Discounts?

[MartinKnight1333]

Discount on big orders if the profit margin allows it 

[Orcs]

Discount on big orders if the profit margin allows it 

And poor Leon's children would have nowt but bread and dripping in their packed lunch for a week.  Leon would be forced to search bins for Coke cans with some left in, and Adelle would have to take in more washing to wash at the stream to make ends meet.

But Martin Knight would be happy with his discount ?? 

P.s Sorry Martin, i could not resist this.  Resisting stuff is a weakness of mine  - hence my divorce !! 

[FierceKitty]

Hmphh...looxury!  When I were lad, now....

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

WEll der I wuz on dis train goin fro 'Unslet to Bratfud and der wuz dees 4 Yokies on't table next to mes - read the previous in Yokie, almost couldn't exploded in laughter at the conversation. That sketch isn't comedy, it's reportage.

[Dragoon]

From what I understand you, (Pendraken), do give a discount of 10% on all Army Packs purchased.
On that basis, if someone wants to purchase say £37-00 of single packs then shouldn't the discount apply because as far as time to pack 7 items goes it takes far less time to pack than an army pack of 7 different items.
Perhaps you could try reinforcement packs
You loose a Lot of sales at shows because you only sell army packs. No guns no jaeger, no dragoon's, no hussars no field officers.
I ran my own Convenience (Spar) Store for 30 years and we had a saying, more flash, more cash. If you don't believe me try it with a new range or ask the Pike and Shot Society if they could do a 10mm demo of a League of Augsburg battle it will probably Dutch v French, they have just reprinted there rules for The Sun King they are rated very good and the only ones for the period you could offer to sell the rules for them at the show.
I'm trying to write some Austrian / Seven Years War Rules for 10mm figures but researching army lists takes time

[Orcs]

From what I understand you, (Pendraken), do give a discount of 10% on all Army Packs purchased.
On that basis, if someone wants to purchase say £37-00 of single packs then shouldn't the discount apply because as far as time to pack 7 items goes it takes far less time to pack than an army pack of 7 different items.
Perhaps you could try reinforcement packs
You loose a Lot of sales at shows because you only sell army packs. No guns no jaeger, no dragoon's, no hussars no field officers.
I ran my own Convenience (Spar) Store for 30 years and we had a saying, more flash, more cash. If you don't believe me try it with a new range or ask the Pike and Shot Society if they could do a 10mm demo of a League of Augsburg battle it will probably Dutch v French, they have just reprinted there rules for The Sun King they are rated very good and the only ones for the period you could offer to sell the rules for them at the show.
I'm trying to write some Austrian / Seven Years War Rules for 10mm figures but researching army lists takes time

While I am nothing to do with Pendraken, buit  I don't think it works that way Dragoon.  I have worked at shows for a couple of traders and the cost of the stand and attending the show is huge.  The trader I helped out with at Salute with for many years had to take over £2000 in sales just to cover the costs of a 6 Foot stand, and getting there. That was without any staff costs (I helped out as a favor) or taking any money himself, Hiring a Van or having to pay for accommodation.


The reason there are only army packs and blister packs of multiple vehicles on the stand at shows is because of the volume of figures Pendraken produce.   It  would be a logistical nightmare to bring even 1 of each pack to a show. They would need an even bigger stand to show it, and each pack would have to be counted into individual blisters not small zip lock bags. They would also need far more stock than now. All of this increasing the cost further.

Managing what stock was sold sold so you know what to replace for the next show would be another big headache.

The result of this would probably be either:-

A- The cost of the attending the show would outweigh any sales - so not worth attending in the first place. Several big traders no longer attend shows because of this.

B - All prices have to go up to cover the costs of the blister packs and the much larger stand at shows.

I very much doubt you would have stayed in business as a convenience store for long if you had doubled your outgoings for a return of a fraction of the extra cost.


Now to Packs and army packs

The individual packs are 7 sets of 30 individual figures counted into a 7 small single bags,  Army packs are in a single big bag, so a lot less fiddly.

The army contents  often specify a mix of codes ie for WW2 American the last bit states "90 figs from AMF1/2"  While the mix will be roughly 45 figures from each pack it may have a few less of one and a few more of the other, depending on what figures have come out of the mold correctly formed or what is in the spares bin for those codes.


I doubt if Pendraken loose many sales at shows because of the lack of individual packs.  people just starting off will normally buy an army pack of each side. Those who want specifics either for a starter army or as additions to what they have will pre-order and pick up at the show.

Pendraken are on of the few manufacturers who will allow you to customize your packs for a very slight increase in cost


I am sure Leon will be along soon to correct anything I have got wrong

[Dr Dave]

As far as I know it's up to the manufacturer whether to offer discounts or not. A customer can always ask, but there is never and entitlement.

