Advise Me on Intriguing Int'l Trade Oppty

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

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, because I find them uncomfortable. Can
you turn people like me into a target market? I would love to wear suits, there
are lots of occasions where it would be advantageous, but you have to convince
me you have found the panacea of comfortable suits.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

(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.)

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?

My two bits from rural Idaho!

Malcolm


----- Original Message -----
From: John Spiers
To: spiers@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 12:41 PM
Subject: [spiers] Advise Me on Intriguing Int'l Trade Oppty


Folks,

My Hong Kong tailor is importuning me to open a biz here in USA having custom
clothes
measured in USA and made in Hong Kong.

I think I mention in my book a fellow in Seattle who did exactly this for 25
years here in
Seattle, but through in the towel when congress made the paperwork process
overwhelming
for this biz.

I would never run such a business, but owning it would be fine. To investigate
this
possibility, I put on my 3 piece pinstripe suit made by these Hong Kong
tailors, and visited
the competition in the Seattle area. I walked in and introduced myself,
mentioned I lived
locally but bought tailored suits in Hong Kong. Then i said, "tell me how come
I should buy
from you and not from Hong Kong". (Mustn't ask "why"... "how come" is much
less
threatening...)

He looked at the suit, and his first best answer was "well, that is a fall
weight suit..." that was
his best shot!

Then he explained how tailoring works in USA. The customer selects fabric, the
tailor takes
your measurements, and sends them to a plant back east which executes the
suit, and a
second fitting is done back here in the shop. Same with shirts, but different
factory.

I read all about this in Forbes once, the biggest such plant being Oxxford in
Chicago. Inn
essence USA tailors are simply measurement taking storefronts, and you select
from a set
range of avaialble fabrics.

Hong Kong on the other hand, with the worlds widest selection of fabrics on
hand, and
efficiently managed, can give one a wider range. Next, their ability to
accomodate outside
the box is unsurpassed. I've read several tests that put hong kong tailors
ahead of Saville
Row tailors.

What occurred to me was these USA tailor shops are for people who must wear
suits, wheras
a Hong KMong tailored product would be for people who love to wear suits.

And the trick in buying suits tailored is not to get a $500 suit for $300, but
a $3000 suit for
$700. I was surprised the normal price point for the local tailors suit is
about $900 he said.
Rather low i thought.

Seattle's premier tailor shop works on the same basis as the others, so it
seems to me there
is room for very high end, upscale tailor shop.

Now some people do have suit made in hong kong and sent to USA. To avoid the
heavy costs
and taxes and paperwork, it is commonly misprepresented as to what is coming
in. A formal
entry done by a broker can be $90 - $150 .... and takes time... and there isd
I believe a 10%
tax... much is done to get around these legal hurdles.

Avoiding the tax is foolish, i think, but the broker fees are hefty. Happily I
can fill out those
forms myself, or teach a clerk to do it cheap, since it will be the same thing
over and over. I
will have a reality check conferenced with a customsbroker on this.

I have an associate who has connections with real tailors, so that part is
covered. Starting
small and financing a few suits a week is no big deal. And a tailor shop can
be anywhere.

I am meeting with an auctioneer this afternoon, who often works charity
events. For
advertising, we'd auction off a tailored suit, such as the auctioneer wears,
one of ours. We
get our name in front of high rollers who in turn buy one of our suits, named
in the auction,
and then we sell the winner 2 other suits when he shows up to be fitted for
his tuxedo.

By the way, this Tailor will be in Seattle on July 18 and 19 if you want to
meet him yourself
and get a gorgeous suit made to fit. he takes credit cards, and you pay in
advance, but I've
worked with him 30 years now...

But to the point... anything I am missing here? Anything I should
cover...problems I should
look out for?

john

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