Most Used Provider of Wholesale Awards in the Industry

[Tom Winters]

Hey guys (and girls!),

I have a favor to ask. I know I haven't posted as much as I should but I am a busy guy. Hope all is well with your businesses, even if you're a competitor of mine.

I am trying to do some market research and even though the creek is a small group....maybe you can still help me out.

The question I need answered is which company is the most used provider wholesale awards and trophies? I know there are many out there and I know of or at least have heard of most. Any help on this would be appreciated. I know there has to be actual data about this somewhere to be found on the web, I just haven't come across it.

I am also trying to compile a list of these wholesalers so if you know some names of companies, that is appreciated too.

Thank you guys (and girls) for your help.:)

[Dan Hintz]

My first reaction to such a question is "Why?"...

If they're popular, they may be flooding the market with commonplace awards, or they may be popular just because they're good at what the do... depends upon your viewpoint. But in the end, does it much matter?

Now listing the ones we know of, that's a different matter...

[Tom Winters]

Ok let me be a bit more clear for everyone. There are countless of us engravers out there that sell engraved awards like plaques, crystals, trophies, and more. What I am trying to find out is where do most of these engravers get there engraveable awards from.....

Do most engravers go through one of the wholesalers listed below:
JDS
Discount Trophies
Barbell
Airflyte

???? OR
If you all were to say that a different supplier than the ones I have just listed were where most bought their wholesale awards from.....that would be what I am looking for on this thread. I mean I would love to hear where the creek members get their materials from, opinions on the matter, and of course if someone actually found a consensus done on this and/or other actual information regarding the majority of consumer spending habits......I would be grateful. Thank you to all that respond.

[Stephen Beckham]

Tom,

Careful on this thread - it could be considered a advertising of "my favorite company is XYZ"

Now that the Creek was forced to use advertising to support the creek since there are so many "FREELOADERS" out there - any kind of thread that advertises or spotlights a company, will cause less advertising by other companies. Therefore, if anyone puts a good answer down on your thread, it could get removed....

Sent you my info by PM.

Steve

[Mike Null]

Steve

I'll take a little issue with that. We do allow recommendations we just don't want anybody self promoting. I have removed a good number of links because I felt they were only there to promote a site but a list of suppliers shouldn't cause a problem.

An Internet search would turn up the desired results, visiting a trade show would do the same or even picking up a couple of trade magazines would provide the information.

[Martin Boekers]

Tom,

A bit of market research is good.

I do recommend that you look a bit deeper.

I try to keep my regular vendors to a minimun as it helps
in inventory control and pricing.

When I took the reigns of this shop many of the same style items were purchased from many different vendors.

It took a bit of research to see location of warehouses, a warehouse within a day normal shipping helps keep inventory down while keeping turnarounds quick.
The quality and the accuracy of shipments is also important. as well as service after the sale, ie how do they handle it when problems occur?

Another thing to look for is discount & shipping cost policy. I have transfered a fair amount of purchases based on this. This can be done with keeping a back up vendor that has similar items in case the primary vendor can't come through. Keeping your bases covered!

As you can see there are many factors deciding who I purchase from.
As we all know this is a highly competative field and if I can increase profits by doing a bit of research and developing a plan it's time well spent!


Marty

[Dan Hintz]

Mike,

I believe Stephen may be referring to the unfortunate event with Frank's sig salute to Epilog quality...

[Tom Winters]

Very true Martin... I think location of distribution centers, mixed with turnaround and proper pricing are decision factors. I have tried to run searches over the web to find an answer to my question, but I have had no factual data returned to me in the search results. I have been to many trade shows, and have seen the different companies there as exhibitors. If I was to form an educated guess as to which wholesaler is the most commonly used in the industry while having the most distribution facilities, I would immediately think of JDS. I wanted to bounce this off others or find information to confirm this because my judgement call could just be out of my own ignorance. I have worked with JDS before and they are who I am most familiar with so my judgement could be cloudy.

Also, for people to list the names of the different companies who provide these materials is a far stretch from being considered advertising. Most comments will be formed from personal experience, location, and opinion. Then if actual raw data is found...then that would be fact. There are three things that make an advertisment, an advertisement: a message, a direction to take after receiving the message, and a call to action to get them to act now. Simply listing names has none of these three elements. Not sure on the exact rules for the creek, so again, pardon my ignorance if I am mistaken in my opinion. Thank you Stephen for the heads up as well as the PM. I do apreciate your efforts to help. I understand what you meant in the PM. That makes sense.

Thank you to all that responded and I hope to hear more peoples' opinions.

[Gary and Jessica Houghton]

Tom,

To answer your question of who I use most frequently is kind of difficult. I try and look for the more unique things, rather than what everyone is using.

Don't get me wrong, I have used JDS for any number of things, but I like to shop around for new and exciting (different from Joe down the street or even the next town) awards to offer customers.

[Rodne Gold]

Fortunately or unfortunately , Here in SA we do not have access to those companys and have been forced to manufacture our a lot pf our own awards and this has been the real money spinner..the margins are much much higher than buying , adding on a bit and engraving and selling.
I am a big trophy shop and also source a lot of my stock from overseas (europe mainly + china) but I can , due to the volume I sell , import stuff in the qty's that the overseas wholesalers want.
But in looking for a supplier in your locale , then the same criteria that apply to any supplier apply here too , service , delivery , price , warrantee , variety and so on.

