We early returned the Girls of Zoo 2014 Calendar since it does not meet calendar margin requirements. Publishers need to understand that the 50% is the minimum reasonable margin for calendars and diaries with 60% preferable. Plus we want complete control over what we get. It’s what the major calendar publishers give us.
Hi Mark,
Looking to expand our calendar offerings beyond those from Gotch and Network for next year.
Can you tell me some of the suppliers you currently use to source calendars?
thanks,
Gary Browntrout is the best for unique product. If you;re in a marketing group go through them for a better margin.
Hi MArk,
Are you talking 50%/60% for firm sale items only? Im happy with anything of 35-40% on sale or return if supplies are in line with sales
what margin does Browntrout offer and i assume it’s firm sale?
You can choose either firm sale or SOR. The margins vary based on which you choose and how much you buy (still way more than what you get from mag distributors).
If you’re new to the category or only a small store I’d go with SOR.
Sale or return is not a good retail move as it makes us lazy.
I disagree Mark. SOR can, in the right circumstances, be the more profitable avenue for stores.
We don’t sell enough calendars and our sales are too erratic to go with firm sale. We crunched the numbers and found it was more profitable for us to use SOR.
Its especially useful for those stores entering the category for the first two years.
We started dealing with Browntrout 8 years ago and chose SOR the first year. Every year since has been firm sale as what we lose on 20-30 unsold calendars is far more than made up with extra margin. Whats important is to order using solid sales history to minimise unsold product.
I’ve crunched the numbers again tonight and it appears that because the terms Browntrout offer for SOR have diminished significantly over the last few years the difference between SOR and firm sale for us is pretty much nothing. Its a few dollars either way.
However it a different story from our other main calendar supplier Andrew McMeel where the difference between firm sale and SOR (real SOR, not the watered down Browntrout version) is around 30%. We have tried to shift more of our buying to this supplier to reflect what is, for us, a more profitable offer.