Anyone ever tried a card distribution franchise ?

jimmmy

Hi ,
I have come across a franchise where the franchisee distributes greeting cards ( for birthdays, special occassions etc ) to shops, post offices, convenience shops, petrol stations etc. The retail outlet gets the stock display stand ( or "spinner" or whatever ) refilled every month and just pays for the stock they have sold. The franchisee goes around the shops once a month restocking + getting paid + finding new outlets etc. Anyone tried this, or know someone who has ? It seems this means of distribution is quite common in the greeting card industry. Obviously the franchisee is tied to one supplier for his / her stock....so has no control over price costs there. Is it a viable business I wonder or is too much time taken up with travelling between shops, bad debts, arguments over missing / shoplifted stock etc ? Someone must know is the idea a good one for the Irish market/ someone who has tried it here ? Obviously the franchisor paints a rosy picture of how ( some of their selected, obviously their more successful ) franchisees overseas do with it. Motoring costs + overheads here may be higher here than overseas, and population less densely concentrated etc.

maxer68

This works well for smaller stores that sell some gifts and places like post offices, pharmacies, newsagents etc.

You really need to know the industry well and be up to date with fashion & trends (yes, cards are partly in fashion business) Then you need to find suppliers - many will already have distribution agreements here.

Carte Blanche, Hallmark & Lantz operate a similar scheme but on a larger scale. Very few stores do their purchasing entirely on their own without the aid of one of these schemes.

jimmmy

maxer68 wrote: »

This works well for smaller stores that sell some gifts and places like post offices, pharmacies, newsagents etc.
.

I am wondering if it works well for the card wholesaler ( the franchisee ) i.e. the person who supplies the smaller stores.


It seems the " original Poster Company" is one of the major players in the greeting card business, and is selling areas around the country. Would it be a business worth investing time / money in, I wonder? Most post offices, newsagents etc already seem to be doing cards - would it be difficult to get "the foot in the door" and make money out of the business, I wonder ?
http://www.whichfranchise.ie/franchise.cfm?CFGRIDKEY=240

maxer68

You'd be the agent in this case.

Pros - Their card are reasonably good and are very well priced.
They offer a retailer friendly service.

Cons - Its effectively van sales and be prepared for some very small accounts. You probably run the risk if a customer does not pay and check if you are left with unsold stock.

Overall, if you like traveling and are a decent sales person, it could work. Understanding your area and knowing dates of events especially Communion / Confirmation for the local schools makes you stand out from the crowd. Understanding display methods for greeting cards and getting the right mix for relevant months important too (20% more birthdays in September than any other month) etc etc

DubTony

Card Connection is a hugely successful franchise operation out of the UK. I dealt with the guy who had north Dublin and Leinster, and I believe he took on the south Dublin franchise as well. Excellent business all round imo. But I'd say that's more down to Card Connection than any individual franchisee.

http://www.card-connection.co.uk

jimmmy

DubTony wrote: »

Card Connection is a hugely successful franchise operation out of the UK. I dealt with the guy who had north Dublin and Leinster, and I believe he took on the south Dublin franchise as well. Excellent business all round imo.

If one person could cover Dublin / Leinster, probably the other bits of the country would be less lucrative, have much less population , rural populations etc + less cards being bought there ? My cousin was looking in to the idea + was chatting about it last weekend, I told him to research the idea on boards.ie but he is not registered here. At least its not a very expensive franchise. It could work I suppose.

maxer68

jimmmy wrote: »

If one person could cover Dublin / Leinster, probably the other bits of the country would be less lucrative, have much less population , rural populations etc + less cards being bought there ? My cousin was looking in to the idea + was chatting about it last weekend, I told him to research the idea on boards.ie but he is not registered here. At least its not a very expensive franchise. It could work I suppose.

Dub / Leinster have a lot of major stores who do their own thing and the smaller stores are all within a short drive to the major wholesalers. IMO, it would work better in smaller towns and rural areas as its not worth their while tarvelling to a large wholesaler.