Advise Me on Intriguing Int'l Trade Oppty

Re: [spiers] Advise Me on Intriguing Int'l Trade Oppty


On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 21:20:08 -0700, "Malcolm D" wrote :

>
> John,
>
> I love your "catch-line" or positioning:
>
> "For people who LOVE to wear suits!" I think that could be a key part of your
marketing.
>
> I am a person who hates to wear suits,... but you have to convince me you have
found the
panacea of comfortable suits.
>

***So we would need a tasilor here who is good enough to 'see" you and the
fabric and cut that
would make suit wearing a delight for you. An artist. ka-ching.***

> Back to your request... the first question I have... how will you turn the
greater number of fabric
choices into a competitive advantage? I assume you will have a full set of
"swatches" available in
the local store?

***yes, these tailors are going to leave their mountain of swatches behind with
me... what
astonishes me is in Hong Kong they have walls and walls of swartches, and I can
go to any book,
open any page, and yes it's available...the local tailors work with houses that
offer all the standard
stuff... if you want white linen, "well, this is sorta like linen..." local
tailor told me a customer
wanted a harris tweed jacket, reral harris tweed, well it took some doing to get
it out of Scotland.
Sheesh... We'd do everything else, not standard.***

>
> "World's largest selection of fine fabrics for tailored suits..."?

***Sure...***
>
> My next question is how will you identify, demographically and/or
economically, those folks
most likely to buy. While auctions "may" turn out to be a good marketing tool, I
have used
auctions for a number of promotions, and the auctioneer -- and how inebriated
the guests are --
can make or break the value of the donation. Often the item is sold with little
mention of the
business offering the service, and it becomes hard for folks to find you later,
even if they wanted
to. Since the auction is usually a fund raiser for a good cause, there is little
control over the quality
of the promotion from the standpoint of the business donating.
>
****So I should be careful which auctioneers, and which events? Good
advice...***

> Another method, understanding that wealthy folks put a lot of stock in
personal testimonials,
might be to target well known wealthy people, who network a lot and meet/know
lots of people.
Send them an offer of a free suit, in exchange for mentioning your company
and/or handing out a
business card any time they get a comment about the suit. I know a guy in Idaho
who wrote letters
offering free raft trips on Idaho's Salmon River, in exchange for a testimonial
letter. He racked up
an impressive list of big names sending testimonials he used in his promotions.
>
***I like it...***

> And certainly an article in GQ, Forbes, or other high profile magazines would
help build your
brand. Lots of ways to attempt that. Also, direct mail, if you can find the
right high income,
business audience is an obvious winner.

*** Exclusivity is important here, I'll let my daughter worry about how far it
goes... 100 suits a year
is $100,000 in sales, probably all the time we;ve got what with this will be
rather back burner.***
>
> If I was going to do the business you describe, I would do a web site, so as
not to limit the
market geographically. A few minutes of research indicates that about 7500
people a month do a
search on the internet for custom suits... since those folks are in the market
(you don't need to
convince them a custom suit is a good idea!), appropriate Search Engine
Optimization and Pay Per
Click advertising should net you all the customers you want, for a lot less
overhead and expense
than a retail storefront. The web site should include input forms for
measurements, and detailed
instructions on how to do the measurements, including an instructional video.
The enterprise
could also be set up as a "dealership", working with existing mens fine clothing
stores across the
country, who would take measurements, and input them into the web site's
password protected
intranet. You could market to stores via trade journals and trade shows, or
direct mail, or even
email.
>
***I was just going to put a fifth of good scotch in the box of every suit we
delivered, and figure
that would do it. When my daughter gets back from Italy, can she intern with
you a summer?***

> Of course, the inability to touch the fabric, could be problematic. A system
of high quality
photos and descriptions, combined with a "sample" fabric order system, could be
tested. But if
7500 people a month are searching online for custom suits, there must be some
understanding
about limitations on fabric selection. They can't all expect to be sent a fabric
sample book. The
web can also do a better job of outlining styles, at the customers leisure,
rather than the semi-
cumbersome efforts of live styling presentations by a (hopefully) well-trained
sales person.

***Or define more narrowly what we do, and thus better lead with our
strengths?***
>
> (Note that the 7500 searching online monthly for "custom suits" compares with
25,000
searching for "Armani suits", so positioning the custom suit option against
Armani, to pick up
some of those browsers on the search engines, and sell them into your system,
could be a good
idea.)
>

***As i unuderstnad it, one can buy the fabrics of Armani, etc, and use them,
and advertise them
as such... so "armani" is not hard to use..."

> Custom products are a competitive arena where the web excels, as much of the
world does not
reside where high quality custom products are available. Those of us living in
the hinterlands find
the uncertainty of web ordering much less intimidating than two days of round
trip travel to a
metropolitan area, to be served and greeted by big city im-personalities, high
prices, and
uncertain delivery. I know a guy in New York who does nothing but custom cigar
humidors, and
makes in excess of $100,000 annually, from his home shop (selling to customers
all over the
world). Customization done well, in a tight niche, is BIG online.
>
> Side question: Would drop shipping by your Hong Kong connection direct to
customers, by UPS
or other common carrier, get you around the customs issues?

***Yes, but that second and third fitting is critical, and the drop ship
directly is big biz right now...
I'd have to compete on price... so no can do.***
>


John

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