Quail By Mail
|
Shop owners: What do you expect out of your wholesalers?As some of you know, I have my own women's clothing label and currently retail via my website. By requests from fashion boutiques, I'm also starting to do some wholesale.
I'd like to hear from shop owners, clothing or not, of what you like  about your wholesale supplier and what really, really drives you insane about them. 
Ta!
|
Cho-ku-ri
|
I liked clear pricing at the time of delivery rather than waiting for a invoice, as I liked to get goods out for sale ASAP. I didn't like wholesalers who also retailed either at events or on line. I didn't like wholsalers who discounted previous sales seasons ranges when I still had them for sale in the current season. I didn't like to spend ages with reps forward ordering clothes, for them to be unavailable or sold out by the time of delivery.
|
sally_in_wales
|
Clear indications of what is in stock and what will take time to come through, both being fine, as long as I knew where I stood. Clear postage structures, clear information on where any price break points were. An easy way to re-order things I'd had before, like a shopping cart that remembered previous orders for easy re-ordering rather than having to trawl the catalogue tryng to remember which of two similar items I had bought six months earlier.
|
Quail By Mail
|
Cho-ku-ri
Are you saying that you didn't know the RRP before you bought the item wholesale? Or are you talking about labelling?
So you hate it when wholesalers also retail?
Would you you prefer to order wholesale items and receive them within 30days?
|
Quail By Mail
|
Sally_in_Wales
What do you mean by 'price break'?
|
MarkS
|
price break refers to the points at which pricing changes.
eg
up to 5 items (or say £50 spend) £10/item
5-10 items £8/item
<10 items £7/item
|
cinders
|
i prefer a wholesaler who doesn't have a minimum amount i have to purchase
|
Soapnutter
|
Me too Cinders, or a very low minimum.
I hate when VAT is added unexpectedly. I have one supplier who has a nice low min order value but adds VAT and then delivery on top which whacks it up.
I don't mind a supplier who sells direct to the public or pretty much anything as long as I know and it's crystal clear up front.
|
Quail By Mail
|
Thanks Cinders
Soapnutter - Do you think they exclude VAT just to pull you in? Or do you think they're just disorganised with their 'presentation'? Do you mind paying for P&P or do you think it should be free as part of the service?
|
Quail By Mail
|
Thanks Marks - I tried to Google 'price breaks' but you're explanation is much clearer.
|
sally_in_wales
|
I don't mind paying P&P as long as its realistic and in line with what it actually costs.
Some sites let you see the prices with or without VAT and when that happens its quite handy depending on your circumstances. I've never been 'big' enough to be VAT registered, so for me I'd rather see pricing with it on, that way I know exactly what I'm paying.
I don't see any reason at all why a wholesaler shouldnt also sell retail whether by shop, online or at shows, as long as they are selling to the public at about the price I would be, there is no problem.
|
Quail By Mail
|
Thanks for all this feedback.
Do you all think a wholesale price always has to be doubled to get your retail price?
|
Stacey
|
| Quail By Mail wrote: | Thanks for all this feedback.
Do you all think a wholesale price always has to be doubled to get your retail price? |
I sell wholesale at a 60/40% split to galleries. One gallery takes 45% but generally it's 60/40.
|
Soapnutter
|
| Quail By Mail wrote: |
Soapnutter - Do you think they exclude VAT just to pull you in? Or do you think they're just disorganised with their 'presentation'? Do you mind paying for P&P or do you think it should be free as part of the service? |
I don't know TBH. I think that VAT should be included in the price - and then stated as included, if appropriate.
I don't mind P&P as long as it's clearly stated. I don't even mind it being calculated at the end. It's a surprisingly large total in my basket I object to!
|
MarkS
|
| Soapnutter wrote: | Me too Cinders, or a very low minimum.
I hate when VAT is added unexpectedly. I have one supplier who has a nice low min order value but adds VAT and then delivery on top which whacks it up.
I don't mind a supplier who sells direct to the public or pretty much anything as long as I know and it's crystal clear up front. |
A wholesaler is likely to quote prices less VAT because VAT is irrelevant to a VAT registered customer - and it isnt unreasonable for a wholesaler to expect that the businesses they sell to are VAT registered.
Remember that you can choose to register for VAT even if you are below the turnover limit. In fact if you are mainly reselling things from larger companies it is likely to be in your interest to do so. Different if you are adding value or providing a service though.
As a point to mention though, I understood that it is not legal to quote your prices without VAT (if you're vat registered) when selling to the general public.
|
MarkS
|
| Quail By Mail wrote: | Thanks for all this feedback.
Do you all think a wholesale price always has to be doubled to get your retail price? |
depends.
Retail pricing has to have sufficient mark up to cover all the costs. Premises, heating, staff, insurance, rates, etc.
The mark up needed will depend on the stock turnover of the business.
Do you envisage vetting your wholesale customers? Have you thought about the sort of retailer you want your clothes to be sold by?
I think that there is always a bit of an issue around deciding if someone is running s bona fide business or is selling as a hobby/pocket money. Are they presenting a coherent image and product set or a jumble of unrelated offerings.
|
RichardW
|
| sally_in_wales wrote: | I don't mind paying P&P as long as its realistic and in line with what it actually costs.
