Vendors at homeschool conventions

[LarlaB]

.....a convention is not usually a money-making venture in and of itself. It is a marketing campaign, a way to get your product to the masses, with the end result being more purchases, either there or in the future. The more people who know about your product and can see it, the more people who will consider and hopefully purchase it. For small businesses, and publishers, this is an amazing way to get their product out to their customer base. In 3-4 days, you may have just shown your product to a 1,000 potential customers.

 

 

Agreed. DH is VP of the family's playground company, and you would be slightly horrified at how much money they 'invest' every year on trade shows/convention type events. At one event, they spend over $40K just on the 'booth space' to set up a full-size playground- and that is some of the smaller spaces. ;) Obviously, there is no way to directly re-coop those monies- its marketing, exposure and an opportunity for industry buyers to see & interact with product.

 

My perspective on homeschool convention vendors is realizing that they are there for exposure as much as immediate sales. That said, I will buy direct as often as I can because I know the fewer 'middle men' the larger the profit margin. While I'm on a budget, I cannot in good conscience spend an hour at someones booth, reading/examining materials, asking a million questions & getting personal advice and then walk away with the intent to purchase said product elsewhere to save a few bucks. Even as a consumer, I'm too connected to small business to ignore the realities of how difficult it is for small companies- particularly those who operate on principle.

[Audrey]

But it boils down to this question. Do we as homeschoolers have a realistic idea of what is involved in producing materials for homeschoolers to use. A company like Peace Hill Press isn't likely to get thousand book orders from a big school system the way that major text book producers do. Some of the margins are incredibly small. But we seem to be (as a collective) quick to jump on a company about their customer service or delivery times or the cost of a year's worth of materials. Are we being short sighted by focusing too much on bargains and not enough on something that might be the publishing equivalent of sustainable growth.

 

In the ten or so years that I've been involved in homeschooling, the number of offerings to consider has exploded. I wonder if ten years from now I will look back wistfully at the golden age when there were so many programs and books to choose from.

 

I have often had this same thought, especially when I see people lambasting companies as being too expensive. Most of the time, the companies in question are producing very substantial products -- either in content quality or in content quantity or both -- yet they are snarked at for their prices, as if people expect them to do it for cost, or even at a loss.

 

I don't think that most people have a real understanding of the costs involved in publishing materials. Print materials are extremely expensive to produce, but so are e-books. Someone still has to develop all that curriculum, and write all those books. Time is money, and the time alone that is invested in producing materials is extraordinary.

 

Yet... I keep hearing the same complaints. I find it interesting that some companies, who claim to be Christian, are the ones most chastized for charging what they do. For some reason, some people think professed Christian companies are expected to give away their hard work at cost or at a loss. A company isn't a charity. You can't expect that and still expect them to stay in business. Someone has to pay for all that curriculum and hard work.

 

Other companies, especially ones who do packages or kits, are sniped at for their costs, too. If you sat down and figured it out, you would spend far more than most of these companies are charging if you had to write the guides yourself and piece together all the components of the curricula and/or kits. But, people do not seem to see that. All they see is that the kit costs $500 (for example) and they can get a few of the pieces on e-bay or Amazon for $8-15 each. What they fail to see, however, is that bargain picking for a few pieces of a whole curriculum is not the same as having the whole curriculum.

 

Lastly, I see people harping on the cost of guides (I'm lumping curriculum guides and outlines, as well as teacher manuals in here). You know... if you want to figure it all out for yourself, that's fine, but don't begrudge someone fair compensation for having done all that work for you.

 

Many of the companies I'm talking about in the above are having a hard time staying afloat. In order to lower the prices, they would either have to cut corners on the publishing end and sell more product at a narrower margin or lose money all together.

 

I have seen many companies disappear in the last 10 years, and just as many companies pop up, only to disappear within a few years or less. I don't know what the future holds for homeschool companies that are operating today, but I don't think, as a group, homeschoolers are very good at supporting them at all. We jump ship at the slightest delays, most minor errors (even when corrected!), or whatever piece of random information we may hear about a person or idea connected to the company.

 

I could rant about this some more, but I won't. ;)

 

Suffice it to say that homeschoolers, as a group, seem to be a fickle and demanding lot with little customer loyalty.

Edited March 24, 2011 by Audrey

[angela in ohio]

Another vendor mentioned that they had been attending the conferences for several years but had seen that they lost money nearly every year. (I assume once they subtracted lodging, transportation and any vendor fee.) FWIW, this vendor sells books that are probably attractive to the same customers who are now considering not coming. So the kerfluffle will have a big impact on his customer base. I would bet a lot that most of those people will still come. Either way, they will be buying the books, either online or at the conference, so that shouldn't make a difference anyway.

 

Finally, there was a comment on one of the convention's FB updates, that basically accused them of being in it only for profit and not giving anything back to the homeschool community. This struck me as rather uncharitable. (FWIW, my dh and I think that national defense is important enough to have devoted our adult lives to military service - but we still depend on the paycheck to pay our rent and buy our groceries. You can be devoted to something and still want it to be worth the time and effort that you put into it.) The sour grapes from the pro-CHEO folks has been around a while. CHEO represented a very, very, very narrow segment of Christian homeschoolers in Ohio, but they had the only convention around. There was a kerfluffle over Cinci starting at all, especially because it was drawing/involved a different segment of the Ohio Christian homeschooling population. I spoke with a vendor the first year at CHEO who said he wouldn't go to Cinci, because it was for "that other group," but you can believe he was there the second year. :D Money talks. Anyway, CHEO had a certain kind of conference, and people wanted something different, so someone else started it. I really don't see CHEO giving much back to the homeschool community in Ohio, anyway. There is another group that handles legislative issues mostly. And they hardly deal with the rest of the state outside of their little area/group.

