Minimum Orders

[Texas Ranger]

Scenario: Sales rep comes in with a new designer line of frames; they look great! upscale price point, but I know that we have some clients that would love to have them, great colors, excellant craftsmanship, then we get hit with "we require a minimum order of,lets say 30 pieces...to properly represent the line; but of course, you'll be the only shop in your market area to have them. Then there are the real high end guys that want 50-75 piece minimum orders, dictate minimum retail prices, etc. Oh, it costs about $5-6K for the first scenario, and maybe $20K for the latter. What do you guys think? Another scenario...I was at Silmo in Paris last October, talked with a small company showing there, that are in SE France, they had a line that the MSRP was about $600, with a 12 piece buy-in., no US distributors or reps, reorder on the internet, sounded way better! Why not just go to europe on "business" and set up a direct account?

[harry a saake]

:bbg: Al, when i had my own stores i ran into the same thing. You have to ask yourself, who owns and runs this place. Frame reps or their companies have no business dictating those kind of terms. Who is that good for, them of course. What are they going to do next, tell you how many times a day you ahve to show them? Its your business Al, not theirs. BTW, i never found it to be a problem, most of them came back in time.

[chip anderson]

First why should the manufacturer not be happy to sell you just one frame? If you sell it you might want more. Is he afraid that you might find out the first one was junk or something?

Have you noticed that some large companies have many lines but you must "minimum order" each? Have you noticed that the same company will discontinue lines (you don't get a refund) and bring out new ones, yes with a minimum order for the new ones.

Have you ever wondered how much frames would cost without a distributor or a rep? Could all be handled with pictures in catalogs and samples, could it not.

And yes I do like most of my reps, and they do thier jobs well. But really don't think thier function is needed. Or if it is the though-the-lab distribution system was really much better.

Chip

[rep]

Hi: Al, Harry and Chip

I am a Luxottica Sales Rep ( as required by management)

Al, when I was in retail I tried your suggestion. It has a few minor drawbacks. No returns - even for defective products. Minumum quantities for sizes and colors, usually 10 per size and per color and finally no garrantee that you will be shipped at all, even with a prepaid payment. In addition you cannot order replacement temples, bridges or fronts and if you can, it takes six months to a year to get them. If you can deal with those issues, have at it.

Harry and Chip, I also use to resent all of the minumum purchases and the requirement that you carry the complete line. I found out later there is a big difference in optical retailers. As part of my continuing optical education (after being on the other side for a while) I found that a lot of opt, od's and Md's are living in the past when it comes to purchasing and maintaing inventory, in comparison to true upscale optical retailers.

Many think that by purchasing one or two units they can convince the consumer that their offices are fashion conscious upscale retail destination. They just can't do it very well - they are dealing with a smart, mall oriented, designer brand name seeking, public, that will not settle for looking at one or two of what they know to be much larger collections. Would you?

Many three O retailers further confuse their customers by purchasing one to three units from 20 to 30 different vendors, four to six time per year, without considering their store image, price points, average customer income, location and marketing, much less the position their three frames has in the existing product mix. What they end up with is a mess that confuses the consumers and makes every thing in the store look the same. However the most shocking reoccuring senario, is that way too many retailers don't reorder what has sold since the last trip, they insisting on only looking at " what's new". In the fashion industry things change only twice a year spring and fall but manufacturers have become smart and since you are only looking at "what's new", not what's selling, they are introducing a lot of new product, after all you asked for it.

Everything changed when the frame industry move from medical devices ( 6 eyesizes and 4 bridges for every style) to a fashion industry ( 3 eyesizes and if your lucky, 2 bridge sizes)

The middle and high end designers came from the fashion industry with "collections" of products that need to be shown together as a spring collection and a fall collection. This follows the clothing industry and like it or not the consumer demands the same treatment in your optical store, as they might find in a store like Gap or Limited. Gap or Limited would never have only two colors of a particular shirt, tie, pair of slacks or even socks. Think about going for only the best selling designer, their best selling styles and deep into the best selling colors. The reps know exactly what those are, if you just ask. Your inventory represents the largest investment in any retail establishment and what you have on your boards reflects who you are and the image the public has of you. You would be stunned if you saw what we see every single day in the field.

In regards to discoutinued lines most reputable companines and most reputable reps have a time period that you are able swap out lines that are discoutinued. If you let them do their jobs by servicing the boards and showing new products on a normal six to ten week schedule.

Just another point of view.
:)

[Jo]

In regards to discoutinued lines most reputable companines and most reputable reps have a time period that you are able swap out lines that are discoutinued. If you let them do their jobs by servicing the boards and showing new products on a normal six to ten week schedule.

You are right and it means taking the time to talk to the reps and go over your boards with them. Most of our frame reps are pretty good; they may have a minimum on the new line they are bringing in but they usually remove the same amount or close to it unless we request otherwise and credit us. So far it is working out well for us.

