Does Your Supplier Sell to the Public ?

[Mojo]

This is a break off from another thread that was dealing with suppliers who sell to the public.

I commented about buying bobbins from an E-Bay supplier who also is a supplier to machine dealers such as Greg and Bob. The discussion spun off from there on suppliers who supply us our fabric and also sell to the public.

I had a client when I was still doing marketing work who was an importer. When they imported something from China, India or Taiwan they imported in massive quantities. The smaller and cheaper the product the higher the quantity. In other words if Greg or Bob wanted to import ( lets just say bobbins ) from a manufacturer in China they would not be able to purchase a 1,000. They would have to order 30,000 or more. The manufacturers sell in large quantities on these smaller items. The same holds true for the bigger items such as machines. One cannot order 5 or 10 machines directly from a manufacturer in China but rather have to order 50 or maybe a 100 or so. This is where you see the Sailrite, Mini Thompson and Tuffsew brands of machines along with all the other clones out there. They are all the same and are made in the same factory but have different colors and badging. The badging and colors and naming rights come about in licensing agreements.

So you may have someone like Sharp Sewing who imports 100,000 bobbins and they in turn sell wholesale and retail to the public. They supply dealers like Greg and Bob as well as sell directly to us, the end users through e-slay. It used to be the middle man sold only to dealers but now they sell directly to the public. Which is why we can buy bobbins for half the price that Greg or Bob charges.

To even make things worse there are some e-bay sellers who buy directly from Sharp, mark the bobbins up and turn around and sell them right along side Sharp's ad. It is a frigging mess out there in the market :). But for the most part, with many things that are imported, there are typically only a few companies who import parts such as bobbins or whatever and they in turn supply the entire USA through various channels.

I think we are also starting to see the same thing with fabrics. You can get on E-Bay and buy pretty much any fabric you want, from sunbrella to recacril to whatever vinyl you want.

As Doc said in the other thread, this easy access to supplies, parts and even machines is killing the Mom and Pop places and I see things getting much worse then better. There is no way Greg or Bob can compete with these suppliers who buy directly from China and then sell to the public.

Chris

[christwo]

All three of my current suppliers require a blanket certificate of resale and a contract before they will sell you anything, however I can get the same products cheaper through supplier B than I can through supplier C, and can get the same products cheaper through supplier A, than I can supplier B. I'm not sure why, Supplier C is in Corinth, Mississippi. Supplier B is in Nashville, Tennessee. And supplier A is in Memphis, Tennessee. Supplier A, also gave me a beautiful selection of sample books free of charge, while supplier B and supplier C wanted near 35.00 per book. Only reason I use the different suppliers is Albrights out of Corinth is closer to me than Memphis, and Nashville, so since I have to pick up contact cement I bite the difference and save the gas. Farbers out of Nashville has a little more selection for automotive fabrics.

[sofadoc]

Chris sums it up pretty well.
Just to further illustrate my point about the "Line between wholesale and retail getting murkier", I had a customer the other day who found some vinyl online at MY wholesale cost. She called me and said "I found it for $18 yd., so I KNOW that you can get it for $9 yd."
See what I mean?  MURKY!  MURKY!  MURKY!

[byhammerandhand]

On a somewhat related note, in last week's paper, there was an article about a 91 year old dairy processor in town closing.   They got acquired, then that company got acquired.   When asked what happened, the the spokesman said, 

"That said, the dairy industry is a highly competitive industry, and an industry that is really focused on low costs and becoming as efficient as possible.  Consumers expect the best possible prices when they go into a store, and our retail partners that we sell to expect that as well. "

The prior owner said,
"That varies from [our] former sales strategy, which involved touting the premium nature of [our] products."

[seamsperfect]

Good discussion.  A lot of this comes from the downturn in the economy.  Seems like these days anyone can call up a manufacture and say I am a trim shop and what is my wholesale costs.  They are eager to move product so they are very lax in the confirmation of being legit.  Now that being said how much do you really make on the materials cost?  Myself and I am sure others make most of their profit in the labor and the craft we provide.  At most I add  20% on fabrics...
Kevin

[sofadoc]

Referring to Hammer's dairy story, it's ironic. Manufacturers who have a high quality product try to tout their quality, and shift focus away from the price.
Manufacturers who produce low-cost products try to create a perception of quality, while stressing the price.
It isn't hard to see why the latter strategy seems to be more successful. 

