25 May 13

Wholesaling 101

Taking the step from retailing to wholesaling your products can be a big step — but not if you have your Wholesale Pricing researched and in place FIRST!

Personally, I have written numerous posts (see links below) and have published a FREE email course (How to Price Your Products) on the subject. My experience and expertise comes mostly working with gift type shops.

One of my favorite authors and business associates is Carolyn Edlund of the Arts Business Institute. Her take on Wholesale Pricing 101 comes from selling to galleries! Here are some excerpts from her article:

The Truth About Wholesale Pricing
What is wholesale price? Wholesale price is a 50% or greater discount off the artist’s retail price. The practice of not discounting to a true wholesale price puts you in direct competition with your retailers when you are selling to the public, but at an unfair advantage. This is called “undercutting.”
… Artists who undercut their store buyers on retail price are one reason that galleries go out of business. Gallery buyers also become wary of new artists who approach them to sell wholesale, and it becomes more difficult for everyone to sell their work into galleries.
…A less-than-wholesale discount is known as a “designer’s discount” or “trade discount” and is sometimes offered to interior designers who buy from manufacturers and also artists. Quite often this ranges from 20 – 30% off retail price. Designers can get a discount on furnishings, home décor and other items for interiors that they purchase for their customers, but they don’t get true wholesale.
… Artists protect themselves when selling wholesale by requiring a minimum purchase of their work. Trade shows and some wholesale websites also protect artists by requiring credentials that prove buyers are in fact legitimate, and run brick and mortar stores, catalogs or online stores.

READ FULL STORY

SPECIAL OFFER: My How to Price Your Products EBook is now on sale at Meylah.

0 comments

Posted by: Sandy Dell

20 May 13

Creating Partnerships with Your Retailers

I was recently reminded by my business friends, Mckenna Hallet and Carolyn Edlund about the importance of Creating Partnerships with Your Retailers. (NOTE: We talked a bit about this in one of my recent post: Selling Wholesale vs. Selling to End Consumers.)

Retailers take a big risk when they first buy your products — will they sell? will their customers like the new items? can they spare the shelf space? …. Lots of things go through the store buyers mind before they actually place their orders. And that is just the tip of the iceberg.

Unfortunately, many gift makers are appalled when they find out how much a retailer marks up products someone else made! Of course, you will find this true in nearly all retail businesses: most of the price you pay at check-out is the cost of distributing and presenting the item to the end consumer.

For example, a few years back a candle maker I represented, decided to retire. I looked high and low for a new company to replace her. Several different candle companies contacted me, so the prospects looked good. But when I asked each to send me a wholesale/retail price sheet, I was shocked by what I received.

One gal I ran across made beautiful candles. I wanted to represent her, but her wholesale price was 80% of her retail price! And this was not atypical. Eventually, I did find a producer whose pricing structure would work, but it took a long time …

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE to find out how to create partnerships with your retailers!