timnolan started this topic @ 10:32 on 14/04/2006
Hi
I'm just after any advice really. I have a good product that I'm thinking of selling via mail order. Has anyone here set up a mail order business who can advise me on some do's and dont's? What kinda costs are we looking at? Is it an effective way of selling? I already sell online by the way.
cheers in advance
tim
RE: Starting a Mail Order business
richardghoward | 17/04/2006 03:05 PM
A lot will depend upon how you're planning to build a bridge to your customers. How will you market/advertise your product.
The advise I can offer is simply to be brutally realistic with your costs, including advertising costs and response rate, then if it looks viable try on a small scale.
Best wishes
Richard
------------------------
Cost-effective solutions for print and web
www.microprints.co.uk
business cards
web programming
RE: Starting a Mail Order business
just.b | 18/04/2006 10:00 AM
Mail order means having a catalogue in theory. I sell online too and I am being asked many times if I can provide a catalogue. The answer is no. Seems a lot of work and with colour pictures + the printing, etc = high cost. A lot of companies who have catalogues charge for them I assume that's the route you want to take, along with your online business? You need enough stock and stock that is not going to change every week or so, otherwise the catalogue will be outdated pretty quickly.
Mail order, I assume, also means advertising in newpapers and magazines.
I'll be interested to see what people think too.
RE: RE: Starting a Mail Order business
seanpearman | 18/04/2006 10:09 AM
First thought - why not sell it online.
Use traditional mail order advertising (newspapers, magazines, trade etc) but promote the website instead of your telephone number. This way you will have minimal setup costs, so you can invest in further marketing.
You could use "online catalogue" to try and push this message to your clients.
------------------------
Sean
cheap">href="http://www.cheapsoftwareonline.co.uk">cheap software
RE: Starting a Mail Order business
repepper | 18/04/2006 10:26 AM
It depends on the product you are selling - for example, I would imagine it is impossible to sell cars without glossy printed materials, but for a lot of other products it is a luxury.
From bitter experience, I would say don't go down the printed brochure route if you can help it. I had a specialist bookselling business (www.bacchusbooks.com) that did that, as our initial research indicated that our market was older, less web driven and less cost focussed, so would demand printed materials. Therefore we believed a quality printed brochure was appropriate. (Nothing too fancy - A5, full colour cover, 24 pages of B&W inside).
Turned out that most people asked for the brochure via the website and (anecdotal eveidence suggests) then ordered for less through amazon having browsed our "book gude" and "discovered" new / interesting books.
The cost of production and mailing each brochure meant that we couldn't continue and couldn't discount as heavily as the bigger players, so we cut our loses and closed the doors. If we had gone with an online version of the brochure (or even a downloadable version in pdf form) it would have saved thousands of wasted pounds in printing and postage.
RE: Starting a Mail Order business
meerkat | 20/04/2006 02:53 PM
we are a Fulfilment company offering pick pack and despatch services. We hold your stock, you send us your orders and we send them out utilising excellent courier rates due to our volumes. Is this of Interest ?
Regards
Nigel
RE: Starting a Mail Order business
spiritus | 20/04/2006 04:02 PM
Hi Tim,
Unless I'm missing something. Why do you want to start your OWN mail order business ?
If you have an interesting product you think would sell via mail order why not simply approach mail order companies with a view to buying from you. The downside is they take the bulk of the profit but the upside is you're more likely to sell higher volumes.
