would you be interested in - does it currently exist?

LeannePip

LeannePip

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a catalogue based tack shop sort of like a 'clean eazy' 'avon' sort of deal where you look through the catalogue, place your order - your supplier then orders from the main dealer and it arrives with you within a few days?

with a similar business model i could supply products for 50-70% of what you can buy it in the shops for. £100 rugs would be more like £70. it could include suppliments/grooming kit/spays/jods/rugs/coats/socks/saddes/bridles everything horsey really but for less than what you would pay in a saddlery without the hassel of having to go to the shops - you could place a rolling order for every few weeks for the same product to be delivered to you/your yard. is this something any of you would be interested in - do you think it could work. its just an idea im brewing over as i haven't seen anything similar, your thooughts and input would be appriciated. Leanne
 
In theory, yes its a good idea. But Avon etc can drop a catalogue at every house on an estate so will have their business concentrated in a very small area. For yards you'd spend a lot of time/money travelling & no way of targeting horsey households. Might work tho if you had local riding/pony club, riding schools & a few local comp venues as your catalogue collection & delivery points. Maybe local feed merchants. Prob not tack shops tho!
 
I didnt think the margins were huge anyway on a lot of saddlery items, so not sure how you would manage to sell things at 50-70% of rrp. Would it be worth doing at those margins?

Would I be interested? No not really. On the occasions I do go into a tack shop its because I want to go and have a look and poke and prod of something in particular, or to just spend some time out of the house, the rest of the time I prefer to just order from established mainstream equestrian mail order compaines that Ive dealt with before, on the whole.
 
I can see it working if there was an area with a lot of yards so not too much travelling but most products last a fair while and do not need replacing very often, I stock up with odds and ends such as saddle soap, hoof oil, plaiting bands and they last a few months.
To supply supplements is more difficult as the range is huge and people will have their own ideas on what they want to use.
If you combined it with a small mobile tack shop that you could take round and sell directly to people it may be more viable, we used to have one in my area and it was useful she would come round to the yard every 2??? weeks, she also took rugs away for cleaning and repairs.
 
thanks for your input, i do live in quite a highly populated horse area with lots of riding schools, pony clubs, riding clubs ect the margins aren't huge but im not trying to live off this sort of money just as something a little extra, i always go into tack shops looking for something and its always - just that little bit too expensive but this way with out the fixed costs its viable to sell the same range of products for just that little bit less that makes a difference when your looking for something (:
 
You might not want to live off the money, but do take into consideration all the time you will be inputting into this, and the fuel/wear and tear/running costs of your car for brochure drops and collection/deliveries and so on, and you could find you are doing it for nothing or actually at a loss. A 50 - 30% discount isnt 'just a little bit less' imo, Id call that a considerable discount, if you did make it slightly cheaper than the shops but not 'cut-my-own-throat' cheaper it might work ok.
 
How would this be any different from the many online tack shops already available? Some of which supply paper catalogues? Just not sure I understand how your idea works! :)
 
Can't remember the details, but someone I knew tried this about 15 years ago. It didn't work and they lost a lot of money. But times have changed and people seem to shop generally from home these days so maybe it would work now. Personally I don't shop for anything like that, but I'm old fashioned, I like to see and touch things before I part with money. I would say do your research again and again, and proceed with caution.
 
I'd certainly be interested if in my local area. But guess problem would be is that it can't be local to everybody.
 
You need to think about how you can offer these huge discounts your talking about. Most suppliers have rrp's you have to stick to and if found pricing it a lot lower than the rrp they will close your account. I think you'll find it very difficult to be able to offer those sort of discounts tbh.
 
This is basically how Snowhill Saddlery works - lots of little businesses use them as their supplier, big paper catalogue for clients to look at, then you order in what they want. If you're looking to be the "Avon lady" rather than the supplier, set up an account with them.
 
I hate the Avon/Cleaneazy/Betterware way of selling anyway, so definitely would be a no no for me! I usually shop online where I can compare prices easily and order exactly the size, model and colour I want, and delivery is usually very speedy these days. For more personal service and items where there is a need to browse and inspect then I pop into my local tackshop.
 
At the livery yard I used to be at the YO was entitled to trade prices from several suppliers including Shires as it was also a riding school, ie a business.

Customers could order items at a discounted rate from there and the YO would make a small profit and customers split the postage between them. I expect that many yards have a system like this.

There is a huge mark up on rugs by the way - nearly 100%!
 
Somebody tried this in our area a few years back (Milton Keynes). It wasn't successful even though it's wall to wall horses round here. They bought a van, liveried it up etc so looked the part. Tbh don't know if it failed because of them - by that I mean did they put in the hours ? Travel etc ? Not them as people or did it fail as there wasn't the market for it ??
 
I get a catalogue from another company like this (not the one cedars mentioned, a different one but I can't remember its name).

I would love to run a tack business but I can't see a way to make money over derby house/robinsons/local tack shops. If you can see it then by all means go for it!
 
If you can arrange the trade suppliers you could then offer out opportunities to 'agents' for people to sell in their local area...instead of a spending a night buying make-up and eating nibbles us horsey bods could buy rugs and all sorts of horsey goodies whilst drinking lots of wine! lovely

Easy enough to set up visits to big livery yards...people love to buy at discounted prices but with the chance to look at products too
 
A local online company deliver locally and he comes to the yard with a van full of basics as well as a wider range to order online. He will also deliver supplements etc on a regular basis. It's handy as you can pay online and get stuff delivered to the yard which is useful when I can't get there.
I now have the horses at home and as he is local he can still drop stuff off and I get a shopping fix by nosing through his van.
 
It could work but it would take alot of time to set up, there is a huge mark up on horsey products, ive worked in 2 equestrian retailers and to put it in perspective your looking at a 100% mark up on rugs, the same on new saddles, and about a 150% mark up on your grooming kit essentials
 
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