Local hammocks

[Cuttinedge1]

Me and my younger cousin were considering making table cloth hammocks and selling them for around $20 to small local outdoors stores and allow them to mark them up to $30. I believe they would like this because they are making a $10 dollar profit off a $30 item which is considerably more than other items. We learned how to make them from all you guys so thank you. We plan to market them as locally made hammocks with the suspension included. I believe we can make the hammock at a lighter or equal weight to enos at half the price. I don't know if we should make this comparison visible to the customers. Enos are very popular were I live. Kickstarter?? Sorry for the really long post but any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[SilvrSurfr]

Me and my younger cousin were considering making table cloth hammocks and selling them for around $20 to small local outdoors stores and allow them to mark them up to $30.

How do you tell the store "I'll allow you to sell it at $30?" I've heard of suggested retail price, but I don't see how you restrict them from selling them for whatever they want.

What is the purpose of this endeavor? From a business perspective, it sounds like a short-lived and not very profitable venture. If they become popular, people will eventually discover they're tablecloth hammocks and they can make one themselves for less.

The people who would buy these hammocks, just sitting on a shelf in a store, would likely be just like ENO purchasers - casual users, mostly new to hammocks and not really interested in learning more. They just want something to hang in the back yard; they're not hammock campers.

I'd be worried about how a tablecloth hammock performed when subjected to the abuse of casual users. Personally, I would probably recommend the ENO over the tablecloth to the casual user - they're probably a lot sturdier.

[Cuttinedge1]

$30 would be a suggested retail price. The two purposes of this venture at one to get some practice making hammocks and also to get some entrepreneurship practice(of course any profits would not go to waste). Many people don't own sewing machines so they couldn't make their own. Also the casual user would want a hammock cheaper than $60 plus however much the "atlas straps" cost. I know casual users might not know proper hammock care but I still don't know how there would be much more abuse.

[Ramblinrev]

I would strongly suggest consulting with a product liability attorney. You are re-purposing materials which have not been tested for the use you are putting them to. It is one thing to do this for yourself, but another to make and sell them commercially. If some one sat down with a sharp object and went through the bottom you could be facing an extremely uncomfortable lawsuit, investigation and possibly even criminal negligence for using materials "any reasonable person" would believe would be unsafe. The tablecloth hammocks are suggested here for individually making their own gear and prefer lightweight gear. You are taking a big risk with commercializing this.

If I were a store owner I would laugh you out of my shop for suggesting that I should sell your item so far below standard retail mark up. I think you have a lot of things to consider. If you want to get practice making hammocks perhaps a more thought out procedure would be to work with some Scout organizations on a volunteer basis.

[Cuttinedge1]

Ok thanks I didn't know if plastering the label with warnings would help but probably not. It was just a thought.

[gmcttr]

Ok thanks I didn't know if ...

That's what the attorney is for. If you get past the attorney, the next stop is an insurance agent for liability insurance.

Besides strength and use/abuse...these tablecloths are from China. Some have suggested they might have chemicals applied to prevent mold during long term storage and shipping. Do they? Is one out of one million people allergic to this? Do they need laundered before use?

You better know the answers to these and similar questions before the first one is sold commercially.

[Cuttinedge1]

This would all be nice assuming I had money to spend on a lawyer or insurance

And another one bites the dust
-queen

[Cuttinedge1]

Thanks for pointing out all this it really saved me. A lot of time and money

[Brien]

Business 101, every stop along the way doubles the price...at a minimum. There is no way a store would agree to sell a product with only a 50 % markup. Your business acumen leads me to think you'd be better off trying to sell them to your buddies.

[Cuttinedge1]

Yeah your probably right