How to find customers for my Tarpaulins ?

Vardan 89 · Apr 5, 2019

Good afternoon all

Had been an avid follower of the forum few years back when I was in the UK.

After living in the UK for 12 years, I returned back home in India to join my family business of Tarpaulins. Now I have reached at a stage whereby I would like to export Tarpaulins back to the UK.

I have a Ltd company since when I lived in the UK. So, if I don't get an buyer/importer then I plan to export them from here and my Ltd. company will be importing there in the UK. Once in the UK I plan to store them in a fulfillment warehouse.

Now the million dollar question is what is the best way to find bulk buyers for my tarpaulins? Whom shall I approach?

Ideally it would be good if I find business customers who have their own distribution channel but I am keeping my options open to sell through my own channel ( which will take a while to establish) and also to retail customers through Ebay and Amazon.

One channel that has always interested me is the petrol station forecourts and I think that would be a good starting point to sell my Tarpaulins however I am not sure what is the best way to contact owners of the petrol stations as some are owned by individuals and others are company owned (if I am not wrong) . Is anyone already supplying any product to the petrol stations?
Can anyone kindly guide me on this please?

Also I would be grateful if anyone can guide me to other selling channels too .

I am more than happy to work jointly with anyone who has an established relationship with petrol stations or any other channels where we can sell tarpaulins.

I will be in the UK for 4 weeks in May/June 19 and hence I am trying to do some homework.

Thank you for reading my post!

Cheers
Darsh

p.s. - If anyone is particular interested in knowing the quality and types of the tarpaulins please feel free to drop me a message or an email on [email protected]

AllUpHere · Apr 5, 2019

What type of tarps do you do? Are they the cheap blue woven ones we tend to see in DIY stores, or do you do proper camping tarps (silnylon etc)?

Mr D · Apr 5, 2019

Dealing with small shops like petrol station forecourts can be an issue. To stock your item they often have to get rid of something else. And presumably your item will take up a bit more space than the Cadbury crème eggs.

fisicx · Apr 5, 2019

I buy tarpaulins online off eBay. Can’t think of any reason why I’d want to go to a petrol station to get one.

Vardan 89 · Apr 5, 2019

AllUpHere said:
What type of tarps do you do? Are they the cheap blue woven ones we tend to see in DIY stores, or do you do proper camping tarps (silnylon etc)?

Thanks for responding so quickly!

I do 3 different type of tarps as below

1) Yes, I do the cheap blue woven ones known as HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) tarpaulins. These are generally 100 GSM thickness and that is the most know quality to the general public. One can get better quality and higher thickness GSM in the same .

2) Multi Layered Cross Laminated Tarpaulins - These are relatively new type of tarpaulins . These are not woven but they are type of a film. One of the ebay sellers has introduced this in the UK and apparently it is doing good.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Yuzet-Cl...hash=item440fcd7188:m:mWXcXUyeRckZy_5aSr83IRA

I am more interested in selling these first . These are pricier than the 1) above however being relatively new, I think this type of tarpaulins will do well in the market.

Again this ebayer is selling 120 GSM thickness however I am doing from 90 to 200 GSM but as a starting point it would be good to do 120 GSM as it is tried and tested.

3) Double side PVC coated tarpaulins - These are the most durable and likewise the most dearer of all the 3 types. Specially used as covers for trucks, trailers, boats etc. This too can have a good market but not sure whether the price point will be acceptable to the mass or class.
These are also used for protecting garden furniture, barbecues grills, cricket pitch covers ect.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EXTRA-HE...hash=item2343fd3552:m:m5Epm_4Q4Jc8RSLVYpMYblQ

This ebayer is doing 610GSM. I am doing from 270 GSM TO 760 GSM. GSM is 380 is very ideal for covering outdoor furniture and equipment.

Vardan 89 · Apr 5, 2019

Mr D said:
Dealing with small shops like petrol station forecourts can be an issue. To stock your item they often have to get rid of something else. And presumably your item will take up a bit more space than the Cadbury crème eggs.

Thanks D for the reply. Yes your are right but if I remember correctly many of the bigger stations do normally stock bulky seasonal stuff like fire log bags , charcoal bags, gardening material bags etc. and they are placed just outside the payment premises. May be the tarpaulins can sit there.

Vardan 89 · Apr 5, 2019

fisicx said:
I buy tarpaulins online off eBay. Can’t think of any reason why I’d want to go to a petrol station to get one.

Thanks fisicx for your comment.

Sure, if I were you I would too just go to ebay and buy one off there.

The only reason I mentioned of petrol station forecourts is its a kind of place where you often end up buying things which you think are useful to have but you have never thought of buying them just because it may not be on priority list.

It would be kind of push marketing I suppose.

chalkie99 · Apr 5, 2019

Vardan 89 said:
its a kind of place where you often end up buying things which you think are useful to have but you have never thought of buying them

Hmm..... Sounds like Maplins - but they went out of business.

Not sure about petrol stations - They must be on the decline even more than when the supermarkets sent them into a spin, simply because there is a move towards electric cars and even with hybrids people will be buying less petrol rather than more.

