UK customers! Hi. =)

[kebechet]

There's a possibility that I might be able to work with some stores in Scotland as potential retailers for BPAL. My question is... will it be easier on you all if you order from us, or from a UK distributor? I know Glasgow and Edinburgh aren't around the corner for all of you, but it may make shipping cheaper in the long run.

 

Just a thought. =)

[TygherRayn]

Beth .. in a distantly related note, a friend of mine runs a shop (I'm not sure where) and has been looking to sell oils there. I sent her to the website, and told her to try emailing you. Not sure how you feel about selling in retail shops, but I thought it might be a good thing.

 

hope I'm not overstepping!

[quinkel]

Hi Beth

I PM ed you as well about an opportunity in Holland

 

wonder if you got it?

[clephan]

There's a possibility that I might be able to work with some stores in Scotland as potential retailers for BPAL. My question is... will it be easier on you all if you order from us, or from a UK distributor? I know Glasgow and Edinburgh aren't around the corner for all of you, but it may make shipping cheaper in the long run.

 

Just a thought. =)

Hi

 

This is a very exciting development!

 

I'm keen to know more, as the utility of this new source will depend on things like will they be able to supply all the oils, will they do online orders, what prices they will be selling the oils for, what postage method they'll use, and how focussed they can be on mail order. If they have a store-front operation too, and we're all deluging them with orders, I'd be concerned that the mail-orders may slip. That said, I'm sure these are all things that you're considering too, so on the whole I'll give a tentative 'yay' !!

 

Scotland is a very long way for me, yes, but I'm planning to have my honeymoon up there A long way off yet, but the idea of being able to go for a BPAL shopping trip at the same time is a very nice one!

 

ONe downside of the new arrangement would be that I will miss emailing you though!

[cj]

There's a possibility that I might be able to work with some stores in Scotland as potential retailers for BPAL. My question is... will it be easier on you all if you order from us, or from a UK distributor? I know Glasgow and Edinburgh aren't around the corner for all of you, but it may make shipping cheaper in the long run.

 

Just a thought. =)

to be honest it would be easier to order from a UK distributor but whether it would work out cheaper i don't know - today its $1.83 to the £!!!!! its a good idea though!!

 

claire xxx

[Donnababe]

I'd order from almost anywhere as long as I am confident of getting a good service.

[lucytalk]

In principle it's a good idea, but in practise I agree with Clephan that it would depend if they'd be willing to deal with the numbers of mail orders and especially if they would carry all the scents - if we had to wait for you to ship to them we may as well order direct from you!

 

It may well be easier to order within the UK and would avoid things being held up in customs....but it may work out more expensive given that we'd effectively be paying for postage from you to them (possibly with customs charges) and then again from them to us, with some profit for them thrown in....that said it'll be interesting to know more details Scotland is a long way from me too, but it would be great to be able to go to a shop selling BPAL and I'm sure lots of us would make the journey if possible!

[Astarte]

=O

 

All of the concerns I can think of have already been covered by clephan, cj and lucytalk.

 

However how will you predict what scents will sell strongly over here though? To keep stocks up, as I understand scents at the moment are made on a 'need to make' basis. I think that to stock the shop initially will be a huge drain on BPAL's resources to give a balanced mix of scents. BPAL is 10-14 days behind at the moment anyway, wouldnt it be better to concentrate on catching up rather than making huge batches of perfume for a foothold in a new continent.

?_?

 

The other problem will be pricing as the shop will have to make a profit too, so the prices in England will increase to cover other costs such as shipping and middle men fees.

 

But I do work as a web designer in a UK media based company and I've been learning some PR techniques from our guru's in the company. I personally think that the best thing you could do is to find another store in the heart of one of the UK cities who would be willing to sell them. The prime location will offer greater access to people who can get there and there will be more chance from people who dont know your product to sell them. There are plenty of goth markets in the UK and these will be your *ideal* target as the product names will appeal to Goths more than anyone. To identify your potential markets/stores to sell BPAL in the UK, have a look here: http://www.netgoth.org.uk/gothmap/

 

However I would think about asking Black Rose about whether they would like to stock BPAL scents first, as they are one of the more established goth online shops on the Internet. But instead of sending them an email, I would send a parcel with your strongest selling scents along with a letter asking if they would consider selling your product online and in their shop (located in Camden Market which is in London; the biggest goth market in the UK!). Make the letter personally tailored to them. As you have some complimentary scents with the letter, they can see what the product is like.

