Start to sell Tableware, you can bet “Home”

February 10, 2010 at 1:14 AM | Posted in Mail Order, Small Business | 2 Comments
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Everyone needs cups, saucers, plates, knives, forks etc, and all these things are readily available in high street shops. The mail order dealer must have something unique to offer customers — an unusual design, a free gift, a low price etc. Continue reading Start to sell Tableware, you can bet “Home”…

How difficult are after-sales problems likely to be?

December 15, 2009 at 1:56 AM | Posted in Mail Order, Small Business | Leave a Comment
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Whatever the product, a certain percentage of what you sell will be returned to you for refund under the well established mail order practice that if the customer for any reason is not completely happy with his purchase, he can return it and get his money back. Continue reading How difficult are after-sales problems likely to be?…

How easily may the product be advertised?

December 15, 2009 at 1:47 AM | Posted in Mail Order, Small Business | Leave a Comment
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The nature of some products may be clearly indicated simply by naming them, eg wellington boots, wine bottles, handbags, loft ladders, watering cans, and so on. Other less common products may need lengthy descriptions. Continue reading How easily may the product be advertised?…

Good Inducements to buy, Stimulate your Sale

November 2, 2009 at 11:49 PM | Posted in Small Business, Supply Chain Management | Leave a Comment
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Anything that reduces the customer’s cost or risk or difficulty in ordering, or increases the value or rarity of what he gets for his money, is likely to improve the number of orders received. The main inducements are represented by the price of the product itself and the terms of payment. But other minor inducements may just tip the balance your way. Not all of them can be used in all forms of advertising. Your common sense will tell you what is and isn’t possible — you obviously can’t include an order form in a classified advertisement, for example. Continue reading Good Inducements to buy, Stimulate your Sale…

Sell by Mail Order, your Payment Term: Post and Packing

November 2, 2009 at 11:31 PM | Posted in Mail Order, Small Business | Leave a Comment
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The question is this: should you incorporate the p&p cost within the product price or should you identify it separately? The latter is neater, uses fewer words (an important consideration in classified advertising at least) and is less likely to lead to error among customers of uncertain arithmetical skill. The former, on the other hand, has the advantage of making the product seem cheaper, because few people take p&p into account while at the stage of wondering whether a product is worth buying or not. Continue reading Sell by Mail Order, your Payment Term: Post and Packing…

How easily can the product be despatched?

October 30, 2009 at 11:06 PM | Posted in Mail Order | Leave a Comment
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Packing your product to withstand the rigours of transmission through the postal system or other carriage service is an important element in your mail order operation. Poor packing may lead to an unacceptably high level of transit damage which in turn will lead to complaints, returned goods and the erosion of your profits. Continue reading How easily can the product be despatched?…

Are you satisfying your selling products’ price to weight rate?

October 30, 2009 at 10:51 PM | Posted in Mail Order, Small Business | Leave a Comment
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The more your product weighs, the higher your delivery cost; the larger it is, the more packaging it will need. Both weight and size put up your price without putting up your profit.

Most carriers charge more for their services than the Post Office; and the Post Office has a rate scale that increases with weight, and a maximum weight for parcels of 25kg. For higher weights than this you are obliged to use non-Post Office carriers. One way or another, the heavier your product, the more it will cost to despatch. Continue reading Are you satisfying your selling products’ price to weight rate?…

Is the quality right?

October 30, 2009 at 10:41 PM | Posted in Mail Order, Small Business | Leave a Comment
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The only aspects of quality that may be accurately conveyed in advertising are those that can be precisely measured or defined. A photocopier that produces 20 copies a minute is clearly in a different class from one that produces only two copies a minute. But that says nothing about the standard of reproduction or of the reliability of the machine. Continue reading Is the quality right?…

Can you price your product competitively?

October 9, 2009 at 3:01 PM | Posted in Mail Order | Leave a Comment
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There is no fixed relationship between profit and price. Consider two examples:

You buy Product A for £6 and sell it for £9. Profit: £3. You buy Product B for £2 and sell it for £7. Profit: £5.

That elementary arithmetic is easily overlooked. Of course, you will want to think of your possible selling price as you consider different products, but you must also keep in mind the profit margin that the product offers. The selling price matters to your customers; the profit margin matters to you. Continue reading Can you price your product competitively?…

Can you make a unique offer?

October 9, 2009 at 12:08 PM | Posted in Mail Order | Leave a Comment
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If you have a genuinely unique product that the customers want, so much the better. But truly unique products are difficult to come by, and those that achieve any measure of popularity are unlikely to remain unique for long, as the competition will produce similar products even if they can’t copy yours exactly. Continue reading Can you make a unique offer?…

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