What's the mark-up on cycle clothing?

[Noodley]

I have seen a few wholesale magazines and websites relating to cycling products, and was quite surprised how little the mark up was. That is not to say the markup from manufacturer to wholesaler is not quite large!

 

[rollinstok]

So a shop sells an item with what you call a profit of £10, I call it margin. Now at the end of the year due to overheads the shop makes a loss of say £10,000. See, no profit in everything they sold that year.

Figures are manipulated by companies and their accountants.
Any net profit is taxable
Any net profit comes after the owners have bought the holiday villa
I dont know how many times I have been told that a company has to spend money on things like cars to avoid having a net profit
A loss on the books is often preferable to a company
I have said previously and stand by it that if a company makes 35-40% gp per annum that should be more than enough ( if the owners arent greedy )

 

[rollinstok]

By the way you cannot have a £10 margin, you can have £10 profit
Margin is a percentage figure not a monetary one

 

[screenman]

I stand corrected on that point, I was however trying to simplify a point for people who have never owned a business.

To offset tax against a vehicle you first have to make enough profit to pay tax, plus as you no doubt know you cannot claim total relief in the first year.

 

[rollinstok]

I refer to established companies in my posts
I have every sympathy with anyone who is starting or recently started a business and wish them all success
I am a little ( lot ) cynical by the greed of certain company bosses who ride roughshod over their customers and workforce for personal gain

 

[rollinstok]

And in case you are wondering, yes I have been severely robbed and scarred by businessmen whom I trusted
Hence the vitriol to get it off my chest

 

[stu1903]

More importantly, where did you get this bargain?

 

[screenman]

rolinstock, care to enlighten us about you being ripped off. Also have you ever owned and run a retail business.

 

[Norm]

By the way you cannot have a £10 margin, you can have £10 profit
Margin is a percentage figure not a monetary one

I'm not sure where you've heard that but I'm fairly sure that it was wrong. Margins and gross margins can be expressed as £££s or %ages. Investors often just look at the % figures, so they can compare between companies, but, in practice, everywhere I've worked has looked at GM as a % and a £/$ figure.

Some, mostly American, places will refer to the GM as the Gross Profit, but, in practice, they will still discuss a GM$ and a GM% figure.

 

[rollinstok]

rolinstock, care to enlighten us about you being ripped off. Also have you ever owned and run a retail business.

I've worked in retail menswear up to area manager, but that was a long time ago.
I was a partner for many years in a business that supplied parts to the engineering and manufacturing sectors
Partnerships can be very risky and I would not advise anyone to enter into one lightly
My son has a share in a Ltd Company which is the way to go
My own demise is something I cannot really go into on a site like this

 

[screenman]

In that case you fully understand that profit only comes after everything else is paid, not before.

 

[rollinstok]

When you are referring to net profit that is correct
I should add that our business to business operation also had a trade counter which was open to the public as many of our products were desired by hobbyists and home engineers etc
The retail side was much easier to operate in many ways, with distinct advantages
B2B you have to go out and seek a market for your products, negotiate prices which are fair to both parties, take an order, wait for 30 days to get paid ( if your lucky ) 60 or even 90 is the norm today
Retail, the moment a customer walks into the shop he is a captive audience, he is there to spend his money, he pays up front for the goods ( often before the retailer has paid for the goods himself )
Cashflow is the biggest problem with any business. imho if a retailer has knowledge of his products and shows respect and courtesy to his customers ( these base skills are slowly disappearing ) offers a fair deal without cutting his own throat and provides a decent after sales service, customers will stay loyal and return often, they also spread the gospel.
The biggest overhead for too many retailers is their own greed by skimming too much from the takings before the bills come in, its why they fail at the first hurdle all too often.