 

Hmmn, I talk too much.

 

Interesting possibility though.

Edited April 9, 2004 by Astarte

[allamanda]

I have quite a few thoughts on this, many also mentioned above.

 

Price:

 

Although shipping prices might be reduced, we could lose the advantage of the current exchange rates. The importer would need to pay customs duties and these would be added to the price. Understandably the distributor would want their cut too!!

 

Shipping:

 

Shipping *might* be faster. Both my orders have arrived within 7 days of the postmark date. Depending on the setup, packing orders, posting etc might be faster, but equally it might not.

 

Range:

 

I can recall the Australian members saying the local distributors had a limited range, but I think they would order products on request. Knowing what many of us are like for wanting variety and the latest scents, I have a feeling there wouldn't be too much advantage here.

 

Personal Touch:

 

Many of us have commented that Beth does a better job of choosing perfect scents for us, than we can for ourselves.

 

Overall this is difficult. As the Lab becomes more popular and demand increases it will become harder to maintain the personal touch and individual recommendations.

 

I suspect that I would use a local distributor for staples such as Snake Oil, but would still prefer to deal with the Lab for everything else. Scotland is too far for a personal visit, but I often send Lush to my friend who lives there and 1st Class mail usually arrives the next day.

 

It depends on what would suit Beth best. As I see it the worst parts about ordering from the UK are getting shipping quotes, email problems, shipping notification and Customs or postal delays / snarl ups. What was the reason given for all those returned parcels Beth? I noticed my parcel had "Perfume" entered on the Customs declaration, but I read elsewhere this could cause problems as Customs assume perfume contains alcohol. The suggestion I saw was that "Perfumed Oils" be entered instead. Depends on why the parcels were returned.

 

Is there a way we can manage some of this ourselves? If we had details of shipping charges for given numbers of bottles this would cut out the shipping quotes. Is there a way we can post that we have placed an order and then the Lab comment order received, shipped etc? We could then add our own comment when we received the order, this would surely reduce some email traffic and time spent on administration.

 

Sorry this is so long. Very likely I have misinterpreted / overlooked the difficulties, so if the problems the Lab experiences in sending to us were brought to our attention, maybe we could think of some solutions.

[lucytalk]

The more I think about this the more difficulties I think of...as Allamanda says, maybe there are other ways to solve the problems of ordering from the UK?

[Tesseljoan]

I'm no a UK-er but if I imagined a shop way down south selling BPAL...

 

then I would still like to have the possibility to order from you guys, for your amazing customer service and the fact that you choose the samples for you customers very well and thoughtfully. But if I knew what oil I wanted, or wanted to have a quick, say, snake-oil fix, than the imaginary Holland-based shop would definately come in handy.

 

I think most here are pretty hardcore and would continue to order some of their orders from the US. So it probably would be a good way of attracting new customers?

[MilkAndSugar]

I agree with the final prices and limited range of perfumes being possible dampers, but I also want to bring out a different angle on the subject.

 

I understand that in the U.S. almost *everyone* from teenagers to pensioners have a credit card. I can't speak for other countries, but in Finland we take credit cards very seriously, and thus not everybody gets one, and not everybody wants one because of the huge responsibilities owning and using a credit card brings.

I also am a small shop owner, and though I don't have a credit card yet, I might have to get one just to be able to do business overseas.

So there are a lot of credit cardless people who will have to go without BPAL scents, and they are the ones who would benefit from shops that carry the line or that could order from BPAL on request.

I'm contemplating on doing this for my customers in the future, because I know they would love BPAL just like all the devotees here on the boards.

 

Just my input. I could be wrong.

 

-Milk

[mittenparade]

Well, living in Scotland (and in Edinburgh for uni) it would kick ass to be able to buy your perfumes without the shipping cost and I think there's certainly quite a market for it here but I would still order direct too if there was a wider choice and your fabulous customer service.

 

*Ponders on who the potential retailers are... on Cockburn Street perchance?*