how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing and still make profit. I am selling heat press tee shirts to individual customers right now. The material cost about $3-$4.50 to make my tee shirts thats Transfer paper, ink, t shirt and sell it for 15 dollars. Now if I have a customer that wants to order 50-100 pieces and get wholesale pricing. I know I will have to give them %50 off the retail price. Most convenient stores sell there tee shirts form 7.99 to $10. I had a few option is 1: buying cheap platisol transfers in bulks at .50 to a dollar a peice. . 2: hire a screen company and get the best deal.
If my material cost 2-3 dollars to produce, then I can sell it at wholesale for 5-6 dollars. and still make 2-3 dollars profit. Is that a reasonable approach. Would that be my best option, or is there another way.
tag:wholesale pricing, pricing, cutting cost, profit margin, how to price, tee shirts.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Your prices cover a wide range.
At the 50% off of retail you say you will have to sell at....
With your $7.99 retail price this would be $4.00, screen printers don't even like to talk about a price this low.
With your $15.00 retail price this would be $7.50, you can find people that will do a shirt at that price, even as low as $6.00. At that price, you might be looking at limited options such as a one color shirt.
Just because Walmart sells a $7.00 printed t shirt from Bangladesh, doesn't mean you have to sell at that price. At $11.00 profit per shirt, people like to print t shirts. When it gets down to pennies a shirt, people don't like the idea of doing it, they can actually get nasty, crabby and mean. Pricing isn't engraved in stone. You can start high, then lower the price or you can start low and raise the price. Find a confort zone with your price, one that you can pay yourself and any employee well and have room to deal with any price increases for supplies.
If a price is too high, products set on the shelf, too low a price results in not being able to cover the bills and have a payday left. You don't want to waste your time at either extreme.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam Lynch
Your prices cover a wide range.
At the 50% off of retail you say you will have to sell at....
With your $7.99 retail price this would be $4.00, screen printers don't even like to talk about a price this low.
With your $15.00 retail price this would be $7.50, you can find people that will do a shirt at that price, even as low as $6.00. At that price, you might be looking at limited options such as a one color shirt.
Just because Walmart sells a $7.00 printed t shirt from Bangladesh, doesn't mean you have to sell at that price. At $11.00 profit per shirt, people like to print t shirts. When it gets down to pennies a shirt, people don't like the idea of doing it, they can actually get nasty, crabby and mean. Pricing isn't engraved in stone. You can start high, then lower the price or you can start low and raise the price. Find a confort zone with your price, one that you can pay yourself and any employee well and have room to deal with any price increases for supplies.
If a price is too high, products set on the shelf, too low a price results in not being able to cover the bills and have a payday left. You don't want to waste your time at either extreme.
Yes, I get the idea. Thanks for letting me see it from a different perspective.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Your welcome, I hope the information is useful. One thing about the local c-stores, I don't see them selling a lot of t-shirts here in the Charlotte N.C. area. Charlotte is a banking town and the t-shirt business seems to be in a few boutique type stores. Years ago before Walmart was in the area, at least one person was known to call Charlotte a "K-mart town". Still I think it has more to do with c-stores changing the way they do business. Most c-stores here are a stripped down version of what they once were. They cover the basics..... gas, soft drinks, chips, beer, cigarettes. I think it has something to do with the number of grocery stores and Walmarts open 24 hours.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Your right Katrina, it has everything to do with what's printed on the shirt and a little to do with the quality of the shirt it's printed on. If...you have the "magic shirt" that sells like hot cakes, then you can set your price.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
I have a Men's Line that caters to Business Professionals in Central America. I have my suits manufactured and tailored to my specifications. I sell these to major retail chains in Panama City, Panama wholesale at 40% off what I sell them for in my Retail store.
50% off retail is not written in stone was my point to the comment.
Of course when you are selling a regular tee shirt you may have to conform to the norm but if you supply them with something they want then that is when you have a leg up and can bend the 50% rule.
