Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 I'm trying to decide on some products to sell to help boost our takings. We don't have much storage room for large items but I'm sure we are missing out on sales of products to parents just not sure what. Any suggestions or examples of what works for you would be very helpful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narnia Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 How about getting some things for stocking fillers from John Crane ltd??They sell beautiful wooden toys and if you spend £100 delivery is free.You then sell the items for double what you pay.........send for a catalogue first, but i've had some wonderful things from them in the past .........good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Thanks for that Narnia I'll have a look at their stuff. It would be great to start getting a few things in for christmas but am also looking to sell a range of products to parents year round not just for xmas. A basic range of products that parents need to buy often,or maybe bigger nursery stuff like buggies, cots etc on a commission basis, not sure how that would work though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 I have also used John Crane Ltd., and also done the following: sold Christmas wrapping paper and cards - I asked Phoenix to set up products for one week and parents placed orders. If anyone has unwanted toys you could sell them and keep proceeds or keep a commission. Put up 'for sale' signs for bigger items charge parents for putting them up or again take a commission. We are making christmas cards at the moment. The children are painting pictures or doing hand prints and these will be scanned into the computer so we can turn them into cards. Parents love buying and sending these cards to all their family and friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Thanks K.A.P. some good ideas there but they seem to be more for fundraising rather than a business footing. Fundraising ideas are always welcome as we fundraise for specific equipment on wish lists or for charity. What I am looking to do is to extend our business by not only selling nursery provision but adding to our sales by selling products too. Our customers obviously all have children and need to buy stuff for those children e.g nappies/wipes/clothes shoes etc etc and I would like to tap into that market somehow, thus generating more income from the customers we already have by selling them stuff they already buy from somewhere else now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inge Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Sounds like a bit of market research needed...ask the parents what they would possibly buy from you, you may be surprised by the response. Give a few ideas and suggestions and talk to them about it. what is available in other local shops, can you notice a gap in the market? Sorry not much help otherwise Inge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 That is helpful, thanks Inge I have started asking some of the parents but it seems to be such a mixture of suggestions some would buy things like nappies just for convenience sake but I couldn't compete with supermarket on price and how many different brands, sizes, pull ups etc would i have to keep!! not practical for the space I have. Others would buy toys etc but that's probably cos they're all thinking about christmas at the moment and would they buy year round? I wondered if any other nurseries sell stuff to their parents already and if so how successful is it? I know some nurseries sell their own branded stuff such as sun hats/ tee-shirts with their logo etc do they sell well or just the odd ones here and there? I'm sure I could sell sweets all day long but don't want to ruin our hard work trying to get children eating healthily! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Some of you must be busy parents too. What would you like to be able to buy at nursery when you pick your child up at the end of a busy day at work? What would make your life easier? Would you buy basic stuff like baby wipes, cotton buds or teething gel etc. even if it was slightly more expensive than going to the supermarket? would you buy your child a small toy as a treat if they have had a good day at nursery? or maybe a book for bedtime? any suggestions welcome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Just a thought from a recent experience, anything that children 'grow or develop' out of. A parent recently donated a load of jigsaws her child had 'developed beyond' the parents leaving comment was " I'll have to buy some more now". To save on storage, maybe have a supplier who covers a range of development products, another area could be creative media, paper/paint/collage/glue etc, not sure about profit margin but these items are really expensive on the high street, whereas by buying in bulk you may be able to offer competetive prices and make profit. Another idea maybe specialist clothing, ie: outdoor wear, again can be really expensive but not so much if bought in bulk. I know a friend of mine buys toys from a major toy store ( not sure if I should name it) and then sells for a profit on Ebay Her turnaround means she needs little storage I also remember reading about a large chain of nursery's which offered food and everyday toiletry shopping facilities at their nurseries, their parents were mainly long hour city workers who rarely have time to shop during the week and need some basics for the start of the weekend. