Postcards! (again) But for free?

[Biomech]

I would like to try and sell some postcards to the local touristy shops. It would be stupid of me to order a tonne and the try and sell them to the shops, so what I am considering is printing a "contact sheet" of the pictures, going into the shops and asking them if they would like to place an order, for which ones, at an agreed upon price. Then I go get them ordered and have the delivered.

But do you think it's worth printing off say, 10 per card per shop and saying "hey, I want you to buy these postcards, have this sample pack to see how you get on, the trade price is X and the rrp is Y"?

And give a small batch away free to try and garner some interest.

Of course the risk to not doing it - I'd expect a lower conversion rate
The risk of doing it, people could take the samples, sell them and never buy again :P

Thoughts?

Oh I should probably point out that I was thinking about giving a sample pack free as I'd pitch my cards RRP at 75p - £1.00. Most cards go for 25p. The cards are also locally relevant.

[mokka]

It's worth a try, but the other thing you have to bear in mind is space. If a shop has nowhere suitable to display the cars for sale then your free samples are unlikely to be successful, the shop owner will put them in whatever place they can find where they may not be noticed by customers.

I would limit how many free samples you give out to keep your own costs down, you could end up spending a lot of money just to perhaps get a few shops interested, a shop owner shouldn't need too many to give them an idea of how they will sell, and you risk cheapening your product in their mind. You want to look like you're confident in your product and that seeing it is enough to get them interested and not like you rely on freebies to get people interested.

What I would do is produce one of each photo for a shop and give them to the shop owner as a sample which they can sell if they wish, and keep an eye on how much you're spending, don't spend more than you think you can earn, and this includes any overheads too, travelling time to get round the shops etc.

[NicolaB]

I wouldn't devalue yourself by giving away freebies without any commitment to buy.

People simply don't value 'free'. Get an order, then if you wish you could give an incentive for repeat orders by offering a different sample set for them to try. That way they already value your product.

Personally I would show them the sample set rather than a contact sheet at first approach so they can see the quality of your product.

hth

[AndyM2020]

You could offer the postcards on a "sale or return" basis.

Basically, the shop doesn't pay you for them, but takes a cut for each card they sell (or you tell them how much you want for each card and they then put their own markup on them). There's no risk for the shop and they are more likely to take the cards and put them up on their display.

Any they don't sell you take back and try elsewhere (if the shop no longer wants to carry them). If you are worried about if they will sell or not, you could do a short run first and just give each shop around 10 cards, if they sell well you can then get more printed which will allow for greater profits.

[mokka]

That sounds like a good compromise, making an introductory offer more attractive to the shop without making it look like you lack confidence and have to rely on freebies.

I'd be interested to know how you get on with this. I envision it will be difficult to market premium postcards. They really have to come with a compelling reason for people to spend more than the 20p odd they expected to spend on a postcard and extra good photographs may not be enough on its own.

The eco-friendly idea I mentioned in your previous post might be an idea, I think it has to be something unique and attractive like this.

[Biomech]

Thanks for the feedback, I think the somewhere in the middle sounds good. I've had a look around the local shops, there aren't any cards like what I have in mind, plus they are locally / subject relevant and I'll be aiming them at the touristy areas.

It's an idea that's just bouncing around in my head at the moment, I'll slowly get onto it :P

[Pete28]

Are your pictures copyrighted? The reason that I ask is because you may be better off financially emailing a proof sheet to prospective buyers. Where I work we have a gift shop with tourists coming from literaly all over the world. Postcards are a big deal. Anyways the manager looks at online proof sheets a lot of the time to see all the different pictures. It would save you a ton of time and money. However, there is nothing as important as a face to face meeting. Sell yourself well and the photos will sell themselves.

Pete

[illuminatingenigma]

I think a sample set is a good idea to show shops, but giving away your product is not a good idea if they are not going to turn around and order a large number of cards, which is unlikely to happen in a small shop. You can experiment, but keep track of your costs, and the return from different methods.