The EBay seller in your first link might have a lot of sales but there cannot be much profit after deducting EBay fees, Paypal charge and free delivery, let alone the cost of the product. Interesting to note that seller is based in Dundee which is the home of a large PVC distributor who do a big range of items, so possibly difficult to compete with.

Mr D · Apr 5, 2019

chalkie99 said:
Hmm..... Sounds like Maplins - but they went out of business.

Not sure about petrol stations - They must be on the decline even more than when the supermarkets sent them into a spin, simply because there is a move towards electric cars and even with hybrids people will be buying less petrol rather than more.

The EBay seller in your first link might have a lot of sales but there cannot be much profit after deducting EBay fees, Paypal charge and free delivery, let alone the cost of the product. Interesting to note that seller is based in Dundee which is the home of a large PVC distributor who do a big range of items, so possibly difficult to compete with.

The ebay seller can have a decent margin if they want it.
Those who insist on sales over profit, who aim to be the cheapest seller - those will have smaller margins. But no reason for a seller to not get decent profit if that is what they are after.

The thing about free postage is to get the buyer to pay for it - if it costs £3.50 to pack and post the item then increase the price by £3.50 plus ebay additional fee plus paypal additional fee.

chalkie99 · Apr 5, 2019

Mr D said:
The ebay seller can have a decent margin if they want it..

Of course they can but you need to look at the prices they are actually selling for. This is what a new supplier is up against.

A petrol station will want a much bigger mark up too.

Mr D · Apr 5, 2019

chalkie99 said:
Of course they can but you need to look at the prices they are actually selling for. This is what a new supplier is up against.

A petrol station will want a much bigger mark up too.

Yes?
What does someone else's price have to do with your own profits?
The price someone is selling 20 a day for may be worthwhile if you want sales instead of profit. Selling a couple a week but with a hundred times the profit of the 20 a day is a lot less effort for a lot more reward.

Mr D · Apr 5, 2019

Vardan 89 said:
Thanks D for the reply. Yes your are right but if I remember correctly many of the bigger stations do normally stock bulky seasonal stuff like fire log bags , charcoal bags, gardening material bags etc. and they are placed just outside the payment premises. May be the tarpaulins can sit there.

Yes maybe they could sit there - and remove something else to put it there.
Generally small shops like petrol stations won't be trading with spare space they could use but choose not to.

Vardan 89 · Apr 6, 2019

@chalkie99 - Yes your are right . That ebay seller would be having good number of sales but the profit would be very less and hence , though I don't want to ignore ebay, I am more keen on B2B business rather than competing for petty profits on ebay.

@D - I wish getting a decent profit on my product is realistic on ebay. The sad bit is everyone is undercutting on there and the customer tends to go by the cheapest price than anything else.

I hope someone on here can help me further

Cheers to both of you for sharing your views...

Mr D · Apr 6, 2019

Vardan 89 said:
@chalkie99 - Yes your are right . That ebay seller would be having good number of sales but the profit would be very less and hence , though I don't want to ignore ebay, I am more keen on B2B business rather than competing for petty profits on ebay.

@D - I wish getting a decent profit on my product is realistic on ebay. The sad bit is everyone is undercutting on there and the customer tends to go by the cheapest price than anything else.

I hope someone on here can help me further

Cheers to both of you for sharing your views...

Then chase a different customer on ebay.

The 'must buy cheapest' customer is not the only one around.
There's businesses a thousand times my size and paying a fraction of my costs per unit for items selling on ebay - they may outsell me on individual items 200 to one.
Pointless trying to even match their prices, so I don't bother. And still sell.

If your target market is the 'buy it cheapest' demographic then good luck to you.
If your goal instead is to make money then aim for a different target market, there are others.

Vardan 89 · Apr 6, 2019

That's indeed encouraging D!. I am surely going to list on ebay and will see how I fair over there. D, can you please suggest any other channels that can help me with my sales?

Mr D · Apr 6, 2019

The other big one is amazon. Though more problematic regarding listing and payment is around 3 or 4 weeks after you send the item.

Vardan 89 · Apr 6, 2019

Thanks D however I meant to ask any other offline channel ( like petrol stations) that you may think of ?

Vardan 89 · Apr 6, 2019

AllUpHere said:
What type of tarps do you do? Are they the cheap blue woven ones we tend to see in DIY stores, or do you do proper camping tarps (silnylon etc)?

Hi , Further to my reply to your question above, do you think you can help me and guide me regarding the best marketing / selling channel for tarpaulins?

Mr D · Apr 6, 2019

Vardan 89 said:
Thanks D however I meant to ask any other offline channel ( like petrol stations) that you may think of ?

Shops.
Attend trade events where your target customers will attend.

I have purchased snacks at a petrol station. I have never purchased anything permanent at one.

Vardan 89 · Apr 7, 2019

@ D - Thank you for your suggestion. Any particular trade events that you can recommend?

Vardan 89 · Apr 7, 2019

fisicx said:
I buy tarpaulins online off eBay. Can’t think of any reason why I’d want to go to a petrol station to get one.

Am I okay to send you a PM?

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How to find customers for my Tarpaulins ?