Coupons for families... Problem and SUGGESTION

dwterry

One thing I still struggle with is giving coupons to my family members. I want to give them a really good deal. But I don't want the price to be so low that I get nothing at all. So here are the problems:

- Amount Off doesn't work.
I don't know what they are going to order, so I can't know how much to take off. (does this coupon actually work for anyone???)

- Percent Off - doesn't work (rarely works for deep discounts!!!)
The problem is that my cost and smugmug's cost are rarely on equal percentages. In other words, some products may have a 100% markup. But other products (like canvas, metallic, other relatively expensive compared to low end prints) are not nearly 100% markup. So if I pick 50% off ... it's only a small discount for a 5x7" print (I charge $12 for 5x7s so this discounts it down to $6 and still leaves me profiting a lot). But that same 50% off of a metal print is going to COST ME MONEY when a family member places the order.

- At Cost - would work except:
I want to know when a family member purchases a print. At cost purchases do not send me an email. I have no idea who has purchased a print or what print was purchased. And I don't get a chance to edit pictures purchased at cost. And as I said above, I would like to make a little bit of money (not much) off of the sale even while deeply discounting the price. Plus, I don't really want my family members knowing my actual price of prints... I'd like there to be some cushion in the price. AND ... you (smugmug) don't get to take a cut on At Cost orders, right?

- Print Credit doesn't work
I want them to buy the prints. I'm not giving them away. (the goal isn't for me to lose money)

So ... how about a Percent Markup option? If I tell Smugmug to take whatever the default price is and mark it up 10%, that let's me make a little bit of money, it let's me hide the actual cost of the print (they don't know the percent or that it's a markup) and it works for ALL products, even high base cost items.

I know, you'll tell me I could just do that on the gallery they are going to order from. But I'm allowing them to order from my public galleries. I don't want Average Joe sneaking in there and placing an order...

bbeck4x4

I love this idea! A+

Allen

I add .01 to each print/product so I can track family purchases and help with
the order if needed. Just make sure print delay is set. You could add a set
amount or % markup.
Set gallery to default price then set like this.

dwterry

Allen wrote: »

I add .01 to each print/product so I can track family purchases and help with
the order if needed. Just make sure print delay is set. You could add a set
amount or % markup.

Your suggestion doesn't work for me (and was ruled out in my original message).

I think you missed that these are 1) public galleries, 2) not always known in advance WHICH galleries the family will want pictures from, and 3) I sell these images to regular people as well.

kevingeary

dwterry wrote: »

One thing I still struggle with is giving coupons to my family members. I want to give them a really good deal. But I don't want the price to be so low that I get nothing at all. So here are the problems:

- Amount Off doesn't work.
I don't know what they are going to order, so I can't know how much to take off. (does this coupon actually work for anyone???)

- Percent Off - doesn't work (rarely works for deep discounts!!!)
The problem is that my cost and smugmug's cost are rarely on equal percentages. In other words, some products may have a 100% markup. But other products (like canvas, metallic, other relatively expensive compared to low end prints) are not nearly 100% markup. So if I pick 50% off ... it's only a small discount for a 5x7" print (I charge $12 for 5x7s so this discounts it down to $6 and still leaves me profiting a lot). But that same 50% off of a metal print is going to COST ME MONEY when a family member places the order.

- At Cost - would work except:
I want to know when a family member purchases a print. At cost purchases do not send me an email. I have no idea who has purchased a print or what print was purchased. And I don't get a chance to edit pictures purchased at cost. And as I said above, I would like to make a little bit of money (not much) off of the sale even while deeply discounting the price. Plus, I don't really want my family members knowing my actual price of prints... I'd like there to be some cushion in the price. AND ... you (smugmug) don't get to take a cut on At Cost orders, right?

- Print Credit doesn't work
I want them to buy the prints. I'm not giving them away. (the goal isn't for me to lose money)

So ... how about a Percent Markup option? If I tell Smugmug to take whatever the default price is and mark it up 10%, that let's me make a little bit of money, it let's me hide the actual cost of the print (they don't know the percent or that it's a markup) and it works for ALL products, even high base cost items.

I know, you'll tell me I could just do that on the gallery they are going to order from. But I'm allowing them to order from my public galleries. I don't want Average Joe sneaking in there and placing an order...

Can't you already "increase x%" ???

dwterry

kevingeary wrote: »

Can't you already "increase x%" ???

As a COUPON?

No.

At the risk of repeating myself... these are public galleries, with images being purchased by regular customers. But I want to allow FAMILY to be able to purchase at a STEEP discount (but not free and not at cost and not at the risk of accidentally paying for the prints myself by choosing a discount percentage that doesn't match the markup cost of a more expensive product).

The MARKUP COUPON idea is a suggestion that would allow me to work around every one of these issues.

mbellot

dwterry wrote: »

At Cost - would work except:
I want to know when a family member purchases a print. At cost purchases do not send me an email. I have no idea who has purchased a print or what print was purchased. And I don't get a chance to edit pictures purchased at cost. And as I said above, I would like to make a little bit of money (not much) off of the sale even while deeply discounting the price. Plus, I don't really want my family members knowing my actual price of prints... I'd like there to be some cushion in the price. AND ... you (smugmug) don't get to take a cut on At Cost orders, right?

Unless I misunderstood something back when coupons were introduced, At Cost should work. You can even tack on a proof delay.

The reason why is it's a "real" order (for profit) when placed, so the system tracks it. The fact that a coupon brings the price (and profit) down during checkout is secondary.

