I need a sounding board

[jrbarker]

Let me start by saying I work for a small family owned internet fabric company.    THIS IS NOT AN ADVERT ISEMENT.  I just need a sounding board for some thoughts and ideas I have to help us attract professional upholsterers. If this is not the forum for me please tell me.  OK here is my current idea so please let me know if you as industry people would like it.  We are a close out and liquidation company.  We sell most of our fabrics at 25% of manufactures retail price.  Because it is close outs and liquidations we buy it cheap we sell it cheap.  Because of the nature of the business 80% of our fabrics are not orderable once they are gone they are gone.  This makes it hard to have a book of samples. We currently offer a pack of swatches with fabrics we have the deepest inventory or that we might be able to order again.  Those samples are labeled with fabric name, our web site name, and the price per yard.  I am thinking that this doesn't help the small upholster trying to add value to their services while still making a living.  (SO HOW DOES THIS SOUND) I would like to offer 2 different "Upholster/Decorator Pack" the One that has our name and our price and, also one that would have just the name of the fabric and the suggested retail price.  This would allow upholsters the opportunity to still offer a good value to their customer and also offer an opportunity to increase the margin for their services. 
I have intentionally left the name of the business I am not here to advertise just here to help improve our business.
Jim

[ThrowMeAPillow]

well
I'm interested.

I gotta say, compared with the 1980's when I was first beginning to cover the world one piece at a time, FABRIC SALES is the biggest change!

I was in the Northeast then, I am near Chattanooga now...

There are many fabric outlet stores and so it is very difficult to sell fabric, retail, off an old ring-book...
Some of the companies I used to buy from no longer HAVE ring-books.

One way I fought back was to eliminate all fabric sales; I only worked for interior designers.  I charged a premium price for the work itself and did not waste my TIME "selling".

I would very much like to at least SEE what you have going on.  I am going back to work and the designers I worked with most have closed or reduced their activity significantly.

I hope there is an answer buried in there... trying to give you a way to see my predicament and how your solution might help.  I am new HERE but not new to the trade.

[ThrowMeAPillow]

One other thought!

The site should have "retail pricing"
That way I can show it on my laptop to prospective clients... to begin to zero in on what they want...
assuming that what is THERE is even more up to date than the swatches

[bobbin]

I do not object to looking at images on a computer screen, though I do prefer to "touch, feel, buy".  It would be helpful to have good, clear pictures of the fabric and the fibre content (know that can get dicey with close-outs).  But most of all, it would be useful to have the yardage on hand available and that it's updated as the goods are sold down. 

Calico Corner has a pretty good on-line store, so do several other "on line only" retailers.  If it's going to be a "virtual storefront" you need to have a good website to "display your wares". 

[jrbarker]

bobbin
Thanks for the reply. Yes we have an established site and offer free swatches of fabric so you can get that "feel" and "look" . We have all the on hand inventory and all that type of thing.  We are doing well in our key demographic, 40 and up hobbist and crafters. what I am looking for is ways we could be for attractive to the professional upholster. The thing to do would be not to tell your customer where you found the fabric because they could come to our site and buy it for the same price as you. The swatches we send out on a regular basis are labeled with our web site and the price we sell it at plus the name of fabric and such.  Thats why I am wondering if it would help not to label swatches we give to upholsters with our name just the name of the fabric (you as the upholster would know where to get the fabric), and the price that the manufacter was or is charging. ie...We have lots of fabrics from Momentum Fabrics so a fabric that they have listed as $40 a yard we sell at $10.00 a yard to anyone who buys it on our site. So what I am thinking about is to offer swatches that are labeled "such and such fabric" by  Momentum retail $40/yard instead of our price of $10 allowing you the room to say sell it to the customer for $20/yard 1/2 off momentun's price and also not to put our site on there so your customer cant come to us and find it and but it at the same price you can.

[kc]

hhmmm. I have been leading customers to a couple of websites that sell WAY under retail. That is my selling point to charge the labor rate I do charge. So , not to be snarky, but why are you so interested in selling to upholsterers? Are you wanting to help US make $$$?

[jrbarker]

KC,
That is not snarkey at all,  a very legitimate question.  The reason I am thinking that we need to attract more Upholsterer is to grow the size of our business. Like I said we are a small family owned business we currently employ 6 fulltime emplyees and 2 part time. We are in an area in Indiana That is really in need of jobs my goal is to keep the business going and keep us all employed. that is what i am wondering about if we offer ways that an upholsterer can make money also,...... is that something the industry would consider an advantage. I have only been in the fabric business for about 2 years and still tring to find the resources to help me with self education, but the family I work for have been in the close out business for 50 years with the online fabric warehouse for about 5yrs

[mike802]

IMO that would be hiding something form the customer and i don't feel it is honest.  If you want the professional's business give them a real reason to do business with you and offer discount prices to the trade.  You cant sell both retail and wholesale at the same price and expect everyone to be get along, someone is going to get hurt feelings and either one end, or the other end of the business is going to suffer because of it.

