It gives you a great feeling each time you are able to sell your soaps/products at new outlets particularly in uncharted territories. Especially when you can foresee that sales will be great by the number of people going in and out of that outlet. On the other hand, it really sucks when potential partners refuse to let us put our soaps in their shops - let alone the place where we want them (products) to be placed ie. at the cash register counter. But, that is sales. You win some, you lose some. It is how you bounce back and persevere that really matters at the end of the day.
We used to have our soaps sold at more than 20 Petronas petrol station's Mesra c-stores in Klang Valley since 2009. However, since Petronas Dagangan Berhad (PDB) had tightened its rules and regulations in the 3rd quarter of last year (2011) against products which are not registered with PDB to be sold at their c-stores, we have suffered a massive blow in the decline of sales. Petrol station outlets contributed approximately a high 35% of our sales revenue. The number of soaps sold per month surpass any sales garnered by other outlets (eg. convenience stores, restaurants, pharmacies, laundry outlets) eventhough the number of petrol stations selling our soaps are very low in our total list of outlets.
(NOTE : To be a registered PDB vendor, one is required to go through strict & tideous procedures and pay monthly royalties based on their sales/product deliveries to the Mesra c-stores nationwide. Those who are normally not registered with PDB as vendors are small business owners (for example nasi lemak suppliers, traditional cake suppliers and (us included) locally-made soap distributors who could not afford to be burdened by royalty payments as their profit margin is tiny and sustaining power is low. Why we selected Petronas' Mesra c-stores as a place to market our product(s) is because they are our national oil company and we naturally feel that they could at least support local but small-time businesses but not anymore. At least the petrol station operators are supportive of our cause and are sympathetic when it's time for us to go. No offence to PDB but to be fair, they have done their best to look away (in allowing these small time business owners to sell their products) on numerous occasions from repeated complaints by registered vendors who feel that it is unjust to allow non-registered vendors to be sold at the c-stores at their expense).
But life goes on. We are aggressively acquiring more outlets than ever now. More outlets we secure, the more soaps we sell and the more people have our company/products in their minds.
It's equally disheartening when a particular outlet is doing well but when the time comes, they refuse to pay what is due to us and in turn, treats us like beggars - sending us away, refusing to talk to us - over a paltry RM50 to RM100 collection. With the consignment business we offer, we face the high risk of not getting paid when the soaps have already been sold by untrustworthy shop owners.
Selling these soaps are not easy but by offering shop owners our products on a consignment basis, it is highly risky but the only way for us to get our products out there in the market. Until then, the battle has to go on.
We used to have our soaps sold at more than 20 Petronas petrol station's Mesra c-stores in Klang Valley since 2009. However, since Petronas Dagangan Berhad (PDB) had tightened its rules and regulations in the 3rd quarter of last year (2011) against products which are not registered with PDB to be sold at their c-stores, we have suffered a massive blow in the decline of sales. Petrol station outlets contributed approximately a high 35% of our sales revenue. The number of soaps sold per month surpass any sales garnered by other outlets (eg. convenience stores, restaurants, pharmacies, laundry outlets) eventhough the number of petrol stations selling our soaps are very low in our total list of outlets.
(NOTE : To be a registered PDB vendor, one is required to go through strict & tideous procedures and pay monthly royalties based on their sales/product deliveries to the Mesra c-stores nationwide. Those who are normally not registered with PDB as vendors are small business owners (for example nasi lemak suppliers, traditional cake suppliers and (us included) locally-made soap distributors who could not afford to be burdened by royalty payments as their profit margin is tiny and sustaining power is low. Why we selected Petronas' Mesra c-stores as a place to market our product(s) is because they are our national oil company and we naturally feel that they could at least support local but small-time businesses but not anymore. At least the petrol station operators are supportive of our cause and are sympathetic when it's time for us to go. No offence to PDB but to be fair, they have done their best to look away (in allowing these small time business owners to sell their products) on numerous occasions from repeated complaints by registered vendors who feel that it is unjust to allow non-registered vendors to be sold at the c-stores at their expense).
But life goes on. We are aggressively acquiring more outlets than ever now. More outlets we secure, the more soaps we sell and the more people have our company/products in their minds.
It's equally disheartening when a particular outlet is doing well but when the time comes, they refuse to pay what is due to us and in turn, treats us like beggars - sending us away, refusing to talk to us - over a paltry RM50 to RM100 collection. With the consignment business we offer, we face the high risk of not getting paid when the soaps have already been sold by untrustworthy shop owners.
Selling these soaps are not easy but by offering shop owners our products on a consignment basis, it is highly risky but the only way for us to get our products out there in the market. Until then, the battle has to go on.
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