Mren
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Selling Greeting Cards Through Stores
by Jo O'BrienRecently the topic of selling greeting cards out in the real world has come up in the forums...
Recently the topic of selling greeting cards out in the real world has come up in the forums Having sold greeting cards before through shops and at markets, my humble opinion and experience may be of interest. I’ve got a lot to say on this one so I’ll use headings :) / mren’s ‘somewhere in fitzroy’ Be a Business- Not Just an Artist / What I mean by this is consider yourself a business supplier and demonstrate a level of professionality. Yes it is great if you promote the artistic merits of your work but greeting cards are a very common product and so being organised with an ABN, professional looking invoices, online ordering facilities, fast turn around etc will put you ahead of the (always growing) pack. Like all good businesses, know your strengths and show them off. Provide Good Quality Products / It might sound obvious (I hope it does) but when people are starting out in business they tend to cut corners. In the greeting card business quality is a big deal. This is where RedBubble becomes a huge advantage because the quality of the card printing is so exceptional. Packaging is Important / Have you considered what your cards will look like after 20 or so customers have handled them? Some people like the ‘no plastic’ look and who am I to tell them otherwise. I always individually wrap my cards and make sure that if the packaging prevents the card being openned, that “Blank Card” is printed either on the individual packaging or nearby signage. If you put together gift packs, wrap them beautifully and make sure people know what images they are getting in the pack. / My little tip: leave one copy of each card unwrapped on display and when you check up with the store, see which ones are the grubbiest to identify the favourites Displaying your wares / The things people want to see are the images, the quality and the price. Where possible I use clear perspex stands that do not cover the front of the card. By leaving a few sample cards out of their packaging people can pick them up and feel them to check the quality. I also make sure each card has a visible price on it, on the back, on a removable sticker. Some hints would be not to have too many of a particular card out on display at once. Keep a box of ‘top up’ cards out of sight. If you have a series that belongs together, display them together and perhaps highlight them with different packaging or a small separate display rack. Cards should be displayed with the image facing the right way up where possible. Always put your name and contact details on your card stands- so often they ‘magically disappear.’ And if you are providing your own stands, try to ‘claim’ the space so that other people’s cards don’t get put in over the top of yours. This can be hard to police but for example, having “Cards by Artist ABC” on your stand makes it harder for the retailer to stick any old stuff in there. / ‘legs’ by itsactustus Get Your Pricing Right / Like all things business, a lot of small shops will heckle with you over money and prices. My advice to you? Know what price you want and stick to it. Think about it in perspective, in a typical shop, greeting cards will be close to the cheapest item in there. If the business can’t fork out $30 to try 10 cards then you don’t want to be doing business with them! But also think realistically about your prices. Most retailers will start saying ‘no thanks’ at about $3 a card so to make RedBubble cards (with a base price of up to $3) a financailly viable option you need to sell them as premium art cards worth that extra dollar or two. Considering the quality of them, I believe this is possible. Depending on where you sell them, you could get $4 to $8 or even more per card. It will depend on the clientelle for that particular store. / Common Mistake: Too many people give their cards different prices when in the eye of the customer they all look pretty much the same. If you want to have a premium range, make it obvious Profite Margins / I should add as a separate but related point, most stores will want to mark up by about 100% on greeting cards. Most people sell there cards for a set wholesale price and then let the store charge whatever they like. The only time in my opinion, you should intervene is if you seriously believe they have overpriced them to such a point that nthey are not affordable. But think about it before setting your price. If you ask for $4 per card, can the store onsell them for $7.95? How to actually get them into stores / Here’s an idea for you- send them a card! Of course a rigorous follow up would be required. I would ‘door to door’ with a small sample or my stuff and it worked really well. I also had a bit of a tactic. I’d show a selection of cards worth $20 total. Then when they fell in love with a couple I’d say. “How about you buy this $20 worth from me right now and you keep that one you like for yourself, I’ll replace it with this one” Then I’d pull some other random card out of my bag and