[sofadoc]

Many shops don't even try to mark up material anymore. They just make their money off of labor. NOT ME. I mark up the fabric, and if the customer furnishes their own fabric, I charge a higher labor rate.
So if I had your sample pack, I would not want one that has your discounted price on it.
I personally never lead my customers to any fabric websites. They start clicking around, and before you know it, they've either ordered something that I could've sold them, or something that is completely impractical for the job, or something that they can't get any more of (and they took it upon themselves to decide how much to get).   
Maybe I'm old fashioned, but give me the book with suggested retail prices. I'll decide how much below retail that I'm willing to go.

[sofadoc]

I have intentionally left the name of the business I am not here to advertise just here to help improve our business.
Jim

It took about a nanteenth of a second to check your profile, and figure out the mystery store. :o 

[Mojo]

I make my money off the front end and back end.

I up-charge on all material and while I do not gouge my customers I clearly make money on materials. I also have some time in selecting and ordering materials.

I have no problem going to an internet based site that sells fabric at a reduced rate. My Textilene supplier is an internet based company I have been doing business with for 4 years and they sell me this fabric so cheap that all of my Textilene purchases are through them ( And I buy that stuff by 100 foot rolls ). I have huge margins now built into my solar screen jobs and I also have a little wiggle room if someone else quotes a job.

Miami Mike and Andrew ( two guys on our forum who are popular suppliers ) do an excellent job on pricing and service but neither can come anywhere close to what I pay for my Textilene. So I buy from another supplier.

I am to the point now where I am nearly single sourcing everything through Mike at Miami ( unless he doesn't carry something ). He keeps me supplied with samples and makes my ordering very easy but the biggest reason is because of his service. I do not have time to chase sales people around. I will call and leave a message or send off an e-mail and then I expect a call back as soon as they break free. The same holds true for any supplier or vendor I deal with.

I would have no problems going to another supplier such as yourself for certain fabric but to be honest your prices had better beat Miami. I simply do not have the time ( or patience ) to build a relationship with another supplier in order to save 50 cents a yard on fabric. Especially is it is seconds. I know that sounds harsh but if you talked to several of us in private, they would tell you the same thing. :)

To save me and others of having to hunt you down through a PM I encourage you to post a link to your website and allow all of us to view your products. I think then you could get some very valuable input from many of us.

We have many vendors / suppliers on here and we all know how to contact them. I do not think Ken or Bobbie will have a problem with you posting a link on here. Your not a spammer because you have answered posts and seem to be very intent on working with the members here.

I wish you the best in building your business. I think that you coming on here and asking for input says alot. All to often businesses just do what they THINK is right. :)

Chris

[gene]

KC, I had never heard the work "snarkey" before. I was surprised the jrbarker knew what that meant.

jrbarker: I think it's a great question and this is a great forum to ask it.

What can I do to bring pro upholsterers to my business?

My answer may not be what you are looking for, but I certainly encourage you to keep looking.

Offering discounts will not do it. Too many brick and mortar stores, as well as internet sites, are offering discounts. You are looking at doing something that many, many other folks are already doing. It is difficult to sell on price, unless you are Walmart.

I also agree with sofadoc in that 'discount fabrics' sometimes means that the customer bought the cheapest window treatment fabric they could find and now they want you to reupholster their sofa with it and they expect the finished project to look AWESOME!!!

Good luck,

Gene

[sofadoc]

I also agree with sofadoc in that 'discount fabrics' sometimes means that the customer bought the cheapest window treatment fabric they could find and now they want you to reupholster their sofa with it and they expect the finished project to look AWESOME!!!

I recently had a customer supply a roll of fabric that she ordered from the very store that we're not mentioning here.
I told her to get 26 yards. All they had was 24. She just KNEW that I could somehow make it work. I WAS able to make it work by NOT matching the pattern on some of the outsides of 6 game chairs.
Funny thing is, she didn't even LIKE the fabric that she ordered. BUT, it was so-o-o cheap, that she just couldn't resist.
It's frustrating that some customers want a quality job until it comes to plucking "Benjamin's" from their wallet.

[jrbarker]

Thank you all for posting replies. Everyone has had some great insight. 

Gene: thank you for the words of encouragement. Like I said earlier I am new to the fabric business but I know that if you listen to those who have been in the industry you can learn alot.

Ihavenoname: thanks for the info. Hint 3 and hint 7. I understand but i would like to hear more about 23

Chris: thanks for the imput very useful. I am not sure how to put a link here but you can find us at newtoto.com