Custom Framing at Sam's Club ??

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CWG

CWG

True Grumbler
Joined
Mar 28, 2009
Posts
75
Loc
Georgetown, TX
Say it's not so.
A customer just brought me a brochure for Custom Framing at Sam's Club.
He told me they had corner samples and brochures in the store at the photo processing area.
Also the www.samsclub.com/photo webpage has a link button to get more information about New Canvas Prints that takes you to a page offering Canvas Gallery Wraps starting at $ 10.86. On that page is a link to Custom Framing . <-- Click the link and see the offering.
The custom framing that has Mexico as the country of origin is not really all that custom, but offers another Really Big Box alternative to visiting a local independent custom framing shop for some limited framing services. To play on an old auto ad, these are not your father's photo frames.
Will the 4,000 + Walmarts have a custom framing table next to the income tax prep tables next year ?
How does one compete against multi billion dollar giants like Walmart & Berkshire Hathaway (owner of Larson-Juhl) ?
This reminds me that it is once again time for my annual review of the products and services I offer and the customers I target, so that I can answer that question and make sure the nitches I depend on and go after will continue to be large enough and profitable.
As a small business man, I believe finding and serving underserved nitches is important for survival in a world of increasing large companies.
Any thoughts on the subject or discussion of nitch definition and marketing ideas would be appreciated.
 
Dont know about Sams Club but here is what I can tell you about Walmart as I have been approached in the past about putting a store in there. They lease out the space as if you were in a mall but you could adjust your hours so you were not open as long as the store was, Rent was not cheap. They also expect a % of sales from that location and you have a location within a certain radius of the store, no matter if that store was already existing. And they would not give you an exclusive on any product that you may want to carry, such as posters, photo frames, gifts ect.

Ran away very quickly!
 
Wal-Mart has the large format printing and offer about 6 frames. Their laminated canvas looks quite good done with an HP at about $69 for a 24x36. Frames are offered with printing and not a stand alone item. Cheap MDF paper wrap classic Olin Mills looking frames. Anybody that is actually losing sales to them had something very wrong with their business model to begin with. Stop in at a Wal-Mart and check it out in the photo department.

I'm sure there are plenty of the photographers in this area using their canvas printing. WM printing on canvas will be a huge step up from what they have purchased elsewhere. Any of them using their framing as well will have a product that looks like an Old Time Pottery sales flyer special. The frames scream $10.
 
Yay! Everybody send your clients to Walmart! Can't get enough of those Chinese frames. :faintthud:
How about some disclosure about family ties to Walmart when you're praising and recommending them?
Some of us are trying to make a living out here without having to work 60 hours a week at $3.00 an hour.

:popc:
 
Jeff Rodier said:
Wal-Mart has the large format printing and offer about 6 frames. Their laminated canvas looks quite good done with an HP at about $69 for a 24x36. Frames are offered with printing and not a stand alone item. Cheap MDF paper wrap classic Olin Mills looking frames. Anybody that is actually losing sales to them had something very wrong with their business model to begin with. Stop in at a Wal-Mart and check it out in the photo department.

I'm sure there are plenty of the photographers in this area using their canvas printing. WM printing on canvas will be a huge step up from what they have purchased elsewhere. Any of them using their framing as well will have a product that looks like an Old Time Pottery sales flyer special. The frames scream $10.
Click to expand...

As you know Walmart owns Sam's Club and there are many products that are sold in both store formats at slightly different prices.
The Sams club framing appears different than what you describe. They do appear to offer the framing only with the printing, but they show 16 moulding styles that are described as solid wood of various sizes up to 4" wide. The profile closeups show woodgrain and they appear to be real wood based frames similar to popular styles I recognize from some more well know moulding distributors. They also seem to include acrylic glazing of undescribed thickness. Nonglare acrylic and a choice of double mat packages (described as 4 ply archival grade mat board) are listed as optional addons.
If I read their site correctly, they priced a 16x20 print with 4" wood frame and standard acrylic on the website at about $ 170.
I have no knowledge of the quality of their printing and I am not qualified to evaluate that aspect of their offering..
I certianly would not send my wholesale or retail customers to them, but I will be looking closer at their offering before dismissing it as paper wraped MDF and not a threat to those who sell value priced real solid wood based frames.
 
Sams prints with several printers including the most current Epson along with the Fuji wet system. They won't be selling framing to those walking in with custom items but offer it to printing customers. I'm $40 under them with full archival double mat, UV glass and even hand finished mouldings up to 6" wide so I have room to go up and offer 400 in stock mouldings. I also offer printing on the Epson up to 44" wide and 100 feet in length.
 
