Web Store

[David Dustin]

If this is a taboo topic feel free to move it to the round recepticle...

I have quickly come to respect the members here as being very knowledgeable, honest and helpfull beyound expectations. That is the only reason I am making this suggestion here.

We will be opening up a web store (PM me if you would like to review/critique it) and will be trying to reach the mass markets. Being an ex-manufacturing guy, I know volume is one of the keys to profitability.

We can upgrade our shopping cart with the ability to incorporate other suppliers with their own section. This is a promised part of the next release (and the mutli-vendor portion is a $ adder) so i don't know a lot about it yet...

We can just incorporate products from others with the store as it is, the orders would just have to be directed to the outside suppliers.

Regardless I thought it would be worth throwing out there to the community for thoughts.

I can make no promises as to volumes, and at this point probably need to limit it to US or Canadian based suppliers. My fear is the potential for misunderstandings. It takes a fair bit of work to get stuff into the shopping cart so I don't make this suggestion lightly, as ultimately I am responsible for the delivery of the product.

Let me know what you think...

Best regards,
David

[Mike Null]

David

I see no harm in discussing your concept on the forum. An outright appeal for business partners wouldn't sit well but since we're discussing what I think is your idea I'll include my 2 cents worth.

I have some arrangements with a very few sales organizations to market one of my products to their customers. They may refer to my web site and use my retail prices. I ship to their customers but invoice my sales organizations at a discount from the retail prices. They are essentially collecting a sales commission.

I have taken my business to commercial, institutional and wholesale accounts so I do not use a merchant site.

If you can get past the logistical nightmare and the collection/payment issues I don't see why multiple suppliers woudn't be feasible.

Give careful thought to shipping as it can quickly become a profit drain.

[David Dustin]

Mike,
Thanks for the OK.

The idea is to:
1. Possibly gain greater exposure for those here with a great idea
2. Allow us more products to sell.

In all my business dealings I strive to maintain the highest ethical standards (well it is not limited to business) and doing what is right in every situation. It needs to be fair for all parties. I am a firm believer in "what goes around, comes around".

David

[Scott Shepherd]

Hi David, I'll give my personal experience with it. Several years ago, I had a product line unrelated to laser work. I had a small number of products that were hand made and unique. I constantly ran into people like me who had their own unique products but no outlet. I had purchased a domain name that had excellent rankings and traffic. Within a couple of months, I had 1/2 dozen people sending me products to put on the website and sell. Keeping in mind, it was all one website, which might be different than what you're dealing with.

I found that some of the people were easy going and easy to work with and others were complete jerks and wouldn't hesitate to send you 5 emails a day as well as leave 5 voice mails demanding they be called back immediately.

I'd take the payment and then pay them for their products. I kept it all above board and open, but despite that, they would tell me they were sending replacement product and never send it, then when it sold out and automatically came off the website, they would call and email wanting to know why I pulled their products off the website. When I explained I didn't have any of their products to sell, they'd demand that I hadn't paid them. Of course I had email trails and voice mails and everything to back it up, but it was way more hassle than I'd ever like to deal with again.

What happens when someone orders one of your products, along with one of 3 other peoples products? Are there 4 packages now going out from across the country? That's 4 shipping amounts and you probably got paid for one. Now, what if 1 of those 4 doesn't send the product, or waits a couple of weeks to send it? Your name is attached to it, so you're going to field the phone call. My guess is you'll not be able to reach the person who's holding back on shipping. They'll stop answering emails and stop answering the phone when you call.

Then what? You've taken the money for the product and it's not been delivered. Do you refund the money for a product you didn't make or even touch? By law, you have to.

It gets way too complicated for my pea size brain to deal with.

[David Dustin]

Steve,
That is exactly the type of thing I was afraid of.

Sounds like it is probably not worth the headache and my brain isn't even of pea caliber...

Thanks for the feedback.
David

[Scott Shepherd]

I did get around some of it later on by just outright buying their products at a discounted rate and offering it on my site. That gave me control over it. Some were fine with it, some didn't want to go that route.

