The Mythical Threat of Direct Sales
KAESER & BLAIR INC.
"Clients who try and get to good factories and deal with them on a direct basis are usually disappointed to find out that factories don't want their direct business. There are some players out there who will basically take any order that comes along, and I don't think there's anybody that, if the order is large enough and they can figure out some way to make it work, might not take another look at it. But, we try to work with vendors who aren't interested in doing direct business. There's a lot more risks involved, they have to worry about credit worthiness, or processing on credit cards, and it has not been a big issue with us because we deal with some of the best factories in the country. There are a few who are so [against] deal[ing] direct that they've sent customers to us to ask me to get them a good deal, and when I asked them what's special about [the customer], they told me it was their cousin. So they wouldn't even sell a direct order to their own family [member]."
– Gregg Emmer, vice president and chief marketing officer of Kaeser & Blair Inc., Batavia, Ohio