Business advice?

[Jonovarty12]

I have been making a selling a few products

Selling them on trademe and putting the prices lower than the 2 business\'s in chch

But now the business are dropping there price just to try get me to stop doing it

At the prices they have dropped to they will be making next to nothing profit so its not worth me doing it

Should i just give up doing it or hope the put there prices back up to normal once they see im not giving up?

[Guest]

Rampant in any business chap. Whats the product(s) in question? Bigger retailers can run loss leaders purely because thats what loss leaders are. If that is all you sell then :-\

[Joker]

listings cost you next to nothing, stick it out i reckon /relist

[GC8E2DD]

You could fight it out on reputation, product quality, warranties, support; all sorts of things. Hard to say without naming the product, or at least what market it lives in.

[Jonovarty12]

the product is trellis , picnic tables , planter boxes all that stuff

Obviously people will choose the big places over me if its the same or slightly more expensive

[Bugle]

If you cant retain your price advantage then you need to differentiate your products another way, tweak the design, use free range organic timber (that\'s a joke but you know what I mean) hell even free delivery could be enough to get you the sale if you dont mind the time and the gas cost fits into your margin

[Guest]

Point of difference is how people close deals. Hell you can even be dearer if you have better service/product. And being a real person not a bunning newb makes a dif also. Keep money local.

[Joker]

you should buy and sell my "Trellis"

[caspros]

What makes you think the businesses are dropping their price to compete with you ? You would have to be getting a noticeable increasing market share for that to happen. Maybe they\'re just competing with each other ?In which case they\'ll be shaving off their own profit, which they won\'t do for ever.

So, to maintain your margins, think on how to lower your supply costs. Easiest way to increase profit.

[Marky]

 JoKer said:

you should buy and sell my "Trellis"

They\'re cool! funky idea

[Jonovarty12]

 caspros said:

What makes you think the businesses are dropping their price to compete with you ? You would have to be getting a noticeable increasing market share for that to happen. Maybe they\'re just competing with each other ?In which case they\'ll be shaving off their own profit, which they won\'t do for ever.

So, to maintain your margins, think on how to lower your supply costs. Easiest way to increase profit.

They are the only other manufacture of trellis on tradme in chch

They are dropping the price of there item to just under mine

[newsuba]

What ever you do, don\'t get sucked into a price war !

Once yon drop prices it\'s very hard to raise them again.

[Guest]

If youre all selling on tm then I bet they are pricing against you nature of the business. Ever thought of just putting up a classified/service listing and making you look all professional? Obviously lowering costs is the best idea and making your product so much cooler. Free peanut slab or something lulz.

[pedro]

sell on quality....Better materials,stainless fittings,customer service,give warranty.Make yours more expensive but give good reasons why.

Or buy a bigger truck...

[Swindog]

Mate. I would back it up with a frieght supplier, as in a partnership so you can offer cheaper shipping.

I nornally dont care, as a buyer, what the costs of the products are if i need something or want something. I care that in two weeks if it shits out they ll sort it and the guy im dealing with isnt a chump and goes the extra mile to help me, get the information to me i need and sort the crap really.

Service service service makes a business.

[Steveo]

Agree with what everyone else is saying, offer a better product and better service, there is no point getting into a price war. There is always someone willing to under cut but 9/10 its a worse product and they will end up coming back to you.

Word of mouth on a quality product, and great customer service works much better (can be difficult using trademe though for this). A friend makes picnic tables and sell\'s them locally more expensive than Mitre 10 etc, but much better constructed and designed. And he sells 1-2 a week (it\'s only a top up for him though) as he\'s a full time builder.

I work in the motorbike industry, and we were trying to compete with some online retailers but all we ended up doing was hurting our bottom dollar, or selling a average product. So instead we are focusing on better service and product knowledge, and stocking a large range so you can come in and actually try on a product (always better to see in the flesh and try on gear). And the customers normally happy to pay maybe $10-$40 dollars more than they might be able to hunt out on the likes of BTO Sports, and wait weeks to arrive and then potentally have ordered the wrong size, and have no backup if somethings wrong with the product.

Sorry I\'ve ended up a bit off topic, but hopefully you get the gist of it.

[Joker]

TM isnt the greatest business tool

ppl like face to face

[Guest]

 JoKer said:

TM isnt the greatest business tool

ppl like in yo face

[Johnnynz]

 newsuba said:

What ever you do, don\'t get sucked into a price war !

Once yon drop prices it\'s very hard to raise them again.

For the love of God heed this!!!

[Joker]

I knew Computer guys in a Small town and ppl would always come up too see their range and they would only stock the best/value for money laptops

\'customers\' would always argue could get cheaper from Harvey Norman (nearest is 45mins drive from here) or somewhere not realising the crap they were buying/lack of service they could/would receive

[kinda goes along with the gist of SteveO\'s post]

[newsuba]

And who is the first person they call when their cut-price special goes on the fritz ?

[Joker]

edzackery, sadly the business was referring to is gone now too, and today is the last day of Norman Ross\'s closing down sale? coincidence?

[newsuba]

norm ross is going to be re- branded harvey norman