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Thanks Peggy, I really like the idea of the creative stuff and had considered putting together some activity packs/bags and doesn't take much storage space either. Jigsaws could be good too. clothing could be good but lots of sizes again. I thought about gloves and hats and even dummies!as kids do tend to lose these!! even thought of wellies or slippers but again need a wide range of sizes. You have given me some good ideas there. Ebay might be an option too if I am going to the wholesalers anyway. Bet the large nursery chain charged high prices for the convenience too!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 "Bet the large nursery chain charged high prices for the convenience too!!" Not sure about that one, they couldn't charge too high or they would cut their nose to spite their face, so to speak. I think it was items like toothpaste, nappies, shampoo, wipes and even microwave meals Music tapes / CD's and Vidoe's / DVD's wouldn't take up too much space either. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Thanks for that Peggy, I am now thinking probably a few basics as standard all year round, e.g. wipes, maybe loose nappies for emergencies, baby shampoo, cotton wool etc plus the creative stuff ,then some seasonal items like xmas wrapping paper, sellotape, stocking fillers and soft toys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 Good luck. Let us know how it goes. Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aliamch Posted October 23, 2006 Share Posted October 23, 2006 We sell t-shirts, sweatshirts and bookbags with our logo on them. They're not a 'uniform' but always sell very well. Childrens books always sell well also,and it would be easy to source cheap good quality books you could sell on yourselves. Karrie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 26, 2006 Share Posted October 26, 2006 We held a fair and sold things the children had made, such as canvas paintings, biscuits, photographs, we made over £500 profit and had lots of fun into the bargain xjojomx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucy P Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 We sell the nursery recipe book which our chef compiled, this includes all the meals provided in our four weeks of menus (this was due to a number of parents saying how do we get xxx to eat this meal they wont touch it at home, can i have the recipe!) so i decided to cash in!! We also sell cd's of the staff singing the songs sung at the nursery, as the parents are always interested in learning them too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 27, 2006 Share Posted October 27, 2006 I worked in a nursery that used to sell convinience things like nappies and wipes, they also sold hand made cards (not made at nursery tho!) all of these appeared good sellers. They also did a postal service (posted of people's letters) and a dry cleaning service (parenst dropped items in, nursery arranged to get them dry cleaned externally and then returned to parents. Dawn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DeborahF Posted October 28, 2006 Share Posted October 28, 2006 I know of a couple of nurseries who have enlisted the services of a local mobile hairdresser and advertised that their children can have their hair cut whilst at nursery - that seems to have taken off really well - a trip to the hairdressers can sometimes be very stressful and parents seemed very glad of the offer to have that taken off their hands! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 I know of a couple of nurseries who have enlisted the services of a local mobile hairdresser and advertised that their children can have their hair cut whilst at nursery - that seems to have taken off really well - a trip to the hairdressers can sometimes be very stressful and parents seemed very glad of the offer to have that taken off their hands! I've often thought about doing that myself having previously been a hairdresser ( many many moons ago) but wasn't sure about whether insurance would cover me Peggy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hali Posted October 29, 2006 Share Posted October 29, 2006 oh wow the hairdresser idea sounds excellent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 30, 2006 Share Posted October 30, 2006 Hi, Some of the things we do to raise money :- 1) Second hand clothes - get a parent to sell bundles of clothes on ebay (or boot sale, at pre school) 2) Not very healthy eating but cake sale/sweetie bag sale - children bake cakes and biscuits and sell them end of session. With the sweets, buy bulk from cash and carry(all pre schools can join cash and carry warehouses), bag them into smaller bags and sell for 50p per bag. 3) In the summer sell ice lollies 4) Photocopy some of your theme pictures and sell them for 5p per copy 5) Uniform - we use BRIGADE for our uniform. Just t-shirts, polo shirts, fleeces and summer hats. Cost £4.95, sell for £7.95 6) Funmats - www.funmats.co.uk - very good for fundraising. Children draw picture and is then made into mousemat, place mat, coaster, t shirt, chopping board, bag. They also do other options. 7) Photos - Take photos of children, put them in a card frame and sell them for £2.50. 8) KidsKlub- www.kids-klub.co.uk - a fantastic keepsake and good moneymaker. We also advertise for others, eg- discos, gardening, dance classes etc. We charge £5 per advert. We also have a disclaimer to parents that we only advertise not endorse the companies. Hope that helps a bit. I would also like to say that although we are a committee run pre school, none of the above are done by the committee. Our committee is in name only, so the staff and I put all the above into practice. Net xx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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