[David Takes]

Most industries have at least one association that maintains lists on both the retailer and supplier side of the market. For the awards and recognition industry that would be the Awards and Recognition Association. A quick internet search will pull up their contact information. This will be one of many paths that can lead you do a plethora of suppliers such as you are seeking.

[Tom Winters]

I figured there had to be an association that handled that... but I did not know the name. I will check them out to see what information they have obtained about our industry. Thank you again.

[David Takes]

Tom,

They will not have a ranking of the "best" suppliers, just an online directory of the suppliers. "Best" is so arbitrary and personal.

They do give out a few annual awards to suppliers, but even with that you don't get the big picture.

There are suppliers who excel in the service area as well. I even sacrifice on product quality a slight bit for the convenience of service that one particular supplier offers.

[Stephen Beckham]

Steve

I'll take a little issue with that. We do allow recommendations we just don't want anybody self promoting. I have removed a good number of links because I felt they were only there to promote a site but a list of suppliers shouldn't cause a problem.

An Internet search would turn up the desired results, visiting a trade show would do the same or even picking up a couple of trade magazines would provide the information.

Sorry Mike, not meant to offend, just make aware that if enough people started promoting company XYZ and really started getting a bunch of people to concur and add to it, IMHO, that would be a violation. What is the best form of advertisement? Word of mouth. Get a bunch of professionals - as we are - promoting our favorite company in this one thread and the other companies not promoted through favoritism of this thread (if any) that saw it would likely pull their advertisement if the Creek allows this thread to promote a competitor (that was my simple minded understanding of the new TOS on promoting business).

If I'm wrong, I apologize and stand corrected and again it wasn't meant that the Moderators would maliciously remove a threat. Just that we can't as a group selectively promote who we think is the best of the providers.

v/r
Steve

edit...
Thinking about it - the way I read your comment, 'a list of suppliers...' not to contradict you, but the huge sticky list that I use to access a lot was taken down for just that reason, wasn't it? I sent Tom my answer direct to him because I felt that telling everyone who the best in my opinion is would have been a violation. Again sorry if I'm pushing the edge and starting controversy.

[Mike Null]

Steve

You will note that the list of engravers was also taken down. In both cases there was more than one reason for discontinuing them. One was the need to attract advertisers rather than self promoters and that is not to say that everybody was there expressly for the purpose of self promotion. Many were added to the list because customers were happy with their services and products and wanted to share that info with forum members.

The maintenance of the lists became an issue. As you know we are a volunteer organization and there just isn't enough time to maintain and police the lists. Because those lists of suppliers and engravers were posted as a reference on SMC one might assume that they were recommended by SMC. That was never the case.

While relevant links are still allowed we are taking a firmer position with respect to posting links than we have done previously. Certainly, there is nothing wrong with posting a relevant web address which isn't a hyperlink.

[Keith Outten]

Let me reinforce what Steve Beckham said and clarify a couple of issues based on conversations our Staff have had during the last few months.

Concerning active links here is a thread I made recently that clarifies our current position:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=119252

We aren't trying to bang anyone over the head here just trying to survive during these very tough economic times. Less than 4% of our Community are donating this year so we can't survive financially without advertising. I'm surprised the number of Contributors is this low since the ability to post a classified advertisement alone is worth more than the suggested annual donation of 50 cents per month. I know that times are tough but lets face it donating less than the cost of a pack of sandpaper isn't much to ask. I was surprised when I checked the List of Engravers and CNC Operators we were hosting to see how many on the list weren't even Contributors, I guess the exposure wasn't worth six dollars a year to them :(

We used to host a thread that had a list of material suppliers that people here recommended. It became a big chore to keep editing the list to add vendors, the list was very popular and a lot of people contributed to the list. Once again I found that a large number of people who were asking me to include links were not Contributors to The Creek. It became apparent to me that many felt my time wasn't as valuable as theirs when they would ask me for help yet couldn't take a couple of minutes to make a small donation. Not too long ago Mike and I discussed the lists and we were both concerned that we were in fact giving away free advertising which is detrimental to our need to acquire funding from advertisers. In spite of their value to everyone we felt it best to remove the lists and stay focused on marketing The Creek and it reduced my workload.

Mike's comment about our need to remain neutral when it comes to companies and their product lines is true. At the same time we owe our advertisers our support here because they provide the funds to keep the free side of The Creek open for all to enjoy.

The old saying that "You have to give up to get" is certainly applicable to our situation these days. When my schedule gets less hectic I will consider bringing some of these lists we were hosting back into public view....for our Contributors. There isn't much I wouldn't do for those who help me to pay the bills here. If there is a service you want and I can make it happen I will, just start a thread in the Lumber Yard Forum and if there is support for your idea we will try our best to make it happen.

Sorry for interrupting this thread, it seemed prudent to take the opportunity to make our side of this issue clear.
.

[Keith Outten]

Tom,

Had you asked this question in the Lumber Yard Forum it would never have been challenged, and you are still free to do so. Because the Lumber Yard is inaccessible to the search bots we are very flexible concerning questions asked and topics discussed there. If you start a list of your favorite vendors I will be glad to offer mine :)
.

[Dan Hintz]

Had you asked this question in the Lumber Yard Forum it would never have been challenged...
Good to know!