Hammy
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 p.1 #18 · Youth sports photography business plan | |
I agree with most the intentions of the softball gig:
- selling onsite
- try preselling - but not at the show...rather, before the show
- online will still bring in revenue to make it worth while - even (espescially) after onsite.
Every show I've done in the past 7 years has been on spec - with only one being pre-paid.
However, printing onsite has to be weighed. Luke knows my opinion on this - rather experience. I used to print onsite, but had to forego printing at a couple shows. Luke's point on saving on mail costs are valid - but NOT outweighed by the cost of:
- extra gear onsite
- extra consumables onsite
- extra setup onsite
- extra maintenance onsite
Those are additional time/travel items, here are additional cost items:
- staff to print
- staff to manage prints/customers
- travel for staff
- housing for staff
- meals for staff
- paying the staff
Customers marketing your photos - completely false. If you're relying on that, then there is a whole lot missing from one's marketing. I'm sure Luke has plenty of other methods for marketing, but I don't believe prints walking around are the basis of sales (been there, done that)
Customer service is more in my opinion, not only is there somebody to take money, but also to print and another to manage the prints so that when people come back to pick them up, they can be serviced and pix found.
Work after the event is certainly more - but that same amount of work done onsite in a couple days, can be done in less time after the event - because there are less issues to worry about. This may incur additional staff costs, but not all the transport/setup/maintenance/teardown of additional gear and certainly not the expense of travel, meals, hotels, etc... All those things add up to ALOT more the $3 per order.
Additionally, were still at work anyway, fulfilling (and shipping) web orders -under controlled conditions - no dust, correct lighting, no stress, etc...
The fact is, the e-commerce business is a multi-BILLION dollar industry and growing. And EVERY customer that orders something online, knows they will not get it for a few days. I'll be honest, in the last 4 years since not printing onsite, I've lost 4 orders because they could not take it home with them. FOUR.
I'm not saying all this in spite of Luke - he has a great business and its working for him. I started off in the same manner and had all those reasons to print onsite initially too. Certainly if it takes months to get products out, then there is a problem. And if the shows are small enough or local enough to justify printing onsite, then it can work out for you. However, if they grow to larger proportions and are nationwide, then you have to look at the costs/benefits associated with that too.
IMHO, selling onsite it HUGE - 5-8 times more than selling onsite. However, it does require an immense amount of hardware, software and workflow to match and meet the customer flow that each show presents. And ideally, this investment needs to be profitable: first of all, I think the IRS says you have to call it a hobby if its not profitable within 5 years, and secondly - according to my wife - the more the better!
Edited on Jun 02, 2008 at 02:29 PM
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