EDIT - You just have to be sure your prints are priced above cost. That way the "At Cost" coupon actually does something...

dwterry

Hmmm... that's good to know. I actually haven't tried it and assumed it worked the same way as if I set the profit on my images to $0 (i.e. setting the print price to be the same as Smugmug's print price).

I _still_ would like to make a small amount of profit off of the sale though. I'm not looking for much ... but something more than $0 ... so I'm back to the suggestion of a MARKUP COUPON. Have the coupon start with the print price and mark it up X percent.

It's really not that hard.

bbeck4x4

With a markup coupon I could do cost plus sales as well, without the worry of underpricing an item, It would be very useful.

bbeck4x4

Thought If the at cost coupon had the ability to add a % increase that would work, would that involve a lot of programming to add the one "plus x%" equation into the existing coupon? if a person did not want to add a % they could leave it at "0" and nothing changes for them.

Am I missing something in my thinking here?

SteveM

Thanks for letting us know how you'd like coupons to work for you. You can help make your voice heard by visiting http://feedback.smugmug.com and adding the suggestion for the new coupon option. Our Product Manager and engineers watch this closely for new ideas, and to judge customer needs.

Ann McRae

Hi

I just want to clear up one point that you made in your original post.

An at cost order, with or without a coupon, is now reported to the pro. This change was introduced when coupons were introduced. So, you would be notified, and there is no need to price galleries at 0.01 cent profit. This doesn't address the second part of your concern with at cost coupons, though.

ann

mbellot

dwterry wrote: »

I _still_ would like to make a small amount of profit off of the sale though. I'm not looking for much ... but something more than $0 ... so I'm back to the suggestion of a MARKUP COUPON. Have the coupon start with the print price and mark it up X percent.

It's really not that hard.

So if you want to make a "small" profit why don't you just do a percent mark-up for the gallery pricing and then hand out a (smaller) percent off coupon?

For example, mark everything up 25% and then hand out 15% off coupons, your net profit would be ~ 5% after paying for the prints and giving SM their 15% (of the 10% profit left over after the coupon is applied).

Adjust the gallery mark-up and coupon discount as needed to get the small profit you are after.

Yes, its a bit more work than what you are asking for, but it is possible to do today.

bbeck4x4

mbellot wrote: »

So if you want to make a "small" profit why don't you just do a percent mark-up for the gallery pricing and then hand out a (smaller) percent off coupon?

For example, mark everything up 25% and then hand out 15% off coupons, your net profit would be ~ 5% after paying for the prints and giving SM their 15% (of the 10% profit left over after the coupon is applied).

Adjust the gallery mark-up and coupon discount as needed to get the small profit you are after.

Yes, its a bit more work than what you are asking for, but it is possible to do today.

Price=Value

But a coupon that works this way is for all of the photos on my site, not just those for a specific gallery, I'd like to give certain groups a better discount for my entire site, than the rest of my customers, IE: scouts, charities, Brothers, Sisters, Mom.

but I don't want to give the photos away for free or let them see the wholesale price. A coupon that works this way would be for the people that have supported me in the leanest of times. I'd be happy with simply 5% over my cost.

I am selling using this site and the printer that is provided as the absolute best quality prints that are available, If our price were similar to say Costco, people think "hey I can get the same quality if I just go over there". Which is not true.

:hideI do this now by hand, with local labs ( but never Costco ) , I would like to have Smug handle the backend ( and make some % from it ) and give me more time.

mbellot

bbeck4x4 wrote: »

I do this now by hand, with local labs ( but never Costco )

Then you are a fool. Costco has the same equipment as many other labs.

Using the specific profiles for my local store and developing a good relationship with all the techs in the photo department has yielded some really fantastic prints for very good prices. It's also very hard to beat the one hour "instant gratification" factor when I need something in a hurry.

I use SM for bulk sales where personal distribution would be too time consuming and/or not profitable. Costco handles most of the remainder that gets personal delivery, unless it's outside their capabilities (30x40 posters, panoramic prints, etc). Those I order from EZ Prints directly since SM prices to me are higher than going direct...

bbeck4x4

The temptation to not answer this is so great, but order a 16x20 from any real lab then order the inkjet 16x20 poster from Costco, you can not get photographic prints that large from Costco/Sam's club, etc, and why are you so uncertain that you feel the need to start with name calling, when a person orders one of my prints, I am putting everything that I have learned into that print, to have a photo start fading years later, or their house humidity goes to high and the ink starts dripping off of the page. If you are happy to sell a print that looks like that then that's your choice, my name and my reputation is in that one print.

from one of the labs that I use, http://www.kennysphoto.com

Kennys Photo is a professional photo lab. We want you to look good, and we know how. We have been printing for over 20 years.
We use the best silver halide printing systems. These prints are processed through the same chemicals as old film pictures, and with our pro fuji crystal photo paper are the most archival. Since it is completely a chemical process, there’s no ink to run or bleed. Your pages are waterproof and scratch resistant. These type of prints will last hundreds of years if stored properly.
Because we use state of the art technology that sends us the embedded color profile of your file, we print exactly how you intend. If your file doesn’t have an embedded profile, it defaults to RGB.
Our professional, certified lab techs are able to make your pictures lighter, darker and improve the color saturation. They can add a bit of contrast or density to make your images pop. We inspect every print & fine tune what is needed.
Every print is 100% Guaranteed.
You shouldn’t expect anything less.
Did we mention that we are not a grocery store?

They have a costco print hanging on their wall along with a print from their lab, the difference is remarkable.

Have a nice day.

bbeck4x4

Lets keep this on topic shall we? the issue at hand is the need for a coupon that works the way my customers need me to. not the quality of prints from Costco or Sam's club