Setting up a boating business

[petem]

By popular demand, here's the link - http://www.smartmarine.co.uk. Constructive criticism welcome but be gentle!

It's rather an eclectic mixture of items but the key deciding factors on whether I include things is whether I would buy them or not and also the price / supply arrangements that I can secure. I'll broaden the range over time (perhaps adding some nice carbon fibre anchor staffs or underwater lights ). Suggestions for additions to my range are welcome.

Hopefully this week I can add more of my stainless letter pics.

Regarding shatter resistant glasses, I don't supply these at present but have included an Amazon link at the bottom of the home page if anyone is interested.

Regarding the shoe baskets, I'm still trying to source a cheaper alternative to the teak one. I think willow baskets are a little hard so would prefer Burmese Rattan. Not terribly easy to buy large lined baskets in quantities less than a shipping container but I've still got some leads to follow up!

I was hesitant to include the "AnchorRoll" but YBW gave it a good review and the supplier is the same company that I get fender socks from. Could be just the thing for the SofF mob!

In return for everyone's support to date, I've added a discount code "ybw2015" which will give a 10% discount.

 

[Blackfeather]

550 quid for a basket - OUCH!

 

[Whitelighter]

I'll be interested in some stainless lettering pete

 

[rafiki_]

Apologies for the Fred Rift, but what is the state of the acquisition Jez?

 

[Hurricane]

I'll be interested in some stainless lettering pete

Starting to give the game away then.

 

[Whitelighter]

Starting to give the game away then.

Starting to

We are very close. Deposit paid into the escrow account held with W&M. Full balance will be paid into the escrow on Monday. All documentation to be received by the following Monday - all explicitly detailed in the contract. If that is all acceptable the escrow account will be released to the owner and I get keys on the 20th

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

If that is all acceptable the escrow account will be released to the owner and I get keys on the 20th

I look forward to a massive spread on the forum with loads of pics then!

 

[Whitelighter]

I look forward to a massive spread on the forum with loads of pics then!

That's the plan

 

[petem]

I'll be interested in some stainless lettering pete

Good man, let me know when you're ready - normal forum discount applies. Make sure you choose a nice long name !

Pete

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

£225 for a mat and £550 for a basket ???? Plus POA for stainless boat names ?? Customer dont want the hassle of having to contact someone for a price. They want to pick the letter they need , hit pay by Paypal and thats it. Even getting them to fill in their name and address puts customers off , hence you really need the Paypal option so they dont have to fiddle about putting in credit card details etc.

Sorry , you asked for feedback and possibly not what you wanted to hear.

 

[Croftie]

Personally I would loose the "Verify you are a human" on checkout. OK for contact form but in 14 years of online trading I have never had a Bot trying to order.

 

[petem]

550 quid for a basket - OUCH!

Go on you know you want to !

I thought that tray might prompt some comment. I agree £550 is a lot! But when you think that its a handmade product, made in Italy in low volumes using top quality materials then you add in some profit for the manufacturer, some margin for the Italian and UK distributors, delivery charges, a modest profit for myself and of course £80 of VAT then you see how that price is arrived at (without anyone making a fortune out of the process). Anyhow, I hope to have a cheaper alternative on offer soon.

 

[petem]

Personally I would loose the "Verify you are a human" on checkout. OK for contact form but in 14 years of online trading I have never had a Bot trying to order.

Thanks - good point will try and disable that this evening.

 

[petem]

£225 for a mat and £550 for a basket ???? Plus POA for stainless boat names ?? Customer dont want the hassle of having to contact someone for a price. They want to pick the letter they need , hit pay by Paypal and thats it. Even getting them to fill in their name and address puts customers off , hence you really need the Paypal option so they dont have to fiddle about putting in credit card details etc.

Sorry , you asked for feedback and possibly not what you wanted to hear.

No that's precisely what I wanted to hear, as the saying goes "feedback is the breakfast of champions"!

The mats and baskets are there for interest, who knows someone might buy them and they are very nice. Truth be told I'm not expecting to sell many.

Regarding the stainless letters, I am partly constrained by my suppliers having fluctuating pricing as they benchmark themselves against their competitors. There are also lots of other factors that go into determining the price. So I'm considering offering two ranges:

1) Completely custom letters - any font, any height, any gauge and finish - these will be priced on application. Manufactured in the UK - 14 day delivery.
2) Semi custom letters - restricted fonts, choice of 4 heights and a single gauge, polished edges - these will be priced so that customers can buy online. Manufactured abroad - same quality, same 14 day delivery.

Both will have fitting templates and VHB tape for fitting. Cost of 2) will be around half that of 1). Would this work do you think?

Regarding the checkout process, I'll add a 'Postcode anywhere' address lookup to make the process slicker.

Pete

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

In my opinion , you need to tie down your suppliers to a price and then have different drop downs so the customer can choose the font/size/style etc themselves and then out in their boat name and it shows them what they are ordering with the price ? Bit like one of the other online suppliers that come up when you google "stainless steel boat names" but glad to see yours comes up first. Good old google adwords !

 

[petem]

Point taken. Once I have more orders under my belt I should be able to predict the supplier costs and also have more leverage to agree a pricing structure with them. I don't know if you spotted it but I do have a preview tool (http://smartmarine.co.uk/font-preview.html) but I'm reluctant to start modifying the 'off the shelf' ecommerce software to integrate it. At present I'm running a vanilla version of the code with mods purely to the HTML templates (meaning I can take maintenance and functional releases very easily).

You're right about Adwords, as it will take me a while to get to the first page or the organic results.

 

[SEARANGER ANCASTER]

oh yes , thats much better. Never noticed it hiding down at the bottom , maybe have a link up the letters page ??

 

[Rivers & creeks]

A nice site, I agree about PayPal, when buying stuff I find the hassle of name and address and credit card details a real pain, PayPal does all of that for the web site and the buyer.

 

[petem]

That's an interesting point. I was worried that I ONLY offer PayPal (despite customers being able to make Credit and Debit payments via PayPal without registering with them). Is this a non issue? I certainly always use PayPal where its offered.

 

[Croftie]

That's an interesting point. I was worried that I ONLY offer PayPal (despite customers being able to make Credit and Debit payments via PayPal without registering with them). Is this a non issue? I certainly always use PayPal where its offered.

Up until recently I offered Sagepay and Paypal. At that point the split in sales was about 50/50. I recently changed to just Paypal (long story) and so far I have had no customer start a purchase (I get a provisional order just prior to payment) and then stop when they are directed to Paypal. The downside of Paypal is higher processing fees the upside is no need for a merchant account and no PCI compliance to do. Much really depends on sales volume. If you start seeing £100k+ pa then it will be cheaper to go Merchant Account but to test the water Paypal is fine.