As Carol mentioned, and as Jim Miller and others here have frequently advocated, it is in our long term interest to cultivate a market for and offer special services and techniques that are beyond what businesses like the BBs can do. The BBs have long since captured the low price end of the market and preframed wall decor has narrowed the range of what people are willing to have custom framed. The result is that, while our volume of jobs might be smaller than in years past, the nature of what we frame has changed, with an emphasis on items that are of significant value to our customers. One would like to think that people who own items like this would have more sense than to rely on Walmart for framing it, although that is obviously far from a universal truth. For example, see THIS. Nevertheless, it behooves us to show people why true custom framing is different than mass-market alternatives, and to create work which will encourage them to make the right choice and to spread the word.
:kaffeetrinker_2: Rick
 
Frame shops fail themselves by not telling people they exist, what they do and most importantly how much it will cost. The cost of framing seems to be top secret information that will only be disclosed after a long session not unlike Time Share sales. While many frame shops want to show 2,000 corner samples it will be impossible to show all possible pricing but it sure would serve them better to give some clues.

Sams set a price and limited the selection to 16 frames. Many frame shops are concerned that if they did the same it would destroy the specialty framing portion of their business. Think about how many times you have wondered how much something might cost but never bothered to find out because you didn't want to suffer through the lead up pitch. Ever wonder how much a Time Share costs? In order to find out you can get a free stay at an ocean front hotel, a fine meal at a top notch restaurant or show tickets to the Cirque Du Soleil. I can even get $200 cash out of these clowns to learn the cost of a Time Share and yet you would have to put a Louisville Slugger to my skull to get me to ask.

So now the question is who do you want as your customer. Do you only want those who live in $10 Million homes? If so you better be running $25,000 ads in Southern Living, Prime Time TV commercials and possibly valet service at the front door like Morton's Steak House. If you want to sell frames to people who rent trailers in the trailer park you will need some of the plastic frame set ups that cost $9.99 in a 24x36 size and list them on Craig's List.

The majority of the Sams Club customers will be the amateur photographer who is already having their enlargements printed there. Most of those have not been custom frame shop loyalist anyway. Standard size ready mades from a BB or a metal frame from the internet. So if a frame shop never went after that business prior to Sams offering framing they shouldn't be worried about that customer now.

The business that Sams is targeting is very profitable. I make a good living going after that piece of the pie and no longer need to advertise because my customers send new customers in every day. I'm not worried about Sams, Wal-Mart, M's or AC Moore which are all within a couple of miles of my store. I offer frames that the others will never be able to sell with prices at or below all of their prices. About 1/3 of my mouldings are Italian items hand finished, genuine metal leaf or stain directly on wood.

If a frame shop cares about that end of the business they need to create some packages and publish prices. If you create the packages but don't tell anybody other than your current customers about the packages you will simply cut into existing business rather than generate new business. The other thing to consider is do you want to close 1 out of 10 customers or 10 out of 10. Specialty shops feel they need to walk a large percentage of customers or their prices are too low. It takes my customers less than 60 seconds to determine if they can afford framing. A customer who is only going to spend $5 gets directions to Wal-Mart and I'm back to work 2 minutes after they walk in the door.
 
....here we go...

So, the question of where to get gallery canvas wrap prints made was brought up on the Yahoo Sci Fi / fantasy art group. The final post response.... Costco. L
 
Disclosure please

Jeff, Neil made a good point. Jim used to get harangued a lot by a fellow grumbler because of his ties to Fletcher Terry. You promote WalMart, you promote Sam's Club and your wife works at WalMart. For the sake of not looking like a shill for WalMart please be up front and tell people that your wife works at WalMart. Granted she isn't a Wall, but according to other accounts by you she isn't a lowly stocker or cashier there either. Please just be upfront and honest about your connections.

Jim's connections to Fletcher Terry and TruVue when "disclosed" were shown to be nothing that would influence his opinions, but by not disclosing his connections he gave his detractor(s) ammunition to use against him.
 
Luddite said:
So, the question of where to get gallery canvas wrap prints made was brought up on the Yahoo Sci Fi / fantasy art group. The final post response.... Costco. L
Click to expand...



[video=youtube;M-DNPYtTjUc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-DNPYtTjUc[/video]
 
Yes Bob she is one of 2.1 Million employees at Wal Mart. Since they are the largest private employer in the U.S. chances are many people have a family member working there. I've been shopping at Sams and Wal-Mart for decades before she worked there. When I send a customer to them for the $5 frame I tell them my wife works for them. When I start telling framers to buy WM's $5 frames I will do the same.
 
So they can drop it off there if they have a problem. My club is Sams but there is a Costco a little closer. I believe Costco sells the same compressor online and will allow you to return it at the store. I can't tell you their policy since I am not a member. None of these stores make their own products so your point is lost.

