Building Up Stockists - SOR?

[Carbonio]

In these dificult times is offering sale or return a good business model to bring stockists on board?

Our products are ties hand made in England aimed at the top end of the market.

I know shelf space is at a premium in these dificult times, as well as the cost of stocking so we are thinking of offering them on SOR there by removing risk from the stockist.

We are looking at B&M shops and our price point will be £45 rrp, with a wholesale price of £25-30.

Our plan is to offer a selection of maybe 50 ties, with a point of sale display.

What are your thoughts?
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[Billmccallum]

go for it.... A long (LONG) time ago, I knew a guy called Glen Humphreys who got his hand made ties into Harrod's on SOR.

I did spend some time as a rep. for a gifts company, visiting smaller retailers and offering SOR, many smaller retailers and specialist shops will take on new products this way.

 

[Carbonio]

go for it.... A long (LONG) time ago, I knew a guy called Glen Humphreys who got his hand made ties into Harrod's on SOR.

I did spend some time as a rep. for a gifts company, visiting smaller retailers and offering SOR, many smaller retailers and specialist shops will take on new products this way.

That sounds encouraging, Harrods is on my radar but not sure if it's to corparate and closed shop now but we won't find out if we don't try.

 

[The Paws]

SOR can be two sides. On the plus side, you can attract more retailers to sell your ties. On the flip side, there is no motivation for them to push the sale of your ties. There is nothing for them to lose anyway.

Using SOR also mean you need a lot of stock, and cash.

 

[Carbonio]

SOR can be two sides. On the plus side, you can attract more retailers to sell your ties. On the flip side, there is no motivation for them to push the sale of your ties. There is nothing for them to lose anyway.

Using SOR also mean you need a lot of stock, and cash.

Yea, I guess the downside is that stockists may not push them.

We will have to put a time frame on selling a resonable amount, if it's not working then we will review.

 

[Lentinus]

Would a consignment type arrangement work? You lend them a quality POS stand and 50 ties, then at an appropriate intervals (daily/weekly/monthly) you come round and replace what has sold and bill the customer.

That way you will know what is selling well, can pull out stock that isn't and replace it with the fast movers (that otherwise might stay out of stock until the next round of ordering), add new lines, keep the message fresh etc. You can also gently push for POS positioning.