racolvin Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 All: I'm working on fleshing out my wholesale program - now called the Retail Partner Program I'm still working on it but I'm interested in your feedback on the direction I'm going with it. The link below isn't connected to the rest of my site yet (so the general public won't find it) but if you could look at it and give me your thoughts, I would appreciate it: http://www.madisoncandleworks.com/wholesale_info.html Thanks in advance! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
islandgirl Posted January 29, 2008 Share Posted January 29, 2008 Wow.. You can tell you really put a lot of thought into your wholesale process.I like the fact you offer programs to suit smaller (BRP)and larger business (SRP). You have given the small retailer/reseller a chance to order and sell, while encouraging them to want to move up to the SRP status. I have seen your website before, always liked the set up.. I remember seeing it when you got your gift bags and shared. One thing I did find:I tried to open your template for the private label.. It would not work for me??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racolvin Posted January 29, 2008 Author Share Posted January 29, 2008 Islandgirl:Thanx for taking a look at that for me and giving me your thoughts As for that template, it's a Photoshop document, so you'd need something than can open a PSD file - either full-blown Photoshop or Photoshop Elements I would guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tahlula B. Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 I think your pages look nice and you have obviously put a lot of thought and care into them. Your gift bags are beautiful! Now, to be brutal... (and only because I would want the same - why ask if you just want a pat on the back, right? this is the business section and we want to help each other run our business in a profitable manner).Two things: too much text and your two levels of wholesale. 1. Make the text as barebones as possible to get your point across and keep them interested. Fill in those selling point blanks in person! 2. I cannot see the value to your customer in the two levels of wholesale. It seems more of a value for you - other than the 15% for refills and even then, they are doing work for that cut. It may work, but I have my doubts. I will be curious to see how that works.Good luck! Your candles are beautiful and I love both your labeling and your gift wrap. Really great job!edited to add: fix that template! You are going to have a serious minority that even knows what a PSD file is - a PDF will serve you much better and all PhotoShop files can be saved as a PDF. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racolvin Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 Tahlula:Thanx for taking a look for me And don't worry, I've got a thick skin after all these years To address your points a bit ...1) All I can say is that it's a work in progress. Your point is well made, its just how I do things. I write and write and then go back and edit it down. If I don't get it all out there at first, I tend to forget stuff 2) The value to them, beyond the 15% cut, is the foot traffic and advertising that I do for them. When I go to chamber events, networking events, in my email newsletters, etc etc, I'm pushing the position of the SRPs for those refill events and for the web order pickups. The refill customers and web order customers are folks who might not have gone in their shop in the first place, so while they're waiting to place their refill order, they're wandering the aisles of the shop. It's more chances for the shop owner to sell them something else that they otherwise wouldn't have had.About the template - I don't get it. A PDF file would be useless as a template since it wouldn't be editable, right? The whole point was to put a document out there that could be edited and sent back. I'm probably missing something but I dunno what it is ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tahlula B. Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Whew... I was afraid you would take that personally! 1. I totally - REALLY - get what you are saying about writing, writing and writing to make sure it is all there. That is my process as well. Then I cut that sucker down BARE. Just remember that after you get the facts out of your system. (g)2. Can you really back up the added foot traffic? Do you have the web traffic to back up the claim that having their directions, etc... on the page is going to gain them real, dollar spending exposure? I don't know the answers, I am saying you need to examine and make sure you have them. It all sounds good - and really, it DOES, but make sure you have some numbers to back up those claims. THAT would be a great benefit, if you have some hard, real numbers to back it up! 3. A PDF is actually something that can be edited. Someone would have to have the proper software (PhotoShop, Illustrator, Acrobat - not just the reader). That would be to EDIT it. For the customer to just look at it, a free reader is all that is needed. Beyond that, the customer can either come to you and ask, "Hey, how can I customize this?" or they can take it to a designer, etc... a lot of the business you are going to deal with for this type of thing have digital artwork and means to edit it. The PDF is the most common form to reach the masses, as it were. Now, I must say that I didn't look at the template (I breezed through those pages since you were really asking