What is the best set up when supplying to shops?
The way I see it there’s three main options.
A place near us opened and they charged 50% plus costs for credit cards etc. Walked away from that one and they have now closed.
Some places you rent they still take a % or you have to commit to so many weeks per year to be in the shop.
I would say the best is 3, as that is money in the bank, and as the shop own the product hopefully they will look after it, and display it nicely, as it is in their interest.
2 sale or return, is much more common, ideally I like to only sale or return to shops I can pop in to occasionally, to check that items are being looked after, cleaned and displayed well. I have known shops to have work sat in a back room for months, which is no skin of their nose, but it is to the maker. splitting the retail price 60 - 40 is about normal where I sell 60% to the maker.
I avoid the rent a shelf set up.
There’s a shop relatively local to me who I believe must be doing sale or return, judging by the number of sellers they appear to be profiling on their website and it looks like they really partner with them. I wouldn’t mind giving this a go but haven’t had the guts to approach them yet.
Risk of course, apart from being turned down, would be stuff kicking around, not on display, shoplifting, shop closing down and stuff disappearing with them etc. so would need to be prepared for this risk and find somewhere can visit often,take part in promotions with them etc.
I understand that it’s considered bad form to sell the same items cheaper online which makes it difficult to build the higher selling fee into price. Think my plan would be to create a different range for retail and possibly even use different branding - currently I only sell online so haven’t built up a local presence to build on anyway and this way a price difference wouldn’t matter so much…
If you can sell wholesale and make a profit that would be ideal however is difficult to achieve and imagine is now even harder to come by than would previously have been the case.
I don’t think I’d be up for renting a space unless it was really affordable / high traffic and even then wouldn’t commit long term without testing it out first as think it could be a financial drain - my past experience of a city centre craft fair taught me that even if a place has high traffic at busy times and shoppers claim to love visiting and looking at the items, sales can be hard work - you don’t want to be funding a viewing gallery.
I do both 2 and 3. Commission for sale or return is anything up to 50% but 40% tends to be the norm. Shops buying wholesale need to be able to sell at 2 to 2.5 times your wholesale price.
The problem when we’re pricing our items is that we tend not to cost the time spent on the business of selling. If you include these in your retail price, setting a wholesale price makes much more sense.
Option 1 is a no go for me, if you’re paying to rent the space what incentive does the shop have to sell your stuff? Better to spend the money on a fair where you can do your own selling.
Id only ever do wholesale. Sale or return left me with 3 silk bags that had been ruined by displaying them inappropriately, and a shop that denied theyd done znything wrong, so wouldnt pay for the damage.
The only option 1 i ever saw absolutely refused to take responsibility for items on the shelf in their shop - if it was broken or stolen, that was just tough. It wasnt their job, apparently, to cover the cost via their shop insurance, nor was it their job to look after the items in any way.
Go into it with a clear knowledge of who is responsible for what. My mistake cost me almost £100.
Yes, I’m very careful about what items I will supply SOR, and I do carefully research the shop/gallery. I won’t supply anything easily damaged or broken (surprisingly, most of my glass is not easily broken!) and I am very cautious about supplying multiple small items like earrings as I know how difficult it can be to keep track of them.
2 and 3 are by far the best options.
Always research the location where your items are to be sold.
Cost accordingly. Factor in the commission rate if going with option 2. Factor in your time when looking at pricing for option 3.
I cant really stress enough proper costings. It actually reflects other aspects of making and selling. You may think that you don’t need to input time spent making as a cost or other expenses. By not doing so it makes it harder for professional makers to justify their pricing. Especially into retail.
You can leverage retail pricing with clients and can keep control of how your items are displayed and sold. Keeping a dialogue open with such customers is key.
If your costing is correct you should be able to absorb losses from breakage and damages. Be prepared to accept shrinkage as part and parcel of dealing with retail.
SOR can be a problem. I accept it where I am selling at a location where I just pay commission on sales - I turn stock around regularly anyway so not to be stale. For handcrafted, low volume items I wouldn’t accept it on a wholesale order.