As far as my stock value the current administration has driven it's value up by 50% in the past year so we don't need any help. If I thought they would continue to hold power I would sell all of my moulding and convert it to WM stock since it would double in value over the next year. :shutup:

Now if WM begins to fly me around the country to promote their products I will disclose that. If WM begins to sponsor my courses which are sold to consumers I will also disclose that. Should they hire me in any fashion to promote their business you'll be the first to know Bob. ;)
 
Let us not persecute.

Everybody here probably knows Jeff's wife works at Wal Mart, it is no secret. And if they didn't know it before, then they do now. He's sharing valid information, and his opinion is as good as anyone else's.

Painting him as a paid shill is a veiled personal attack. This time, as in the past, the "disclosure" complaint has nothing to do with honesty of opinion, but is only intended to diminish the person or opinion disliked by the complainer. Just as I felt compelled to defend my integrity and opinions against the personal attacks some time ago, Jeff is doing it today. And rightfully so. Been there, done that.

If you don't like a particular person or what he is saying, please give your opposing view in a friendly and straightforward manner, or just let it go.

I apologize for causing further distraction from the original topic, but I had to get that off my chest.
 
Jim Miller said:
Painting him as a paid shill is a veiled personal attack.
Click to expand...

shill-warning.jpg


Hey, make me a paid shill and you can paint me all you want

zuhdijasser.jpg
 
I can be bought, for the right amount of money I will promote the use of cheap black plastic moulding. Let the bidding begin. :thumbsup:
 
So Jeff, would that make you a whore instead of a slut?

I keep getting those two mixed up.... because I never seem to
get the nickle anyway.

So.... Went to CostCo today to pick my Mom up..... 11x14 printed
with 75yr ink on Archival board.

I sent the pdf in last night..... I just laid her down next to the
one I had a "professional" do a few years ago... for $140

personally, I can't see the difference. If I didn't know better,
I would say the Pro had CostCo print it - - then marked it up another
$120..... for $19.95, I'll stick with CostCo. And then there are the
posters on a heavy stock.......

I still refuse to go into Wally World. (Sorry Jeff)
And I can't go into my Trader Joe's without thinking of Harry Gaston's
wife Amy...... and I'll shill for them any day.
 
Yes definitely whore Baer. Sams and Costco and now WM are using the same professional large format printers that we use in the industry. I have a large number of customers who get their small prints done at Sams and Costco. Once they get into larger sizes my prices are lower but for the small ones I still have to get something for my time. The Fuji wet system is still cheaper (and is carp) than me at 18x24 but anything better is a breaking point of larger than 12x18.
 
Baer Charlton said:
I still refuse to go into Wally World. (Sorry Jeff)
Click to expand...

That accounts for the fact that they dropped down to the second largest business in the world Baer. Either that or the fact that gas prices have skyrocketed allowed Exxon to beat them by 1%.
 
At a file size of 148 megs, 1200dpi 11x14, I'm sure Mom
could be super sized to poster....
But the little woman was only 5'2" in life..... so I like her
just the way she is.... manageable.

Now speaking of whores..... I think this will be the 9th time
I have framed my mother's image.
I don't REALLY sell my mother... (her image is free when you
buy the frame) but it just sounds so deliciously naughty to
say that "I'd sell my mother for the right $$s"
 
"Only" 5'2"........ Has me beat by 2"! But I am definitely NOT manageable... L
 
After having spent more than 47 years in our industry, I have seen many of these so called custom framing shops open up in an assortment of high volume operations, they never last long.

It is not worth your time and trouble to worry about them, so don't.

-John
 
I had a customer bring in a photo on canvas she had ordered from a well known online photo printing site and guess what, it was created by Wal-Mart for the photo site. Looks like WM is now offering fulfillment services to online photo retailers. One of WM's moves toward growth this year was to go after Amazon and provide fulfillment services for items they don't even sell.
 
Yes, you too can buy a Chevrolet through Wally, but with the shipping from India or China,
is the cost savings still as good as buying a Toyota made in Kentucky?
 
Disclosure of affiliation is commonly offered, and expected as a matter of ethics. It also shows a sense of fairness and respect to those who are new, or who don't know you. It shows you have confidence in, and believe in, whatever you are touting.

Resisting disclosure and claiming it's "optional", or that when someone discloses for you is a "personal attack" is ridiculous and self-serving. Failing to disclose affiliation makes you look deceptive and dishonest, so just man-up and do it. It will enhance your credibility and let you feel good about yourself.

I applaud those who disclose their affiliation. To those of you who think the reader doesn't have a right to know that you have an affiliation with a company or product you are expressing a glowing opinion about, shame on you.
 
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