Warmoth
New Member
Hey all, I know everyone's business is very different, and point of views will vary, but I hope this will spark some discussion.
While looking over sales breakdowns (for the year), I joked - "Wow, look at all the worthless things that hardly contribute anything". Referring to the bottom 75% of items. I started to think harder about it, and maybe it's true? Things like canvas prints, or posters technically turn a profit, but are they breaking our focus? Should we cut those things off the menu so we can dig deeper into our bread and butter? Or should we intentionally put more focus on those items? Our top spending customers only purchase from the top 8 items (out of the 38 listed). But perhaps the low revenue items hold more value than can be measured (bringing people in the door, bolster our appearance/capabilities)?
We're in a time that people can get things quickly and easily, from a variety of outlets. Do people still care about the all-in-one shop? It's hard enough to compete with banners.com, let alone stickers.com, yardsigns.com, posters.com, and a plethora of other highly specialized imaginary examples. Is it worth it to try?
I'm curious, do your breakdowns look similar to ours? This year, the difference was particularly staggering.
We've invested in a flatbed printer for the new year. I've meticulously run the numbers, and if sales remain consistent with the past year, it will pay for itself in 12-16 months by way of savings on media, and the hefty tax write-off. (However, the goal is to increase the sales for those flatbed capable items...) But now we're faced with the possibility of adding new, flatbed specific offerings to the mix. Is this a good thing? "Sure we'll print on phone cases", or "No, we are gonna print the hell out of yard signs from open to close"?
How do you guys approach your "menu"?
Some chart explanation. "Printed Decals" being anything printed on vinyl, sold as a sticker. "Cut Decals" anything cut directly out of vinyl, sold as a sticker. Items named like '24"x32" Steel' refers to realty frames of various sizes. Disregard the colors divisions, they effectively mean nothing for this topic.
While looking over sales breakdowns (for the year), I joked - "Wow, look at all the worthless things that hardly contribute anything". Referring to the bottom 75% of items. I started to think harder about it, and maybe it's true? Things like canvas prints, or posters technically turn a profit, but are they breaking our focus? Should we cut those things off the menu so we can dig deeper into our bread and butter? Or should we intentionally put more focus on those items? Our top spending customers only purchase from the top 8 items (out of the 38 listed). But perhaps the low revenue items hold more value than can be measured (bringing people in the door, bolster our appearance/capabilities)?
We're in a time that people can get things quickly and easily, from a variety of outlets. Do people still care about the all-in-one shop? It's hard enough to compete with banners.com, let alone stickers.com, yardsigns.com, posters.com, and a plethora of other highly specialized imaginary examples. Is it worth it to try?
I'm curious, do your breakdowns look similar to ours? This year, the difference was particularly staggering.
We've invested in a flatbed printer for the new year. I've meticulously run the numbers, and if sales remain consistent with the past year, it will pay for itself in 12-16 months by way of savings on media, and the hefty tax write-off. (However, the goal is to increase the sales for those flatbed capable items...) But now we're faced with the possibility of adding new, flatbed specific offerings to the mix. Is this a good thing? "Sure we'll print on phone cases", or "No, we are gonna print the hell out of yard signs from open to close"?
How do you guys approach your "menu"?
Some chart explanation. "Printed Decals" being anything printed on vinyl, sold as a sticker. "Cut Decals" anything cut directly out of vinyl, sold as a sticker. Items named like '24"x32" Steel' refers to realty frames of various sizes. Disregard the colors divisions, they effectively mean nothing for this topic.