add it to the pile. Worked 9 out of 10 times. The other thing I did was band together with a fellow card maker (she did printed ones, I did handmade) so that we could show a greater range and cut our door knocking time in half. Can I also suggest not interrupting businesses during busy periods such as weekends or lunch hours. That happens to me in the gallery all the time and it’s a real pain. Also, if you’re talking to staff and their phone rings or a customer comes in, invite them to deal with the more important thing first and come back to you. Rotate Your Stock / Basically, if it isn’t selling, get rid of it yourself before the store owner decides to get rid of you! I’m exaggerating but the point it still valid. People will stop looking if your display always looks the same so keep it chaging. Make a fuss. If you have a new range, stick a sign up saying “New Farm Yard Range On Sale Now.” And remember, what works well in one store may go really badly in another so if it’s not selling, try somewhere else rather then giving up and throwing the lot in the bin! Consignment / This is particularly just my opinion but I’m against consignment on cards. Especially if you give a choice of what is ordered. Seriously, cards cost so little compared to other things, if a store can’t find $50 somewhere to buy some outright, there is something suss about that right away. It might be good to offer consignment on your first batch which will encourage the store to stock your stuff but don’t get into a habit of it. I would drop off say 50 cards and get someone to sign a consignment form saying how many they were given. Then after a few weeks I would go back, count them up and invoice for however many were missing. Then I’d also give them the choice of buying the remaining ones, or me taking them back. Most would swap a few that they didn’t like and then buy up. Payments / Again I hope this sounds obvious but ask to be paid. So many people get lost in a world of politeness and assume that eventually someone will do the right thing, Most small businesses using MYOB or QuickBooks accounting software will automatically lodge your invoices to be paid within 30 days. Agree on your terms and then chase up late payments. No need to be mean or nasty but a follow up letter and then a follow up phone call is fair enough. Also, be flexible in how you can be paid. Some businesses do everything with a cheque (or for you Americans, a “check”), others will rely on Direct Debit. So know how the business wants to pay you and don’t make it hard for them! Promote your Cards / The beauty of RedBubble cards is they have the URL of your portfolio on the back which shows off all of your work. But also remember to promote your cards out in the real world. Recently I bought a bunch of RedBubble cards and gave them all to friends. The response was amazing. They all got online to find more! Next step for me is to buy a bunch of my own cards and find excuses to give them to people. webgrrl had this awesome idea too. The cards really do speak for themselves so get them into circulation. - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - – - So if anyone is still breathing after reading all that, I hope you found it useful! / I do tend to ramble when it comes to retail related things- it’s my passion in life. / ‘Tashom III’ by FireRabbit
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New Yorks Chrysler Building, Art Deco’s archetype.
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Work inspired by the amazing car chase at the end of Deathproof by Quentin Tarantino.. and also the amazing poster art from the movie.. ‘cept I threw in my WRX as the car.. bit different for me.. hope you like it
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A typical perspective in NYC.
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The warden’s call in the eleventh hour. / And it’s easy to say but it’s hard to remember / That praise is for suckers and death is forever. / Under your nose but just over your head. / Martyr meets maker in ten shades of red. / These are your twelve steps. / Take them on your knees. / Show them at the door and they’ll let you in free.
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This temple is in the town of Nyaung U, in the historical area of Bagan, Burma. It was built in 1102 during the reign of King Kyanzittha. We caught it as the sun set, the light reflecting off the gold leaf stupa.
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At Bayon Temple, Angkor, Cambodia.
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From Bayon, one of the many Khmer temples at Cambodias Angkor, dating back to the 13th century. Theres some 200 or so of these faces at this temple. It’s believed the faces are of the king Jayavarman VII, incarnate as the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. Regardless, it’s a moving, eerie place, where serene, smiling faces are watching you at every angle.
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Another from Cambodias Bayon temple in Angkor. I’d like to know what people think, I feel there’s probably a few different ways this could be represented.
