Selling to Brick and Mortar stores?

[GreenCarbonMail]

Hi,

I'm wanting to approach a few brick-and-mortar stores with my merchandise. But, thinking I probably need to find a local printer or another POD printer like Custom Cat or Printify or something like that to do this. Can anyone tell me if you actually sell to B&M stores through Zazzle or are you going off Zazzle to do that for better prices?

Thanks

[PacifierCity]

@GreenCarbonMail 

I've played with this and do have some of my cards in a local dining spot.  The owner was willing to display them, but did so on consignment.  If you purchase your products when they are deeply discounted, or if you buy in bulk, you can get a pretty good price on your products.  As most cards in retail shops sell for $5-10's a pop in my area, I can turn a decent profit after giving a small percentage to the owner of the dining spot.  I have found that I am not really selling enough through this location to make it worth my time.  Fortunately I am on good terms with the owners and eat there often, so I don't have to make special trips there to ensure certain cards are in stock.  I will probably give it a few more months before abandoning this particular effort.

I have read threads in the old forum where people note bulk sales, and even repeat bulk sales of things like postcards, buttons, etc that they believe are going to vacation gift shops based on the subject matter of the card and the town that they were purchased in.  There were also posts about bulk sales of masks that most likely went to store owners.  Although that type of sale is probably rare now.

So it is possible, utilizing bulk sales or purchasing during high sales discount times can make purchasing through Zazzle reasonable if not the least expensive option, especially for the quality of Zazzle products and print quality.  I have found the more difficult thing is finding locations that are willing to display ones product for a reasonable price.  Shelf space is worth money and very few, if any places I approached were willing to give it away for free, nevermind outright purchase product.

Would love to hear if you find success.  I would love to be able to find a great place to sell my cards where the shop purchases them.  I even tried to explain that they could sign up here and save/earn 15% on each of there purchases via the associate program.  I even volunteered to make signs with QRCodes that would include there associate id, explaining that they could even earn from purchases of other products sold on Zazzle.  It sounded pretty good to me, but not worth there time to them...

Those are my thoughts and experiences... and I haven't given up yet...lol...

PC

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