Quotes, Quotes, Quotes

I love giving out quotes. Quotes for bags, boxes, ribbons, labels, stickers, tags or anything to do with custom packaging.

Do you use custom packaging or need custom packaging? Yes you say then ask for a quote. Keep me and my Gift Box colleages busy.

You might learn that you are currently paying too much for your existing packaging or that you can afford the packaging you've wanted for so long. Give us a try.

If you are in Southern New England give me a call 401683-5377 or call 1-800giftbox to find out your local representative. It might just save you a dollar or two in this tough economic times and that alone will be worth the call.

At the very least you will get a new 2008 Gift Box Catalog to review.

Retail Packaging Price Acceptance!

I am surprised by the number of people who accept that the price they are currently receiving for their retail packaging is the best price they can get. WHY?

I offer on a daily basis to give potential customers competitive quotes on their retail packaging based on their annual usage and so many of them refuse the offer. WHY?

As a store owner, have you ever asked for a quote from a competitor of your retail packaging provider? WHY not? You might be surprised by the pricing. You can only gain knowledge by asking and potentially save money. You might learn that your current pricing from your provider is better then the competitors or you might learn you are paying too much. Who is going to hurt? Not the competitor and not you. It might hurt your current provider but only if their prices are too high.

You should also learn through this quote process that sometimes there are specials not advertised in a catalog. These specials could in fact effect the items final cost. For instance, Gift Box Corporation of America, www.800giftbox.com, has a first quarter special every year. That special is 15% of the cost of their stock paper shopping bags. So for a customer who uses paper shopping bags this is a great savings especially if they order their annual usage appropriately.

Example:

GBC's cost of a kraft 8 x 5 x 10 paper shopper starts at 28.50/100 up to 1000 pcs.
So if your use 750 bags unprinted per year the cost of those bags drop to 24.23/100. Not bad.

Over 1000 bags costs 27.00/100 with the discount $22.95/100. And so on.

Don't be afraid to ask if there are any upcoming specials.

Gift Box also has a freight policy that states if you spend more then $350.00 per order they will pay half the freight. Twice the savings for those customers who plan wisely.

So if storage is an issue, Does your packaging provider give you annual usage discounts on all orders placed at the same time with separate ship dates? I do and why shouldn't I or they? You are ordering all your products at the same time aren't you? Most of my competitors don't offer that.

I am only using shopping bags as an example but this relates to all types of retail packaging including plastic bags, gift boxes, tissue paper, gift wrap, ribbon and bows. Whether you use stock products, custom products, unprinted or printed, why not ask today for competitive pricing from a packaging provider other then your own? You might be surprised.

Price verses Quality

So many business owners look at the actual price of a single product as opposed to looking at the bottom total of the order.

What I mean is:

As a sales representative I work with my customers to reduce their actual invoice total in turn reducing the actual product cost.

See the company that I work for as a sales representative, Gift Box Corporation, offers our customers quantity discounting and annual usage discounting.

For my customers that place bag orders in the first quarter of the year for the entire year, they get 15% off for the first quarter special and then we add up the total number of bags and give them a quantity discount based on annual usage on top of it. We can ship multiple times through out the remainder of the year providing the customer with bags when they need them instead of overwhelming them with inventory with one large order. To save the customer even more money we offer a half off frieght allowance on all orders of $350.00 or more.

Does your packaging distributor offer those deals?

Take another look at the bottom line.

Some times it pays to work directly with your packaging rep and ask for specials and cost cutting measures. I also suggest having a competitor of your current packaging company provide you with a quote on all packaging products. Give that second packaging rep the quantities for the packaging products used in the previous year along with exact descriptions of your products, color, shape and materials or supply them with actual samples of your products. You do not have to tell them the dollar amounts, a good rep will not need that information. Have that second packaging rep provide you with the costs for reordering based on annual usage and company discounts.

As an example, a potential new customer that I am currently working with purchases paper bags, gift boxes and tissue from a competitor. When asked for pricing on shopping bags, I provided them with first column pricing. They stated that I was way over priced. My first response was how many bags do you order a year? Thousands was her answer. So now I re-adjusted my numbers based on her annual usage. I also provided her with information concerning the discounts available to her in the coming year. When all said and done my cost was less. I didn't provide her with any extra discounts only the ones she earned. I don't play games when it comes to pricing. So many sales reps/manufacturers will reduce the cost of the first order to secure the new business then up the cost on future orders. I will not. I want my customer to get the actual pricing due to them so they don't have sticker shock in the future. I am also suppling this customer a quote for custom shopping bags. A full years worth of inventory but I am hoping to drop her cost per bag even futher.

Will I get the business? Maybe not because her current sales rep/packaging provider might meet my pricing or even beat it to keep the business. As much as I want the order thats OK. I know that customer is getting the pricing they deserve and that sales representative/manufacturer is being kept honest. And this is why I suggest you should occasionally work with your packaging provider's competitor for pricing at least every few years.

Who is going to hurt? No one especially not you because you will know you are getting the best price available to you.

So the last few blogs have been about "green" packaging and you ask what does this have to do with any thing green - well I have two answers. One, you will have more green in your pocket!
and two, Gift Box Corporation maintains stock products that are made from recycled products, products that are recyclable and products that are re-usable. Check them all out at http://www.800giftbox.com/.