[John R]

Rep. Some interseting points in there, but you seem to have missed the main point that there are a lot of small indipendent shops out there that cannot afford to take a lot of designer frames.
If you take Al's figures as a ball park then just how many diffrent brands could they hold at $5-6k for each line ? one maybe two if lucky, this then is cutting down on customer choice. Let the shops carry two or three of each brand then the customer is going to have a wider choice, if the customers like the products they will ask about any other diffrent styles nice pictures in a book and a quick order system with fast delivery and you up your sales figures. But no you want it all you want everybody else to spend money to hold products that may or may not sell. Sure the big boys can do it as they have the muscle to get better pricing and spend more on advertising.
btw the designer frame co are just the same here in the UK.

[Texas Ranger]

Rep, I heartily agree with your points. I am always challenged as to which products to carry the most in depth, we have a very stable clientele, but they don't want the same thing constantly. their frame purcahse is a big investment to them, since 90% of them are in Varilux lenses. We find that certain lines definitely outsell other lines, so we keep those basic lines up with broad selection ranges. I was thinking more along the policies of Cartier, LA Eyeworks , Matsuda, Air Titanium, etc.

[chip anderson]

Don't see why returns should be effected by no rep. True many companies have a policy requireing a rep's o.K. on returns. But this is just one of the company's rules which could be changed in a minite and if the company was not having to support the rep, returns could be done much more economicly.

Other companies do allow returns direct with or without authorization.


The addage that you need to display eight peices or more to "adequately represent the line" is a line of pure BS. If you have one beautiful frame you can sell one beautiful frame . It need not be seen with 11 more of its sister products.

Chip

[optirep]

I am a frame rep


One reason many companies have minimum orders is to protect customers who carrry the line. Also many designers require it!

Companies that require large minimums on middle or low priced lines I disagree with.


Bottom line If you can't carry more than 20 peices of a line you don't need it!!!!!

[harry a saake]

Opti Rep, you are so right and that is what i would tell you if you came into my store with that attitude. Of course i dont blame you for trying if you can get away with it i,m sure its profitable for you and your company.
.........Personally, when i had my own chain of stores, i found there were many companies that just did not have 20 frames that i thought were worth carrying, but i did purchase those that met my standards.
.......There was two companies that i did buy a lot of the line, as most of there product was good, namely, multi-facets and neostyle.
.........On the other hand i cant imagine buying a line of Hart frames and telling someone i had quality.
.........As the other rep mentioned, i agree that those that you are selling should be reordered, but if not thats an internal management problem.
.........I also agree with the other rep about numerous different price points, as i think a classic mistake with opticians is to try and be all things to all people. You have to find your niche.
.........If you don,t think you can carry 20 to 30 lines using their best i would implore you to take a trip down to Charlotte ,N.C. and visit southpark optical. After talking to Tom, then tell me it cant be done.

[optirep]

Harry.

ALL the lines I carry have no minimums. My point was that if you only sell a few peices of a line each year you don't need to carry the line. If a line is going to sell 3 or 4 a week maybe it is worth it!

I don't think it is fair for one guy to carry 20plus units and the guy across the street uses his inventory to sell frames.

I started in our family store in a small town. We had many different lines than the others in town. One of the local O.D.'s told customers to go look at are store and he would get it for them cheaper! (Most would stay with us, But not all) We started to buy protected lines and he could no longer do this unless he bought into the minimum.

This is JUST my opinion

[harry a saake]

Opti-rep. i agree with some of what you said, however i never worried about what the guy across the street did. I have had that same experience and countered it the same way ,by going to shows and buying and selling frames no one else had. At the same time however i still bought only what i thought would sell in my operation, which was high end boutique.
......... Most of the time that eliminated the competiton right there. I remember selling Multi-Facets when most of the opticians were afraid to touch them, as you did have to buy a number of them to show off the different shapes, but it was extremely profitable.
..........There is a lot of really good frames out there to buy that will keep you in one category, price point wise, however few of us could afford to buy, say 20 of each of them.
..........Basically what i mean is i cant imagine buying 20 or 30 of the more common type frames from the so,so manufactures, where most of them are just clones of one another.

[bblack]

The vast majority of frames carried by all manufacturers have no minimum. The hope is that if a rep gets a few frames into the store that the inventory will grow. I always felt frames are like weeds, once you get them into your dispensary they seemingly grow on their own.
In another life I used to carry many great lines of designer frames Matsuda, Oliver Peoples, L.A. Eyeworks, Cartier and many more. I would have been very upset if, a few miles away, someone would have been allowed to buy one or two of these products for their frame boards. A minimum order protects the store that commits to a high end line as well as the integrity of the designer.

Bill

[ray]

I bet you guys are real happy about all those multifacets you have in inventory now! Just kidding.

[optirep]

BILL,

You right!!!