about the wholesale page - but, being nosy wanted to see it all) but when I saw the other comment about the PSD, I butted in again. Oh, and I forgot to say before, I never charge for local deliveries. I figure that is an added service - and a great value to those local customers. I have never been in a place to deliver a $10 order - all reorders have enough of a min that I am going to deliver it with a smile - so I might feel different if I were talking about a small order.edited for some clarity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sudsnwicks Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Ronnie, for the SRP program, I wonder if it would suffice to give the additional benefits and requirements over the BRP program, instead of starting all over again. When I read it all through, it was at first unclear to me what's the difference between the 2 programs. After all, they both have the same $250 minimum. I had to compare line by line in order to determine what's new for the SRP. I do like how you have stated the $250 minimum is after discount - most wholesale terms I see will say $x minimum but do not make it clear if that's before or after the discount. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racolvin Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 2. Can you really back up the added foot traffic? Do you have the web traffic to back up the claim that having their directions, etc... on the page is going to gain them real, dollar spending exposure? I don't know the answers, I am saying you need to examine and make sure you have them. It all sounds good - and really, it DOES, but make sure you have some numbers to back up those claims. THAT would be a great benefit, if you have some hard, real numbers to back it up! Nope, not a bit This is all in the idea/experiment stage to be honest. I got the idea for it after I visited a local fabric store. They had signs up all over proclaiming that the guy that sharpens scissors would be there soon. I asked the manager about that and she told me that he makes the rounds of the different fabric places in the area and it always brings customers in. While they stand around and get things sharpened, they're shopping for other stuff If I can make the idea work, it allows me to do things like refills and customer loyalty programs without having to pay for my own retail shop. I can invest my $$ in marketing and promotion and bring my SRPs with me, rather than spend $20k starting up my own shop.3. A PDF is actually something that can be edited. Someone would have to have the proper software (PhotoShop, Illustrator, Acrobat - not just the reader). That would be to EDIT it. For the customer to just look at it, a free reader is all that is needed. Beyond that, the customer can either come to you and ask, "Hey, how can I customize this?" or they can take it to a designer, etc... a lot of the business you are going to deal with for this type of thing have digital artwork and means to edit it. The PDF is the most common form to reach the masses, as it were. I guess that's where I get disconnected, mentally. If they're going to edit a PDF, they'll need the full version of Acrobat. If they've got that, they've probably got some flavor of Photoshop. The template itself is nothing but a blank document of the right dimensions, so there's nothing to see in a PDF version of it. It's meant purely for them to get to work editing it right away. As you said above, most of the business that want this sort of thing already have the means to edit it Oh, and I forgot to say before, I never charge for local deliveries. I figure that is an added service - and a great value to those local customers. I have never been in a place to deliver a $10 order - all reorders have enough of a min that I am going to deliver it with a smile - so I might feel different if I were talking about a small order.With gas at $3/gallon, I charge a nominal fee ($10) for wholesale deliveries under $500. I could easily spend $6-10 in gas alone on a round trip to a wholesale account, much less the 45 -60 minutes total time. It's still way cheaper to them than if they paid shipping for an order of Yankee candles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
racolvin Posted January 30, 2008 Author Share Posted January 30, 2008 Ronnie, for the SRP program, I wonder if it would suffice to give the additional benefits and requirements over the BRP program, instead of starting all over again. When I read it all through, it was at first unclear to me what's the difference between the 2 programs. After all, they both have the same $250 minimum. I had to compare line by line in order to determine what's new for the SRP. I do like how you have stated the $250 minimum is after discount - most wholesale terms I see will say $x minimum but do not make it clear if that's before or after the discount.Suds:I went ahead and typed it all out for now. When I get into my editing process, I'll probably do something along the lines of "everything in the BRP program plus the following ..."As for the discount thing, I've had that bite me in the past, so I made a point to be very specific about that bit from then on Thanx for looking at it for me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southern.scents Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Your wholesale plan sounds really nice and looks very professional. I wish my wholesale program sounded that good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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