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The Taj Mahal, one of those places that exceeds everything you’ve ever known about it, when you finally see it in person. It’s perfect. It was completed in 1650 in Islamic Northern India by Shah Jahan, as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal who died giving birth to her fourteenth child.
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A day trip from Mandalay, Burma.. Sagaing sits on the Ayeyarwady River and has a peaceful lookout across a landscape speckled with the golden stupas of temples.
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Taken on the streets of York and post-processed. I love the olden architecture of this town. The mis-shapen houses on the verge of crumbling, the faded old colours and the wonderful wrought iron lamps.
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no border upload.
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DEM DEUTSCHEN VOLKE – To the German People. The Reichstags new dome allows people to walk the spiral walkway around a mirrored core to the top. The countrys leaders can look up from parliament below and see those they represent, traversing the walkway above.
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He’s passed out for the night. / Lived in one house all his life. / You can count the decades in his eyes. / Fifty year old fistfights and the scars they leave. / All the awful liars, all the perfect thieves. He trusts in the rule of law and hates the current scapegoats. / Never asked for more and what will he have to show for the years of hard work, faithful service and standardized routines? And when he dies alone with nothing in hand, burned out shell of a working man, when he dies alone with empty hands - How long will the body lie before someone walking by notices the smell, calls the cops and they come and put him in a box and mark it with a number. Somewhere past the city limits somebody pulls a file, / stamps it void and throws it on a pile. / We take care of our own. / At least on paper. / We take care of our own. / Who gets his number? Song by Cursed, off the album Two.
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Williamstowns historic timeball tower, built in 1840, used as a lighthouse throughout history.
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A jewel in the crown of Rajasthans many forts. Bundi Palace. Parts of Rajasthan can be so dry and I wanted to reflect this in the colour. Where the landscape and the palace share the same earthly tones.
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The day bought a beautiful silver haze over the water.
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From Bayon, one of the many Khmer temples at Cambodias Angkor, dating back to the 13th century. Theres some 200 or so of these faces at this temple. It’s believed the faces are of the king Jayavarman VII, incarnate as the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara. This is the second picture in this series. The serene, all knowing expression of the giant stone faces, looking out to the Cambodian country-side.
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The Swiss Alps in the Jungfrau region. The rain abated for a few hours to let us emerge from our soaked tent. The alps are a timeless reminder of how grand and ancient our planet is. It’s belittling and you spend a moment reflecting on the meager scale of our own existence, or you grab some nordic walking poles and do your best to scale them!
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We’ve lived through many atrocities in our brief time on this planet. The holocaust is our steadfast icon to which we cry ‘never again’. What happened in Europe during the Nazi reign of power was unspeakable and set the baseline for the most barbarous of human will. But what of Cambodia? In 1975 a communist faction called the Khmer Rouge overthrew a destabilised government to take power by coup detat. A jubilious population in Phnom Penh falsely believed they were supporting a coup that would restore the power of an embattled king. That afternoon, the Khmer Rouge began marching civilians from the capital and into the fields where they were forced into labor camps. Intellectuals and those incapable of hard labor were typically executed on the spot. Interrogation camps and torture centers were established, most notably in a Phnom Penh high school. At the time, Cambodias population was around 8 million. When the Cambodian people were liberated by the Vietnamese army some 4 years later, the population stood at 6 million. A quarter of the Cambodian people had been murdered by the Khmer Rouge. The publicity this atrocity received over the following years was met with skepticism and allegedly a campaign of cover up lead by a US government widely believed to have assisted the Khmer Rouge faction into power. I encourage you all to read a little bit about what happened here, and if possible, pay the country a visit. I was thanked so many times by local people for supporting tourism and helping these people recover from one of our worst chapters in history. This picture was taken at one of the mass grave sites. There’s a memorial temple made from the skulls of those who were exhumed here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khmer_Rouge
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I could always imagine at Angkor, the ancient Khmer Kings walking through their stone doorways to the majesty of their temples.
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How the 24th of August AD79 might have looked at Pompeii.
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