 

I wrote a bunch more about this on my blog. But it boils down to this question. Do we as homeschoolers have a realistic idea of what is involved in producing materials for homeschoolers to use. A company like Peace Hill Press isn't likely to get thousand book orders from a big school system the way that major text book producers do. Some of the margins are incredibly small. But we seem to be (as a collective) quick to jump on a company about their customer service or delivery times or the cost of a year's worth of materials. Are we being short sighted by focusing too much on bargains and not enough on something that might be the publishing equivalent of sustainable growth. If htey have a quality product and decent business practices, they will be fine. If not, they weren't meant to be in business. Plenty of people (maybe too many) seem willing to shell out many, many hundreds of dollars for products. :001_smile:

 

In the ten or so years that I've been involved in homeschooling, the number of offerings to consider has exploded. I wonder if ten years from now I will look back wistfully at the golden age when there were so many programs and books to choose from.I don't think it's a golden age. I think parts of the explosion are poorly written and a waste. I have said before that I feel bad for new homeschoolers, because there is just SO much, and you can't tell easily what is established and proven. I can see a need for the market to do some weeding out. I think many people think they have what it takes to creat curriculum, and they see it as an easy way to make money. You really need some business savvy, though, to make a go, as well as a high quality product.

 

I think it would be short-sighted for a company to only look at the dollar amount they sell at the conference. It is a form of advertising. For example, if I spend time with them in the booth and buy something a few years later (as the case would be for me and VTI and Lukeion,) they would be missing out if they thought the convention wasn't worth it.

Edited March 24, 2011 by angela in ohio

[angela in ohio]

BTW... is it my imagination, or are the GHConventions the only ones that are not on either extreme of HSing? Not "Statement of Faith" signing or Unschool only? There are so many of us in the middle, and so many who while being on either end can still be mature adults.

 

Yep. I am a conservative Christian, but I am not of the CHEO brand. I remember feeling so relieved and refreshed that first year in Cinci. I called my dh crying and laughing: "There was a guy talking against anti-intellectualism, and someone talked about Latin, and these women have read the classics, and I just don't feel so alone anymore!"

 

They saw a need, and they filled it.

[silliness7]

But such is life in all retail business, not just the homeschool vendor world. The fact is, the retail industry is a difficult to survive in. You have to have a complete trifecta: Great product, great pricing and great service.

 

Lose one of those, and you are apt to lose business.

 

Most small business people become successful, financially, not because of a huge mark up on the individual product, but because of selling mass quantities of the product (penny profits will eventually add up.). Those who try to do it by having a huge mark-up just lost their "great pricing" part of the trifecta.

 

As a consumer and customer, I have the right to choose which of those three of the trifecta are most important to me, or even all three. I do that for everything I purchase, a car, clothing, so why would I not have the right to expect that when I purchase HSing curriculum?

 

The thing is, a business person would know that a convention is not usually a money-making venture in and of itself. It is a marketing campaign, a way to get your product to the masses, with the end result being more purchases, either there or in the future. The more people who know about your product and can see it, the more people who will consider and hopefully purchase it. For small businesses, and publishers, this is an amazing way to get their product out to their customer base. In 3-4 days, you may have just shown your product to a 1,000 potential customers.

 

In the end, businesses will fail. Some curriculums will no longer be offered, and new curriculum will take it's place. That is the way of life. As a homeschooler, I do not feel it my duty to support a business, ie homeschool publisher, store, etc, if they do not suit my needs, which are great pricing, great product AND great service. I have NOT purchased a product that looks amazing because of their horrible service (WinterPromise), just as we do NOT go to a local restuarant because of their overall rude attitudes offered by the waitress and manager.

 

:iagree: I like this post.

[LidiyaDawn]

I rarely buy direct from the publishers/etc.. and this is why ;)

 

Canadian Customer Notice

To Our Canadian Customers:

Please be aware that when we ship books to you from the United States, delivery services such as UPS will be charged customs fees of varying amounts, and they will pass on these charges to you. You may be billed for these fees after your package arrives, and we cannot predict the amount you will be charged. If you wish to avoid paying these higher fees, please consider purchasing our books as PDF downloads, or shopping from Canadian retailers.

 

Most of the actual publishers are in the USA and I'm not willing to risk having to pay 'unknown fees'.

 

I won't purchase "pdf downloads" - I want the REAL thing - so I buy from Canadian home ed retailers or from amazon.ca

[ColoradoMom]

I think it would be short-sighted for a company to only look at the dollar amount they sell at the conference. It is a form of advertising. For example, if I spend time with them in the booth and buy something a few years later (as the case would be for me and VTI and Lukeion,) they would be missing out if they thought the convention wasn't worth it.

 

 

Not only that - it is a total write off for taxes.

[bnbacademy]

I apologize if this has been asked already, but doesn't Amazon have to purchase the books from the publisher in the first place? For example, wouldn't PHP have to supply Amazon with the books to sell? I understand that it would be at a wholesale, negotiated price, but I assume that a publisher negotiates a price to receive some profit at least.