Selling Supplies, Need Opinion

so you already know I'm thinking of expanding my business into selling supplies.

1. If i were selling bali silver beads, do you think it would be better if i focus on one or two kinds of findings?

maybe a supply store that focus on Earring Posts/Ear Wires, bead caps, charms, and toggle clasps. or a supply store that's focus on beads only.

2. or should i sell everything? from beads to findings?


3. which one you think would sell better? beads or findings?

any opinion?

Personally I'm a buyer who likes to buy all supplies in ONE place and not having to go to two or more different shops for findings and beads, so I'd suggest selling beads AND findings. Maybe you should offer special or unusual beads. Not beads, that all the other shops have, too.

Not much help, sorry!

thanks!! i guess you're right. unusual beads might be harder to find. less competitors. hmm..

any of you buy unique earring posts? like with leaf or flower patterns?

 I too like to find everything in one place basically except usually when I am looking at places like Etsy and Artfire.

I usually look to those places for specifics I can't find at an online retailer. So I would have to agree with unusual or hard to find.

About the post earrings- I haven't bought any so far but I have looked at some online. When my financial situation improves I had plans on trying them to see how I would like them.

Kay,

I think if you have a few special/unusual findings, such as the fancy posts, toggles, etc. and then go with the unusual styles of Bali beads, you should do well. The idea is to carry basics, but also carry things that can't be found anywhere else. The trick is to stock unique items that SELL! <LOL>

I love it when customers say, "They don't have these at my bead store back home". I usually cover my grin with "the only thing this store has in common with any other bead store is that we all sell beads!" I think that's a BIG advantage of an LBS. People know that they can get the purple, lefthanded wingdings at Michael's in Podunk or Kalamazoo, because every store is the same. LBS are an adventure, because what each store carries is an expression or extension of the owner!

Deb

cool! it's nice to hear from a LBS owner herself :) I guess i would go with unusual findings. do you have any idea how much should i stock per design, Deb? how much is too much and how much is too little?

@cat: i too like unusual earring posts but rarely using them. i'm bad with limited stock. when i'm about to run out, i don't use them at all! hahahha.. kinda get into "starvation mode" and keep whatever i could keep for longer time XD

How much you should stock sometimes depends on your supplier. Some of them have a minimum amount of each item, so even though you might not want a dozen or a gross of a particular style, you'll be stuck with it, if it's the supplier's minimum.Too much or too little is going to have to be self defined. Mike and I often go through this - *I* think we should get 2 gross, he thinks a half gross would be enough. Usually somewhere in the middle is what winds up being optimal.

In Bali or sterling silver, we normally stock at least a dozen of each. Some things we might have more or less of, usually because of a vendor's minimmum on the items. If we're testing the waters, we might buy a half dozen (or the minimum) and see how long it takes to sell them. If nothing else, a vendor's minimum makes you pay attention to what sells. Things like jump rings, french ear wires, earring posts, and lobster claws are the basics that you KNOW you're going to sell, so you might carry 2 or 3 dozen packages of each of them. We have several styles of toggles, but the only ones that steadily sell out are the tiny/dainty ones. The big clunky ones stick around forever. I'm tempted to send the big ones for scrap, but I know if I do, I'll have a dozen customers who HAVE to have something that size!

One rule of store inventory is, no matter what you have and how many you have, it will not be what *they* are looking for. Another one is that you can have a "dog" that sits and gathers dust no matter how many times you reduce the price, and as soon as the last one is FINALLY sold, you'll have 20 people come in on the same day looking for that exact thing! AND they will be upset because you don't have it any more! A final one is to NOT get what you like - pick what you think is UGLY, because it will sell like hotcakes. <LOL> Seriously, getting things you like will usually be more successful than getting things you THINK you should sell! As I said earlier, your store is a reflection or extension of yourself. [Oh Lord, am I in trouble! <LOL>]

Set your prices high enough to reflect the quality (and to give yourself a decent profit), but not so high that you chase buyers off. Some people look at the price first, and then if there isn't quality to back up the numbers on the tag, you'll lose a sale or two. Some people only buy by price. They'll spend $2.50 on a 5 gram tube of Delicas, but think that $4 for a 10 gram of that same bead is too much.

Hope this helps!

Deb

LOL, Deb, your comment about picking up what you think as UGLY cracked me up! Reminds me about the conversations i had with my aunt many times before. she's a seamstress that's prioritized quality and neatness before anything else and we often ponders why those ugly shirts/dresses with sloppy seams in the mall sold like hotcakes! hahahahahaha.. so i guess you really have a point there!

btw, i'm a bit confused on your comment here i think they're contradicting each other:

A final one is to NOT get what you like - pick what you think is UGLY, because it will sell like hotcakes. <LOL> Seriously, getting things you like will usually be more successful than getting things you THINK you should sell!

thank you for your precious insights! i will remember them when it's time to order those babies! think i will have a lot of planning and budgeting to do before that! @_@

popnicute:

 

btw, i'm a bit confused on your comment here i think they're contradicting each other:

A final one is to NOT get what you like - pick what you think is UGLY, because it will sell like hotcakes. <LOL> Seriously, getting things you like will usually be more successful than getting things you THINK you should sell!

thank you for your precious insights! i will remember them when it's time to order those babies! think i will have a lot of planning and budgeting to do before that! @_@

I was [sort of] joking about getting the ugly stuff. DH Mike used to sell in Quartzite, AZ. He once bought about 50 lbs of earrings to sell. They were UUGGLLYY! They sold out in record time. Another thing he learned in Quartzite is how to price items. He had some pretty earrings priced at 50 cents a pair (this gave him a huge profit because they probably cost him a nickle a pair). Nobody touched them. He changed the price to $5/pair and they FLEW away.

When we buy things from some of our vendors, Mike and I usually go with what we like. Sometimes my choice overrules his, sometimes his overrules mine, but if we go with what WE like, it's usually a good seller.

What I meant about buy what you like, not what you THINK you should be selling is:

1) When we deal directly with a vendor, rather than ordering over the phone or online, the vendor will sometimes tell us, "that's a really good seller for us". We've learned that if we buy it, it's going to wind up on our "wall of shame" - an imaginary wall where Mike and I memorialize the "really good sellers" that we had to keep dropping the price to almost  our cost in order to get rid of them!

2) We'll find a gemstone or a shape or something that we *think* will be a good seller. It's not something either of us particularly likes, but it's something that we *think* we should add - maybe because we've gotten in a rut with a certain color of stone or a certain size or shape or just because it's "different". Sometimes, we will buy something because of a trend - such as "chunky" is supposed to be "in" now. Any time we go this route, we discover that we "thought" wrong. If we like it, it will sell - if we're half hearted about it when we buy it, it will haunt us forever! [aside: I'm only half hearted about buying things - NEVER about SELLING them - even if it's something I've come to absolutely detest!]

Hope this cleared up my contradictions for you.

Deb

Thanks for your clarification Deb! Thanks for sharing your experience :D They're gonna be so useful :))