So one work around is to just outright buy the products from them and offer them in your own store.

[Dan Hintz]

Scott has the right idea of purchasing at a reduced rate and offering the product directly through your website... to try it any other way is going to be a huge hassle. So, unless you can make it worthwhile monetarily speaking (i.e., you get a sizable discount), stick with your own stuff.

There is a viable alternative, however, which can work particularly well with other small (personal) businesses. Your website provides links to another company's products, as well as information on what added value service you offer. The other company's website provides an option when ordering to have the product shipped to you, instead of directly to the customer, where you are then able to provide that service before shipping it to the final destination.

For example, you work out a deal with a pen turner. The customer orders and pays for a pen directly from the turner's website, but they check a box that has the pen shipped to you. They then travel to your website where they enter a line of text to be lasered onto your pen, as well as paying for that service (and the service alone, not the pen) on your website. The turner sends you the pen and shipping info... they have their money. You receive the pen, engrave it, then ship it to the customer... you have your money. Money never changes hands, and you both see increased sales.

Granted, there is still the chance a customer will complain about some nonsensical screw-up, they forget to go to your website to pay for the engraving service, etc. However, if both companies are willing to spend time setting it all up correctly (such as the turner's site automatically forwarding the customer's browser to your site once the order has gone through), it will make things quite smooth... and did I mention increase business? :p

Of course, there's nothing preventing the both of you from just putting links to each other's sites and crossing your fingers, but it shoudl be done right to prevent frustration, both at your end and the customer's.

[Belinda Barfield]

I second Dan's suggestion. You could have photos of all products on your site. When the customer clicks on the photo it takes them to manufacturer's site. You get a percentage from each sale for "hosting" the store. Lots more products in your store, and more exposure for your affiliates, sort of like a antique mall with lots of different sellers.

[Dan Hintz]

When the customer clicks on the photo it takes them to manufacturer's site. You get a percentage from each sale for "hosting" the store.
Actually, this is what I'm suggesting against...

This requires transfer of money, someone (somehow) has to keep track of what clicks actually resulted in a sale, etc. How do you split up taxes on the sale? Do you have one person pay the taxes, requiring a higher charge, and thereby possibly losing companies to all-in-one shops that are less expensive? Do you charge more to recover the commission fee? It's a huge mess that should be avoided.

What I was suggesting is merely a value-added linking of services, rather than a transfer of point-of-sale service. If I go shopping for a pen, it would be nice if I could have it engraved, as well. However, if the shop does not offer engraving directly, I highly appreciate a recommendation for a shop that will engrave. This accomplishes that task nicely. It's akin to have a turner shop right next to an engraver shop... someone walks in to purchase a pen, wants it engraved, and the turner points next door with a smile. Both item and service are paid for separately, but in this case the customer doesn't have to travel... they pick what they want and wait for it to arrive.

What you could do, is advertise a discount on your services if the item is purchased through particular stores. For example, the turner's website would add a note next to the "Have this engraved!" checkbox that stated customer's will receive a 10% discount on engraving services when ordering pens from the online store. This gives customers incentive to check the box and stick with the recommended engraver, the engraver gets more business, and the engraver can still charge his normal rate to customers who pop in the front door (as well as possibly bringing in repeat business on new items).

It's a real win-win situation for both businesses, but it takes some patience to get it set up and working flawlessly.

[Belinda Barfield]

Actually, this is what I'm suggesting against...

This requires transfer of money, someone (somehow) has to keep track of what clicks actually resulted in a sale, etc.

Dan,

I am in agreement with you. I wasn't suggesting that all sales be handled through the web store. Just as you said, if I want a pen I would buy from the pen turner's site, from the turner him/herself. The only difference was I suggested a nominal fee for the store "hosting" the pen turner. I understand that someone somehow has to keep track of sales in order for this to work. In a perfect world this would be done on the honor system but, sadly, we don't live in a perfect world.