[Leon]

From what I understand you, (Pendraken), do give a discount of 10% on all Army Packs purchased.
On that basis, if someone wants to purchase say £37-00 of single packs then shouldn't the discount apply because as far as time to pack 7 items goes it takes far less time to pack than an army pack of 7 different items.

It's a little different there, the moulds for the army packs are usually put together to maximise efficiency, hence the discount.  If we take something like the 1809 French pack, we've managed to get 41 figures in the NPF1 mould, so to get the 4 x NPF1 for the army pack we only need to spin it 3 times.  Same for the command, we keep spares of NPF3 so we can usually put together 1/2 x NPF3 from our spares tray, again reducing the time involved. 

Discounting the army packs in general also adds an incentive for people to spend more, same as any multipack item you'd get in a supermarket, so it increases revenue.

You loose a Lot of sales at shows because you only sell army packs. No guns no jaeger, no dragoon's, no hussars no field officers.

The show's is pretty much as Mark says below, to bring all 4000 products (in enough volume to not run out) would require a much bigger stand and lot more bookkeeping to keep on top of stock levels.  There's a good chance that we'd also be over the weight limit on the van (we were actually stopped and put on a weighbridge earlier this year and just sneaked in under the limit!) so it's not really viable to bring individual packs.

We do offer the free postage on any orders placed at the show though, as well as the option to collect anything you've ordered in advance.

The trader I helped out with at Salute with for many years had to take over £2000 in sales just to cover the costs of a 6 Foot stand, and getting there. That was without any staff costs (I helped out as a favor) or taking any money himself, Hiring a Van or having to pay for accommodation.

I know that feeling!  With the stand, accommodation, fuel and food, on top of the base production and overhead costs of the business, we need to take £7500 at Salute just to break even.  We've managed to hit that twice in the past 10 years...

The army contents  often specify a mix of codes ie for WW2 American the last bit states "90 figs from AMF1/2"  While the mix will be roughly 45 figures from each pack it may have a few less of one and a few more of the other, depending on what figures have come out of the mold correctly formed or what is in the spares bin for those codes.

WWII is a good example actually as those 'mix of...' army packs are similar to the ones I mentioned above.  We'll have a single mould with a 50/50 mix of AMF1 and AMF2.  3 spins of it would give us around 105 figures so we can fill the infantry on two army packs and keep some for spares or mail orders.

[Steve J]

I know that feeling!  With the stand, accommodation, fuel and food, on top of the base production and overhead costs of the business, we need to take £7500 at Salute just to break even.  We've managed to hit that twice in the past 10 years...

Blimey, you can see why some traders have stopped going to shows, offering online discounts and/or free P&P instead.

[steve_holmes_11]

I've typically assembled a wish list in advance, then placed the order for collection at a handy "Local" show.

While I do a bit of impulse buying as well (Stuff I know will be present like painting sticks and brushes), I've rarely felt the need for an unscheduled figure purchase.
I don't know whether I match the profile of a typical customer, but with me, figure purchases are planned in detail, while tools and accessories are the afterthoughts.

[Orcs]

Blimey, you can see why some traders have stopped going to shows, offering online discounts and/or free P&P instead.

We have not even touched on the costs of loss of production for at least one and probably several days in order to attend the show.  Leon did break this down once, I cannot remember it all but for Salute it was at least:-

Friday - load van, Drive to London, (5 hours Driving time ) Stay overnight
Saturday - Show - (10 hour day at least). Stay overnight
Sunday Drive back to Middlesbrough (5 hours Driving time)
Monday- Unload van and collapse exhausted.

So a very full four days.  No weekend off and two working days of production lost as a minimum

[Sandinista]

I know that feeling!  With the stand, accommodation, fuel and food, on top of the base production and overhead costs of the business, we need to take £7500 at Salute just to break even.  We've managed to hit that twice in the past 10 years...

No wonder many manufacturers don't go

Cheers
Ian

[Techno]

£7,500 ?....That's an awful lot of dosh !! 

Though, I imagine, it's a way of (hopefully) attracting new customers, that aren't familiar with Pendraken's figures ? 

Cheers - Phil

[Chad]

Apart from the costs associated with shows, i would imagine that Pendraken do not hold substantial stocks other than possibly good sellers and would probably focus on make to order in many areas. Producing the amount of stock in individual packs for a show where you have no guaranteed sales in quantity would be inefficient use of production time and the possibility of resulting high stock levels remaining is a recipe for financial problems.

[Orcs]

Apart from the costs associated with shows, i would imagine that Pendraken do not hold substantial stocks other than possibly good sellers and would probably focus on make to order in many areas. Producing the amount of stock in individual packs for a show where you have no guaranteed sales in quantity would be inefficient use of production time and the possibility of resulting high stock levels remaining is a recipe for financial problems.

Hence the recent clearance sale