ImagesMagUK_January_2022

www.images-magazine.com JANUARY 2022 images 81 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT buying the merchandise for them or giving them store credit? How does the money come in? The costs What are your hard costs? Not just for the ‘cogs’ (cost of goods sold) for the inventory, but the online store build. The infrastructure you need. Labour. Warehouse space. Fulfilment costs. Packaging. Clearly define with your client what they expect so you can detail this out. Don’t assume. The key metrics “You can’t manage what you don’t measure.” What type of sales do you need for the juice to be worth the squeeze? Clearly define what success looks like. If your customer is getting a revenue share, is that number a flat rate or a percentage? What minimums do you need to make it work? Is that guaranteed by the customer? Creative work Obviously they like something about your company and want to work with you. Are you providing more than slapping a logo on an item? Clearly define the creative work needed to make the branded merchandise programme unique. What is needed? The sales journey There is something else that you should map out. Let’s call this the ‘sales to production to shipping to customer journey”... or the sales journey for short. The big question that you need to answer is are you going to pre- decorate the branded merchandise or use a print-on-demand scenario? Maybe a mixture of both? Warehousing The reason this is important is that if you pre-make things, they have to sit on a shelf and take up space. There is an upfront financial investment in doing that. Who is paying for that? You, or your customer? Then, of course, you have to inventory it. Keep it safe and organised. Do you have room for that? How long will the programme last? A year? What happens to anything that isn’t sold? Print on demand On the other side of the coin is the print-on-demand scenario. For garments, you could use direct-to-garment (DTG) printers, heat transfers, DTF (direct- to-film) printers, patches, and even embroidery for a programme very easily. This means that you only have to stock blank inventory in the size ranges. Nothing is decorated until something is sold. At the end of the programme if there is anything left over in full cases you could return these to your apparel distributor and pay a restocking fee. Hybrid Another option could be to think about a hybrid between the two. This is how a good many programmes work. If sales are booming, you can always screen print 500 or 1,000 shirts to get those orders out instead of DTG printing each shirt one at a time. Plus, there sometimes are items that you are going to have to order and bring in, such as water bottles or magnets, that maybe you don’t have the capabilities to manufacture. You just need a minimum to get started on those and a floor level for reordering. Just be careful that you don’t run out of an item and create a back-order situation. The assignment “A customer wants me to handle their branded merch, from selecting the products and creating the designs through to inventory and fulfilment. I need some guidance, from how to reduce my financial risk to what agreements should be in place before I start. In the past, I’ve only done fundraisers where the money is in our account before we press print. I think this is a great opportunity – can you help?” Assignment accepted. Begin with the end Like anything you do in business, you need to start with a sense of clear expectations of the end result. As Stephen Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People , famously wrote, “Begin with the end in mind.” Therefore, in this instance, what is the objective? Judging from the brief, the decorator’s customer wants end-to-end management of their branded merchandise programme. There isn’t anything written about how the sales are coming in, so for the sake of discussion let’s say that this is going to be 100% from an online store. The best place to start for a programme like this is with a mini business plan. You want to clearly define the focus on what is important, get your thinking organised, understand what is needed for the infrastructure for the programme, set some measurable benchmarks, and define accountability. This can be translated later both into an agreement with the customer and an action plan for your business. Define… The customer Who is the end-use customer? What do they like or dislike? How frequently do they buy? What is trendy for them for the online store? Is this programme for men and women? Teenagers? Students? Rock and roll bands? Forklift drivers? The value proposition For the merchandise, what makes it valuable to the customer? The functionality? The aspirational element that shows you belong? Fit, colour, materials, texture or style? Exclusivity? The sales channels Sure, you are selling on an online store – but will you have access to their mailing list? Social media accounts? Are you in charge of marketing too? Is the success of the programme relying on your customer to market the merchandise? What if they are horrible at that? The revenue streams For the merchandise, can people buy items individually, or in a bundle? What about a ‘T-shirt of the month’ club? If it is for employees, will the customer be