff the onboarding process and gather the following information:

  • legal name of the business

  • full name

  • email address

  • phone number

  • and the type of product the vendor will sell

STEP 4: DATA ENTRY

The Inventory Lead will enter the details on the Local Vendor Form for store 651

STEP 5: MARKET FORMAT BUYER

The Inventory Lead will notify the market format buyer (Mary Osborne) via email that they have made a new vendor request. This will include vendor details that they have collected in the email. Mary will then initiate the process, which will cause the vendor to receive an email from “Meijer Vendor” with a link to the registration request. This could take days 4-10 business days.

*Remember to keep an eye on your junk/spam emails during this time

STEP 6: REGISTERING FOR VENDOR NET

After emailing the market format buyer, the Inventory Lead will send the prospective vendor an email explaining that they should receive an email from “Meijer Vendor” so they can register on Vendor Net and be issued a vendor ID.

The Inventory Lead will provide screenshots of Vendor Net in this email to help guide them, but it is important that the the vendor owns and works through this step.

STEP 7: MEIJER VENDOR ID ISSUE

Once the vendor registers on Vendor Net it will be 3-7 days until the Inventory Lead receives an email from the Market Format buyer that the prospective vendor has been issued a Meijer vendor ID. 

During this time, vendors may reach out with questions. Out Inventory Lead will answer if possible or direct the prospective vendor to meijervendor@meijer.com. 

The Inventory Lead will follow up with the prospective vendor if no vendor ID has been issued a couple of weeks after initiating the request.

STEP 8: NEW ITEM SUBMISSIONS

Once the Meijer vendor ID has been issued, our Inventory Lead will begin the new item/case pack setup process. They will email the vendor a new item submission form during this process, asking them to fill out and return it.

STEP 9: INVENTORY LEAD DETAILED REVIEW

When the Inventory Lead receives the new item form back from the vendor, they will review item details (with particular attention to UPC, brand name, item size, and case pack size). Once the Inventory Lead has approved item details, they will copy and paste information from the new item form to the shared new item for internal use.

EXAMPLE: it’s common that vendors don’t include all (12) digits of the UPC. They may forget to include the brand name in the item description or include outlandish case pack sizes.

TIP: I recommend all locals are set up with case pack sizes of (1) when possible.

STEP 10: VENDOR ENTERS ITEMS INTO PIM

The Inventory Lead will return the copy of the new item form (that they've corrected or approved) and send it back to the vendor with instructions for entering on PIM. They will let the vendor know they should look out for any alerts on the PIM system until we can notify the vendor that items are receivable.

WHY TO WATCH OUT FOR ALERTS: This can help prevent the submissions from getting "caught" on the vendor side without anyone knowing because the vendor isn't regularly logging into vendor net and monitoring this.

After we know the item has been submitted, the Inventory Lead reach out to Ann Roberts asking for a status update (10 days) following submission if you see that PIDs have not been created.

STEP 12: AUTHORIZED ITEMS

When PIDs are created for the submissions, it usually takes 2-3 days for the items to flow into our HQ program. At this point, The Inventory Lead will authorize these items fro receiving at the market.

Once authorized items are receivable, we can welcome a new vendor and place an initial order!

STEP 13: ONLINE MEETING WITH INVENTORY LEAD, AREA LEAD AND MARKETING MANAGER

Once the items are authorized, it's time to meet back with the Rivertown Market team! The Inventory Lead will send out a calendar invite for us to walk you through our Local Vendor Guide and give the vendor opportunities to ask questions with their Area Lead and Marketing Manager.

STEP 14: FIRST DELIVERY!

The vendor's Area Lead will place a delivery after the online meeting and schedule a day for the vendor to bring in their first order. When the vendor drops off their first delivery, they will be shown our receiving process and their placement on the market's sales floor.

If possible, during this initial delivery, the Marketing Manager will get some content to post on the market's social platforms.

NOW THAT YOU’RE AN APPROVED VENDOR

Please reference the Local Vendor Guide for information on communication, receiving. sales, demoing, and more!

COMMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  1. How long does the onboarding process take from start to finish? The process varies by vendor, but the whole process can take anywhere from 30-70 days.

  2. My product is not being received correctly, what do I do? Please email your Area Lead and Inventory Lead with the issue, and they will look into why your items are not able to be received at the back door.

  3. Can I add more items once I’m an approved vendor? Please refer to the Local Vendor Guide’s “products” section to learn more.

  4. How can I view my sales? Please refer to the Local Vendor Guide’s “RECEIVING + SALES” section to learn more.

*Updated on 03/04