Some sites let you see the prices with or without VAT and when that happens its quite handy depending on your circumstances. I've never been 'big' enough to be VAT registered, so for me I'd rather see pricing with it on, that way I know exactly what I'm paying.
I don't see any reason at all why a wholesaler shouldnt also sell retail whether by shop, online or at shows, as long as they are selling to the public at about the price I would be, there is no problem. |
Thats ok till times are hard & they then start to retail at trade prices. They are less likely to do this if they dont have the retail system already in place. We found this to out cost in the IT industry when over night our £1m year turn over was wiped out as a few importers started to retail at trade prices. Remember they are already making a nice profit selling to you at trade price so can still make a profit retailing at those prices too.
On the VAT, they should quote ex VAT as its a trade sale. Weither you are VAT or not is your problem not thiers. Retail quotes should include VAT (eBay are now making ALL auction prices inc VAT).
Justme
|
Helen_A
|
For us cost to us plus 30% is the trade price. Then depending on the product group, rrp is 25%-125% more. In 'nappies' the expected margin is that trade is about a 20-25% discount on the rrp, with up to 35% discount for big orderers...
Clothing wise rrp is usually twice trade. For toys rrp is at least twice trade (and many firms want undertakings that you will multiply by 2.2 from trade to retail).
Have you done the trade shows as a visitor? Its worth it to get a handle on how the pricing works  Pure is the next womenswear show at olympia (august)
Oh - and its totally normal to take orders before you make up - most of the kidwear co's that show at Premierkids are taking orders for delivery in 3-6 months time.
As a retailer (not physical though, lol) its really handy to be able to have no minimum from those co's that are supplying from stock (or short order)and/or are in their first couple of seasons, but its better to have a minimum to work to if you are looking at a one-time order from an established (to you) brand, because you need to have enough stock to avoid selling out of something straight away (and not being able to reorder in that situation is a bummer!)
From a planning pov - I have my own ideas of what colours etc are going to be popular in upcoming seasons, have a range of clothing colours that are the sort of thing people expect to be able to buy from me, and have a clear plan through those for around 12 -18 m in advance. Its great to buy from smaller firms when you can have designs made up in any of the colourways they offer, and it means that I'm more likely to buy from them for more than one season if I can tweak the range a little to suit my business. Because of my own planning and trends forcasting, I can go several seasons not buying from labels which have too narrow a focus in their range if it misses mine; or where they have little flexibility in their offerings... but as labels get bigger they get less flexible, which means that a smaller outfit like mine becomes less likely to buy from them anyway....
And I ramble...
Helen_A
|
Frewen
|
How do you go about finding the trade shows/ wholesalers that are pertinent to you?
|
Helen_A
|
Well - for starters they tend to take place at one of three venues in England and Wales - the NEC birmingham, Olympia, and Earls Court.. so their websites are worth looking at as they list everything, with links to the pages of the various shows
There are other smaller shows that you tend to find from the 'big' ones. After a couple of years your email address gets out there, those you buy from or sell to start to tell others about you, and things start to turn up in your inbox uninvited
Google is your friend as well
Helen_A
|
Quail By Mail
|
Again, All, thanks for the feedback (thanks to Helen_A especially) - I'm sure everyone is learning something here!!!
So does anyone mind if a retailer does wholesale as well?
Does anyone get sick of their supplier because he/she gets complacent or keep offering the same ol' service? Or do you like knowing season on season what kind of service or product you are going to get? Steady as she goes...
Are any retailers fickle about where they buy their wholesale, because it only boils down to price at the end of the day? And that being fickle or cherrypicking is the modern way?
|
tahir
|
If I were opening a clothes shop right now the ABSOLUTE minimum markup I'd work on is 2.2 but I'd be looking for 3, more if I could get it.
I'd want to know that I'd actually receive what I ordered, it's very easy to take orders, much harder to fulfil them (properly)
|
tahir
|
| Quail By Mail wrote: | | So does anyone mind if a retailer does wholesale as well? |
In my experience it's extremely hard to make the two work well together, the only way I'd get involved in wholesaling would be if I were convinced that's where my future lay. The customer doesn't give a monkeys about whether you retail or not unless what you're doing affects them (your shop's got stock; customers haven't, you're cheaper than customers etc).
Remember as a wholesaler you WILL get knocked, clothing retailers are going bust all day every day, at every level of the market.
|
Helen_A
|
One thing I do find is that, as a retailer, buying my stock as I get it or settling my account within the allowed time (or even within half of it - one of the co's that I buy from do an extra discount if you pay (or 50% pay) on order, with a slightly smaller one for paying your invoice within 14 days (when the account terms are within 60 days)) is that I am much much more likely to get the stuff I ordered when there have been short deliveries, I get first or near first dibs on sample stock being cleared, and occasionally have got an exclusive on something that they were only going to be able to have a little of or they want to test market (and sometimes get that stuff at a sig. discount or free if test marketing)  It doesn't build up an amazing credit rating doing this, if you are brand new certainly; but I've certainly found that with a couple of co's I can order little and often or well under the stated minimum orders as a reliable customer and good payer
|
Quail By Mail
|
So Tahir, what kind of stuff are you buying to mark up 2.2 - 3? Clothes? Gifts? Or?
|
