Connecting with a brand gives you access to their product catalog and allows you to showcase and control product visibility for your retail clients. This connection is essential for making your products visible to consumers who are searching for furniture in your territory.

• Be easily found by retailers who want to connect.

• Allow your retailers show up in local Where to Buy searches for the brand's products.

• Control product distribution and access for your retailers.

• Access brand product information, pricing, and availability.

• Share product details and training materials with retailers.

You can request a Connection to a brand directly through FurnishNearMe.

• If the brand is not yet active on the platform, your connection request is automatically approved.

• If the brand is active on the platform, they will need to manually approve your request before the connection is finalized.

Brands can also initiate connections with you. If a brand initiates the Connection, you are granted access to their brand automatically.

If your request remains pending for more than a week, you will see a Request Help prompt next to the brand's name on the My Vendors page. This allows you to send a message to our team and we can help move the connection process forward.

Once a Connection has been established with a brand, you unlock the following capabilities.

You gain the ability to establish a retailer’s Connection to your brand. This is essential for your retailer to show their products.

• When retailers request Connection:
  Retailers can request to connect with your brand. When this happens, you'll receive a pending request. Approving it adds them to your client list as an authorized reseller.

• When you initiate Connection:
  You can proactively set retailers as authorized resellers, but they must confirm this Connection before it activates. Until they accept, none of your brand's products will appear in their listings. Product Distribution Controls can be managed at any time both before and after Connection. These controls allow you to define which products the retailer can display.

Once a retailer becomes an authorized reseller of your brand, you gain:

• Improved distribution
  Your products appear in the retailer's profile and Where to Buy search results, increasing visibility to consumers.

• Inventory management
  You can manage the client’s product lineup by giving you control over which products or collections the retailer can display and set accurate pricing information.

• Pricelist settings
  You can set default wholesale and MAP pricelists for the retailer which boosts product visibility for consumers and makes it easier for a retailer to make purchase orders through you.

• Mark products as In-Stock on behalf of the retailer

When a retailer initiates a connection to a brand they will see you as a rep for the brand. Then they can easily select you as their sales rep during the Connection request.

You will be able to tailor and share Lists of products with your clients that can be used to formulate Purchase Orders, suggest slot replacements, and more. Client buyers can collaborate with you on these lists in real time to keep merchandising conversations going.

Upload and share training videos through the Training Center to efficiently train retail sales staff across all your accounts. These on-demand resources help new hires learn your products, allow remote stores to receive quality training in-between your visits, and ensure sales teams can review key features before customer interactions.

Browse the brand’s complete catalog with detailed product information, including pricing and distribution settings.

• Search or filter by product type and other specifications.

• Product specifications (descriptions, measurements, materials).

• Check vendor pricing and inventory status (location, stock levels, last updated).

• See retailer visibility settings.

• MSRP, MAP, Wholesale, landed, and freight costs.

• View wholesale and MAP pricelist settings.

• See catalog distribution controls (open access, request-only, or hidden).

• View the brand's retailer network, including access restrictions.

A brand who is Active on the platform has controls and permission they can set that can override or enhance some Sales Rep abilities.

Some brands may control your territory definition to ensure compliance with their distribution policies. You still define your own territory but the brand can set boundaries for you that applies to their brand only.

Your permissions for each brand are determined by the brand, which can expand or limit your capabilities within FurnishNearMe. Here is what the brand can control for their sales reps.

• Management access: Full access to manage their business.

• Clients: Manage retailer connection requests and identify retailers.

• User accounts: Add, edit, remove users and manage access.

• Profile pages: Edit business profiles and make posts.

• Product catalogs: Edit product data and manage display permissions.

• Pricelists: Create/update pricelists and manage retailer access.

Below are answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about brand connections.