B2B, Business to Association and B2C for a Shrek Party. I could use some help

[Radar]

To give some context to this.

I am trying to earn a bit of extra cash and gain experience by doing what is probably a terrible business venture, but it's low-cost, the experience I gain is valuable, and it's quite exhilarating. (I feel like it's a business chess game, where each player has a move and you have to make the right move)

So, I am part of a student network. The student network announced about a week or two ago that they would be organising a "Shrek Rave Party" — yeah, I know how it sounds. However, given what's happening in the Middle East, I assumed that shipping would take a long time. Therefore, I bought a small number of items (Shrek-specific headbands that only China can produce — bear with me, and glow sticks). Both are very, very cheap. Yet, I have been focusing on the fact that the student group is organising the event, and I have been banking on the idea that they wouldn't have considered what the students would wear.

I sent a message to the student association proposing that we work together to sell these products to students, so that the association could earn some extra cash—and so could I. I’m not joking about the price: the headbands would cost students 5 euros, and the association and I would make a profit. Since they aren’t sold anywhere else, the relative value works in my favour in this case. I just need to ensure that perceived value and actual value are equally understood.

However, the association chose not to respond to me (I had shown the numbers and calculations, not in detail, just the benefits for them. The details were stored neatly in an Excel file) and instead informed students of a place where costumes could be purchased the next day. Not an issue—I checked that place. They didn’t have anything related to Shrek either. So, I contacted the costume company and proposed the Shrek items. They could have made up to 160 euros (in profit) with zero risk. I have a company ready to resell. All the legal, accounting, stock, and pricing matters were sorted. Anything they didn't sell, I would take back.

But even that company declined. I'm not naïve and recognise that both situations involved violations of control (and possibly all the other commandments too, but let's not focus on that for now). For now, there is likely some need being fulfilled despite the lack of perceived value. But control—if both B2B and B2A (the association) failed, I would need to go directly to B2C. However, I couldn't advertise within the student network since it’s owned by the student network, but a few weeks earlier, people asked about a hiking group (a subsection of the student association), and there wasn’t one. So, I created one, and now about a fifth of the student association is part of it—around 100 people. I will start doing B2C there, as I own it and it's under my control, not the student association's.


The event is on the 18th of March. I found out about the event (as did other students) a week or so ago, and about the costume place on the 12th.


I will sell these no matter what, because I know they’re fun and needed for an event centred around Shrek, especially for students.

But what I don't understand—and this is my question—is why both the association and the business refused my offer.

There was no risk for them, and they would have earned money by doing almost nothing. The only reasons I can think of are:

- The association: They might have forgotten what the students would wear, and my message inadvertently reminded them of it. (Note: I offered it as an addition to their stock, in case they already had stock.)
- The business: They may be making higher margins on their existing products (by the way, this company has disastrous reviews about price and quality), so the price of the goods may be much higher than the purchase price. In this sense, my margins may have been lower than theirs, and they thought that if my products were there, students wouldn't buy the other goods (more profitable goods, even though they're not shrek releated).

Otherwise, I am a bit at a loss as to why they didn't accept the offer. If I could do it again, I think I’d probably visit both places in person to let them see and feel the products. See that I am human. Yet for some reason, in this case, I feel as though that wouldn't have changed much.

Have you had that, where you show the numbers and how they work? EVERYONE WINS, and yet they refuse.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

ot xjz cuvj vji ettudoevoup epf vji catopitt sigatif nz uggis.

Tunivonit qiuqmi neli quus fidotoupt, uvjis vonit, vjiz esi timgotj epf fup'v xepv zua vu qsugov gsun vjios pivxusl. Us, nezci vjiz esi epvo-deqovemotvt.

Zua dep'v veli ov qistupemmz -- tuapft moli zua nefi vji SOHJV fidotoup.

 

[Radar]

Tunivonit qiuqmi neli quus fidotoupt, uvjis vonit, vjiz esi timgotj epf fup'v xepv zua vu qsugov gsun vjios pivxusl. Us, nezci vjiz esi epvo-deqovemotvt.

Zua dep'v veli ov qistupemmz -- tuapft moli zua nefi vji SOHJV fidotoup.

Vjepl zua. O siemmz eqqsidoevi ov