[christwo]

What's funny is, Farber's out of Nashville gave me a few samples and all the prices listed were "suggested retail". I had to call to find out the wholesale price. They told me that the "suggested retail price is a 100% markup of the wholesale price! Mind you it's only suggested, but I was still surprised they suggest a 100% markup.

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

Some companies only choose to sell some things for less.  I have many items I sell that compete or beat the competition mentioned.  needles for example.  I am almost batting 1,000 in the price matching catagory.   And my products are guaranteed, and I provide service.  I can only hope people see the value in that.  I never leave someone hanging.  If people don't know that I guess I'm not very good at self promotion.

[Mike8560]

the dairy industry is a highly competitive industry, and an industry that is really focused on low costs and becoming  as efficient as possible.  Consumers expect the best possible prices when they go into a store,

I spend about $3.89 a gallon
I remeber paying like $1.29
I've limited it down to Miami and Manart.  I just odder what  I need  a few yards  no extras

[BigJohn]

The same thing happened in the auto parts business, the service stations started to close do to U-pump it gas and the Auto Parts Jobbers had to look to the walk in do it your self market to fill that gap. Then came the discount auto parts stores catering to the retail trade but at a bigger discount, with tool loan programs, car care clinics, installation shops, and ect..

[christwo]

What's kind of neat, is that Oregon does not permit you to pump your own gas as job security for the Orgonians. Im not sure if this is the case in any other states.

[sofadoc]

What's kind of neat, is that Oregon does not permit you to pump your own gas as job security for the Orgonians. Im not sure if this is the case in any other states.

I'm surprised that they don't complain about the extra cost per gallon for full service.
I dunno. I think that all the state of Oregon is doing, is assuring that they have a lot of gas-pumpers in their workforce. Not really a recipie for a healthy economy.

Mojo started this thread because the other one had strayed way off course.
Now we need still another one dedicated to Orgonian pumpers. :D
Ya know, when I woke up this morning, I think I can safely say that Orgonian pumpers was the last thing on my mind. Now I'll be thinking about them all day tomorrow. Thanks a lot Christwo. ;D

[christwo]

HAHA, but actually.. Like any state, dependent on where you are in the state the gas is priced accordingly. The price of gas is much more expensive in Portland opposed to where I lived, Coos Bay. A little town on the coast out of sight and out of mind. But in the big picture, the gas in Oregon is much cheaper than ANYWHERE in California, and I'm sure some other states as well. The price for the full service really is not marked up as much as one would think. What's funny about it though, is that I would travel back and forth from California and Oregon, and after a prolonged stay in Oregon when the time came to get gas in California, I found my self sitting in my truck for 15 minutes waiting for someone to come to my window, haha.

[christwo]

Watching the thread indirectly change direction is pretty humorus though, lol.  :D

[Mojo]

I applaud Miami Corp for having two prices on their website. One is for the public and the other is for their commercial customers.

When you go to their site they display public prices. You have to sign in to your account to get their commercial prices.

As an aside, my business is incorporated so this comes in handy whenever I am buying something for the house, truck, whatever. I set up commercial accounts using my corporation and then can buy at wholesale. I have accounts set up with advanced auto, plumbing supply places, roofing supply companies and have even bought appliances at contractor prices. If I didn't have my corporation then I could still buy from these specialty places but would have to pay full retail.

I can remember the day when you couldn't buy from these places at all unless you had a business and could prove it. Now days these places could careless. The more business the merrier. They will sell to anyone. :)

One of he biggest slams to the Mom and Pop places have been E-Slay. They have killed alot of the businesses out there who have store fronts like Bob and Greg. They cannot compete on price in some cases because these e-bay sellers have no office or storefront so therefore their operating costs are much less then Bob or Greg's shops.

I try and do my part and support people like Bob on the big items. On the little things like needles, welt feet and bobbins I will sometimes just buy off e-bay. Much quicker and easier and my e-bay account is tied directly to my company bank account. But when it comes to bigger items like servo motors, machines, parts, etc. then I order directly from Bob. As I stated in the other thread, Bob knows I buy these small notions on e-bay and he doesn't care. He knows he gets my big business. :)

E-Bay has been great in some ways but damaging in other ways.

Chris