Retail 101

[mcquinn]

Retail 101

This is not meant to single out or criticize any particular supplier ,but is intended to help those of you who do not seem to realize how retail works.

The supplier does his research and picks out a product or products that he believes he can find a market for, and purchases the product ,

At this time the supplier has an investment wrapped up in the product and the only way to recover his investment is to exchange the product for cash.

In order to make a living ,pay staff and overhead the supplier must mark up the price of the product ,if they sell at the price they pay for the product they will not be able to stay in business very long. Also in order to convince people to buy your product instead of a competitors you have to convince the customer that you either have better prices ,better service , better product or a combination of these attributes.

If after you make an investment and the only way to recover is to sell what you invested in what do you do if you find out you picked a loser? You either eat your losses and try harder next time or you try real hard to sell what you have and that my friends is where the dissatisfied customer comes in to play. You cannot get rid of the product by advertising that this is crap but I need to get rid of it so I don’t lose my money I would rather you lose your money.

So the moral to the story is as a consumer always do a little research ,if someone is offering a deal that is too good to be true it most likely is not a good deal. Most of the time the products will be within a few dollars from site to site if there is a huge difference it is likely not the same product. The products that are truly good products will be available at more than one location ,be wary of exclusive products only available from us ,do a little more research ,they could and most likely are legit but buyer beware. With most E-cigg. Products it all comes from I believe one of four manufacturers

there is always a chance that a bad piece will get in the pipeline and it is matter of luck which supplier gets the bad piece or pieces .How they choose to treat the customer who gets the bad piece is called customer service and is what builds reputation.

[Brian]

You cannot get rid of the product by advertising that this is crap but I need to get rid of it so I don’t lose my money I would rather you lose your money.

I don't know - that's what Chris did with his Cheesecake and it seemed to work pretty well. (j/k)

You're 100% on this one. Good post.

[keenan]

Good post ! Chris, Arno, and Jeff @ wordup are good examples of GREAT CS. Im SURE there are more, but they are the 3 that come to mind. When THEY have a dissatisfied customer, there are NO questions asked. The calculator and profit margin book dont come out. They apologize, re-ship, and give you a "Have A Nice Day". They dont even care about the bad product. Keep it. Send it back. Throw it out. Whatever.

THATS why they have repeat customers. Thats what sets them apart from the rest. Greed is NOT in the equasion.

[SmokinHammer]

You cannot get rid of the product by advertising that this is crap but I need to get rid of it so I don’t lose my money I would rather you lose your money.

Mcquinn, while I agree with the general idea you've put out here, I'd have to say that I'd rather hear the truth and be able to make my own decision, than get some BS story. I'm just sayin', if you tell me it's crap and I buy it anyway, it's my fault.

Edited January 2, 2010 by SmokinHammer

[Brian]

Mcquinn, while I agree with the general idea you've put out here, I'd have to say that I'd rather hear the truth and be able to make my own decision, than get some BS story. I'm just sayin', if you tell me it's crap and I buy it anyway, it's my fault.

I think that was his point. Some vendors know they have crap, but continue to push it as quality merchandise. Hence, making them BAD suppliers.

[Christopher]

This a good thread and something a few supplier could learn from.

A good example for Vapor Talk would be the cheesecake flavor we ordered direct. Although I first thought about leaving the Cheesecake up for a cheap sale (I did note the flavor was crap) I decided rather than destroy the good reputation Vapor Talk has for juice just to take the product down and cut our losses. (about 10,000 ML worth of liquid) I just couldn't allow the flavor to stay in the store even if I gave it away free. I also replaced those who ordered the flavor with one of our own mixtures.

I hope whatever happened to you gets taken care of!

[Brian]

This a good thread and something a few supplier could learn from.

A good example for Vapor Talk would be the cheesecake flavor we ordered direct. Although I first thought about leaving the Cheesecake up for a cheap sale (I did note the flavor was crap) I decided rather than destroy the good reputation Vapor Talk has for juice just to take the product down and cut our losses. (about 10,000 ML worth of liquid) I just couldn't allow the flavor to stay in the store even if I gave it away free. I also replaced those who ordered the flavor with one of our own mixtures.

No doubt, good customer service is GOOD BUSINESS. Seems obvious, but some just don't get it.

[mcquinn]

It is very rare these days for someone to do what you did Chris kudos for that .A lot of the suppliers probably cannot afford to be suppliers and they have to try to get the money back.I know of one supplier who had $30,000.00 worth being held at customs not too many of us could take a hit like that .I have also noticed suppliers not restocking certain kits I suppose after they finally sold the last one they wish they hadn't bought.

[Schizophretard]

about 10,000 ML worth of liquid

Why would you buy that much crap? Are you a fecalpheliac?

[spoolinst]

^^^haha