And pretty much every retailer getting 50% off retail, don't mean them all.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
In general I can almost find these post amusing. It seems that everyone has had an experience where there customer is screaming cheaper. The reason I find concern is that I live in Gaston County N.C. once the center of ring spun combed cotton yarn manufacturing in the United States. I live in a small town called Belmont. We at one time had over 30 textile mills in our town. Most are gone, perhaps 3 or 4 are still in production. Retailers got their cheaper prices, by way of imports. The result is that the Southeastern U.S. is littered with broken towns and unemployment,and they still scream cheaper.
Older screen printers might remember the t-shirt brands of Beltex or Knitcraft, they were made here in Belmont N.C.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cam Lynch
In general I can almost find these post amusing. It seems that everyone has had an experience where there customer is screaming cheaper. The reason I find concern is that I live in Gaston County N.C. once the center of ring spun combed cotton yarn manufacturing in the United States. I live in a small town called Belmont. We at one time had over 30 textile mills in our town. Most are gone, perhaps 3 or 4 are still in production. Retailers got their cheaper prices, by way of imports. The result is that the Southeastern U.S. is littered with broken towns and unemployment,and they still scream cheaper.
Older screen printers might remember the t-shirt brands of Beltex or Knitcraft, they were made here in Belmont N.C.
Unfortunately it's the way of the world!
One of my best friends is the west coast rep for Cone Mills which was the biggest supplier of denim to Levis. WAS is the catch phrase here.....
Manufacturing in general is a thing of the past in this country but now we're moving into a more political discussion and that's not what this board is for!
OP,
When selling to a retailer I like to find out what he's selling my competition at and knock off 10% from there. At that point I just divide backwards and get my COGS. This way I can decide whether it's worth it to do the project or not.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Thanks Nova. Ah, the "politics of price". In the stores I have noticed the price of textiles remain the same or even decline over the last 30 years. At the same time, other items have doubled or trippled. Imports, without proper controls can have a negative effect on prices. The t-shirt screen printer is caught in the middle. A printer wants t shirts at a reasonable price to print, but needs and wants a good price when they sell the product. I can't remember the last time I saw an independant clothing store open for business, other than a t shirt shop.
When times are hard, clothing is one of the first things people cut corners on.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by veedub3
Who says wholesale has to be 50% off retail?
Katrina
Most people actually say this but I have thought about it for a while and these are my thoughts.
I think of it more as what the retailer will pay and and try and work up to that price. It's pretty daunting to hear that $13 is pretty high for wholesaling shirts and after designers, oversized printed designs, soft hand printing, and American apparel shirts there is little profit to be made. This is where you have to say I am starting out, I can only afford to print 50 shirts, and my prices are going to be high because of this. Once I have a couple wholesale accounts I will be printing a lot more and my price per shirt will go way down.
It's kind of the catch 22, if I want to make 50% profit off wholesaling I will have to charge over $20 wholesale but no one will pay that much for wholesale. Also I need to print more shirts to lower my production costs and the only way I can do this is by wholesaling shirts and printing more.
Re: how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ?
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkruse
Most people actually say this but I have thought about it for a while and these are my thoughts.
I think of it more as what the retailer will pay and and try and work up to that price. It's pretty daunting to hear that $13 is pretty high for wholesaling shirts and after designers, oversized printed designs, soft hand printing, and American apparel shirts there is little profit to be made. This is where you have to say I am starting out, I can only afford to print 50 shirts, and my prices are going to be high because of this. Once I have a couple wholesale accounts I will be printing a lot more and my price per shirt will go way down.
It's kind of the catch 22, if I want to make 50% profit off wholesaling I will have to charge over $20 wholesale but no one will pay that much for wholesale. Also I need to print more shirts to lower my production costs and the only way I can do this is by wholesaling shirts and printing more.
I hope that helps
Just an FYI for all that are wondering about pricing their goods. This usually applies to boutiques:
Your COGS x2.4 = your wholesale price
Wholesale price x 2.4(or above) = Store retail price.
Chains and Department stores usually want at least a 2.25 markup.
This is a discussion about how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ? that was posted in the General T-Shirt Selling Discussion section of the forums.
how do I cut my cost so I can offer my customer wholesale pricing ? 
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