The article doesn't specify a fixed timeframe or quantity threshold, but Lawyer's Treasure's case shows a direction: they accumulated over 200 retail merchants in a short period, with each averaging 3 to 5 repeat purchases per year—this scale showed distributors there was stable market demand. Actually, the key isn't absolute numbers, but "having consistent repeat orders, not just one-time purchases." When you can show a few months of reorder records and provide a concrete list of stores and sales figures, distributors' interest in discussions will shift noticeably. So the execution focus is: get your first batch of retail points shipping early, continuously track repeat orders, and organize these records into market performance data for your future negotiations.