I have really enjoyed this discussion, although I'm not sure why. I guess because we've all put our cards on the table and respectfully discussed both sides of the coin. Here's my perspective for those who are interested in following along.
For several years, I had been the only person selling glitter tattoo supplies at the major conventions. This past May at Marcela's convention, we had competition from Glimmer Body Art. I had a momentary feeling of, "how could they do this to me?" when I realized...There are a half-dozen companies selling face paint. Shouldn't consumers have the right to choose between several glitter tattoo companies? Why should I be able to vend without competition when all of these face painting companies have to deal with competition? Sure it hurt my bottom line, but it also challenged me to make my company better..to differentiate myself...to find new and exciting products. This is good for us as a business and good for consumers. People always ask me if they should be worried about competition. I think that the more people (or businesses) there are offering a service or a product, the more people that will come in contact with that service or product. The more people see a product, the more they want it. The product becomes mainstream. We do more business. Just like the stuff that you own will expand to fill the space that you have to store it, the amount of consumers will increase to absorb the amount of products available on the market. Business tends to find a natural balance when we don't interfere too much with it. With such a small industry, most of us are friends (and practically family) so we try to find a balance between good business and getting along with everyone. Unfortunately, sometimes you can't do both. I completely respect Marcela's and Heather's decision about Wolfe/ Diamond. It costs a LOT of money to run these conventions. I would say near to $100,000 just for the hotel portion and then a ton more for marketing and promotion, paying instructors, etc... If you do the math, you'll see that attendee registrations do not cover this amount. Vendor sponsorship makes conventions possible and provides the organizers with a very meager salary for a year's worth of work. The convention organizers are not making thousands of dollars from these conventions. The sponsorship that Wolfe bought was triple the price of just buying the booth space without the additional advertising and clout of being a sponsor. Just like the Pepsi/Coke situation, I think they totally earned the right to demand a degree of exclusivity. Since they are two totally different products...It's hard to understand the argument of excluding Diamond in particular...but the unfortunate confusion between Wolfe/Diamond (are they the same product or not) has necessitated this particular exclusion. I think they are both great companies, with great people who work for them, and it's sad to have all of this drama...but it's not my business and I wouldn't want anyone preventing me from doing what's right for my business because it might take sales away from another company. The vendor room at Cynthia's convention...it was a little tense because people made it that way. I could have been really tense because there were 10 vendors and 3 of us were selling glitter tattoo supplies. There were fewer (I think) attendees than last year. We probably should have made less money than last year. But I made the decision to stick to my normal prices and just offer a few convention specials. Business has been slow and I needed to make a profit at this show to cover some overhead expenses. I wasn't as concerned about the advertising aspect at that point. I made about 25% more in sales than we did last year. Wolfe didn't actually sell their product at 50% off, they sold it at wholesale. This is the price that they normally charge to their wholesale customers (resellers) who buy in volume. Many large businesses do not sell retail, they only sell wholesale. Although we like to sell at retail at conventions so we can pay back our expenses, it's not the sole reason for being at a convention. Conventions or tradeshows go into your advertising expense account when you do your business bookkeeping. They are meant to advertise your business directly to consumers who are likely to use your products. In most industries, businesses do not expect to break even, much less make a profit, at conventions. We are just fortunate that we often cover our expenses and occasionally make a profit at conventions in our industry. After Wolfe's decision to sell wholesale at Cynthia's convention, my main glitter tattoo supply competitor decided to sell their supplies at wholesale. Fortunately, I had a lot of other stuff to sell and wasn't relying on glitter tattoo supplies alone to make a profit...but that did certainly hurt my sales. We did react by putting some of our kits on sale, but not everything. I don't feel a need to deeply discount when I can just drive this stuff home and sell it on my website or at another show. This other company though, they were going to have to ship this product back home if it didn't sell. Consumers would not become familiar with their product if they didn't get it into their hands. I don't know if it was the best move for their business, but they did what made sense for them at the time. Like Gary said, we have to respect everyone's right to run their business as they see fit. We don't know what's happening behind the scenes. For all we know, they're doing the only thing they can to keep their business from completely going under or to keep good people with families to support from losing their jobs. As far as retail outlets having a problem with manufacturers selling their own products, I really have a problem with that way of thinking. You can have 10 booths all selling different brands of products, or you can have 10 booths all selling the same brands of products. I've been at conventions with a bunch of resellers selling multiple brands and it is the most tense scene you could imagine...price wars, gossip, backstabbing. Nobody wins in that type of setting. If as a reseller, you sell Mehron, Snazaroo, Wolfe, and Amerikan Body Art...do you really expect convention organizers to exclude those manufacturers from the vendor room? What if they can't find 4 other resellers with the willingness to risk the costs to set up as a vendor at their convention. I think it makes much more sense to have each manufacturer representing their own products because they will have undivided loyalty to their own products. They know the products and will sell it better than anyone else can. They can bring their entire product line, whereas a reseller may only bring a few items from each company. Like I said before...tradeshows are primarily to advertise your brand, not to make a profit selling products. Tradeshows (conventions) are designed for manufacturers, not resellers. The cost to attend a convention as a vendor...with booth fees, hiring staff, travel, and paying for a hotel, can run anywhere from $3000 - $8000 on average. Which, for someone who buys at wholesale and sells at retail, means that you need to have at least $6000 - $16,000 in sales to break even. I do better sales than MANY vendors at most conventions and I can honestly say that we rarely break even or make a profit even though we (as manufacturers) have a higher profit margin. I hope that any convention organizers that read this will copy it and give it to any retail outlets who argue with you about letting manufacturers sell their own products. The vendor room is an educational arena, not a flea market. Thanks for listening to my ramblings...one day soon, they'll all be organized into a fabulous book about the face and body art industry. ~Erika --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Face Painting and Body Art Association." This is a PG-13 forum dedicated to the discussion of Face Painting and Body Art. This group is provided for the benefit of all and as such is not moderated. Our goal is to promote open and unrestricted communication between people interested in face painting and body art. We hope that you will be courteous to others and try to stay on topic. You are free to offer products or services related to face painting as well. Please address concerns with the original poster before contacting the management. 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