Hello All...As the regulars here know, I sell and I set up video game stores. My client list has grown to the point to where support calls are high volume, but I keep on them proudly and still am able to get to sales and set ups... I haven’t missed a deal yet. I have started a new proactive approach though to giving my clients support as I email them all every time I come up with a new innovation or realize some are doing some cool stuff that others are not. Anyway, the following advise is paraphrased right out of one of my client support emails and I realized something... this particular advise will help folks here too without really giving away to much of my secret sauce. Don’t worry... vendor names will be removed... this isnt an AD for any one company. If however you are interested in some specific folks that can help in the regard i'm about to go over, contact me one on one and I will happily share.
OK... How about this common situation. You go to your favorite wholesaler’s site and order your product. You reach nice and deep into your pockets as you match your cost of goods sold amount for this time around making sure to replace your inventory in a way that will serve your customers well and keep your store on track for growth... It’s a solid order.. Your stoked.. You ordered enough units of each category to get extra discounts and wow... you are gonna see a bump in your per unit margins this time because you've got that cost down. Cool... let’s check out... what? Shipping is a third of the cost of your order? HOW...WHY!! Because you are thorough (because you've been taught by the man) you divide it out. thud... that’s your heart hitting your stomach... there go those per unit margins... they have plummeted. It almost feels like you could go to a retailer and do just as good. Hey... pick your head up off your desk... take a sip of coffee and listen to your guy for a second. It’s gonna be alright. Use a logistic company or shipping broker and save as much as 75 percent on shipping! Admittedly I don’t know ALL the details of HOW they ship for so cheap... but I know they DO. I'm going to give you two real world examples.
1.Preowned product to new clients store setup. 720 pounds of JUST GAMES! two pallets..from Columbus OHIO to Columbia SC. fed ex (1300.00).. logistics company... (320.00) with 500,000.00 insurance!
2.Vendor order... from huge/reputable distributorto remain nameless 3 pallets of video gme branded snacks (R2D2 mint tins) Pack man arcade cabinets filled with chocolates, Mario energy drinks.. tons of different items.. you get the idea... great margins... untill shipping comes back... 480.00 from the vendor! you call... you complain... you get "drinks are heavy" as the reason... your dollar energy drink cost just went to 2.60... your selling at 2.99 BLAH!! Either raise your price or lose your margin? NO! Call a logistics broker... All you got to do is contact them... they will tell you what you need to ask the shipping manager of your vendor in terms of dimension...remember.. your vendor will do this work for you, you just ask the questions. you give the broker the info... they quote you... you get the vendor quote and compare. in this example the quote dropped to 260.00!
If you take the extra step its money saved and I recommend! Its tempting to go easy and just “pay the freight” of your vendors… but with just an
extra phone call and an email or two, you can usually save on each order. You can track the shipment if you are vigilant and keep on the broker he can normaly get you the drivers number and you can call him directly which is what my clients and I
typically do. This is the area where I see the trade off is.. well actually there are two... the first is obvious.. your vendor could ship directly today... the broker has to send a truck to your vendor, then to your destination. I see this typically add no more than two days. Also tracking isn’t the best because they use many carriers and they get your load handles at odd times, think of it as travelocity for trucking.
Those issues aside I use shipping brokers religiously. I have one that I use over all and because they are so familiar with my business model and my vendors are all aware I will be using them, It has just become part of how I order and really has become routine... the savings are well worth it and help me and my clients to get our margins back!!
I hope this tip finds you all well... Mikey OUT!!
OK... How about this common situation. You go to your favorite wholesaler’s site and order your product. You reach nice and deep into your pockets as you match your cost of goods sold amount for this time around making sure to replace your inventory in a way that will serve your customers well and keep your store on track for growth... It’s a solid order.. Your stoked.. You ordered enough units of each category to get extra discounts and wow... you are gonna see a bump in your per unit margins this time because you've got that cost down. Cool... let’s check out... what? Shipping is a third of the cost of your order? HOW...WHY!! Because you are thorough (because you've been taught by the man) you divide it out. thud... that’s your heart hitting your stomach... there go those per unit margins... they have plummeted. It almost feels like you could go to a retailer and do just as good. Hey... pick your head up off your desk... take a sip of coffee and listen to your guy for a second. It’s gonna be alright. Use a logistic company or shipping broker and save as much as 75 percent on shipping! Admittedly I don’t know ALL the details of HOW they ship for so cheap... but I know they DO. I'm going to give you two real world examples.
1.Preowned product to new clients store setup. 720 pounds of JUST GAMES! two pallets..from Columbus OHIO to Columbia SC. fed ex (1300.00).. logistics company... (320.00) with 500,000.00 insurance!
2.Vendor order... from huge/reputable distributorto remain nameless 3 pallets of video gme branded snacks (R2D2 mint tins) Pack man arcade cabinets filled with chocolates, Mario energy drinks.. tons of different items.. you get the idea... great margins... untill shipping comes back... 480.00 from the vendor! you call... you complain... you get "drinks are heavy" as the reason... your dollar energy drink cost just went to 2.60... your selling at 2.99 BLAH!! Either raise your price or lose your margin? NO! Call a logistics broker... All you got to do is contact them... they will tell you what you need to ask the shipping manager of your vendor in terms of dimension...remember.. your vendor will do this work for you, you just ask the questions. you give the broker the info... they quote you... you get the vendor quote and compare. in this example the quote dropped to 260.00!
If you take the extra step its money saved and I recommend! Its tempting to go easy and just “pay the freight” of your vendors… but with just an
extra phone call and an email or two, you can usually save on each order. You can track the shipment if you are vigilant and keep on the broker he can normaly get you the drivers number and you can call him directly which is what my clients and I
typically do. This is the area where I see the trade off is.. well actually there are two... the first is obvious.. your vendor could ship directly today... the broker has to send a truck to your vendor, then to your destination. I see this typically add no more than two days. Also tracking isn’t the best because they use many carriers and they get your load handles at odd times, think of it as travelocity for trucking.
Those issues aside I use shipping brokers religiously. I have one that I use over all and because they are so familiar with my business model and my vendors are all aware I will be using them, It has just become part of how I order and really has become routine... the savings are well worth it and help me and my clients to get our margins back!!
I hope this tip finds you all well... Mikey OUT!!
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