Pricing Scenarios: Banners

Aaron Aldrich Updated by Aaron Aldrich

One of the most common items we are asked to set up for new users is a banner. We have developed a couple different pricing templates that are pre-loaded into new customer accounts. If you are a customer migrating from signVOX or an older shopVOX customer, we can import these sample products into your database as well.

This article will cover some of the ways to create a template. So even if you are not interested in this product, you still might find value in learning the process of setting up a pricing template.

So let's get started...

Banners are a simple item but with lots of possibilities.

How you choose to set this up will typically follow one of three philosophies. They are:

  1. By the finished size and weight
  2. By the finished square foot and weight
  3. By the sum of the parts based on the size

Pro Tip: Make sure the "use template" checkbox is active for your product if you want to augment the base price with items from your database. It isn't required but the only way to access materials, labors and machine rates. (I.e add a rush fee, installation, pole pockets, etc.)

Scenario 1 - Finished size and weight.

Selling banners by a fixed size is simple to do in shopVOX. The idea behind it is, more often than not, you sell a lot of banners of a certain size and type. When someone asks you for the price of a banner you would easily say, "$70 for a 2x3 or $125 for a 4x8".

Easy peasy.

Here are the steps:

Step 1. Go to:  Company menu > POS settings > $ pricing > products > then add new at the top.

Step 2. Give it a name and a description, keeping in mind that the customer can see it. Don't worry you can always change it if needed when you add it to your transaction. In this case the name should reference at least size and weight. (I.e. Banner -13oz - 4x8)

Step 3. Select the pricing type of "Basic". Use template if needed.

You will need to enter a cost to produce the product and then ideally enter a retail price into the price field. You could also generate the price by entering a markup on the cost you entered.

 Unit of measure should be set to “Each"

Step 4. Hit save. This item can now be added to any transaction as an item. Without a template, it will only ask you for quantity.

Pricing with this product on an estimate or order looks like this:

PROS:

  • Easy to setup in shopVOX and add to estimates/orders/invoices
  • Discounts available for quantity
  • Importing available for product setup
  • Price can be augmented with use of the product template.

CONS:

  • Requires a product for each size, weight and media type
  • No area discounts.
  • No way to adjust size or BOM (Bill of Materials) on the fly.
  • Limited auto-generated work order details
  • Lends to an unorganized product list

Scenario 2 - Finished square foot.

Selling banners by the square foot is a popular method with our users. These users typically have few banner types, simple scenarios for double sided printing and already know what the market price is for the banner.

Follow the guide below on how to build one.

Here are the steps:

Step 1. Go to: Company menu > POS settings > $ pricing > products > then add new at the top

Give it a name and a description, keeping in mind that the customer can see it. Don't worry you can always change it if needed when you add it to your transaction. In this case the name should reference at least media weight. (I.e. Banner -13oz ).

Step 2. Select the pricing type to "Formula" then set the formula to "Area". Use template if needed.

You will need to enter your cost to produce a square foot of the product and then ideally enter your retail price into the price field. You could also generate the price by entering a markup on the cost you entered. Unit of measure should be set to "Each"

Step 3. Hit save. This item can now be added to any transaction as an item. Without a template and based on the formula of area, this item will ask for width, height and quantity.

Pricing with this product on an estimate or order looks like this:

Notice that you have the dimension fields automatically based on the formula type, in this case area. This also shows a custom field added to the product for grommets. Customize away!

PROS:

  • Easy to set up in shopVOX and add to estimates/orders/invoices
  • Discounts available for quantity and size/total area.
  • Importing available for product setup
  • Price can be augmented with use of the product template.

CONS:

  • Longer product lists (10oz banner, 13oz banner, 18oz banner as products vs picking the product banner and choosing a material of a certain type.)
  • Unable to swap materials vs deleting and adding products.

Scenario 3 - Sum of the parts

This method of selling banners is referred to as standard based pricing or cost plus. Either way the final price is based off of the BOM within the item. (I.e 13oz banner media, ink density, hemming, grommets used, time for machine to print and shop time. Together they tally up to the final banner price)

Follow the guide below on how to build one.

Here are the steps:

Step 1. Go to:  Company menu > POS settings > $ pricing > products > then add new at the top.

Give it a name and a description, keeping in mind that the customer can see it. Don't worry you can always change it if needed when you add it to your transaction. In this case the name should be generic in nature. (I.e. Banner - digital print).

Step 2. Select the pricing type to "Basic". Select "use template".

You will not need to enter your cost or a price in this situation. This is what the templates is for.

 Unit of measure should be set to "Each"

 Step 3. Hit save.

Build the template based on the needs of the product. Learn more about templates. shopVOX Pricing Templates

Here I have the attributes desired to make the template function with size requirements and yes/no scenarios. They stay in use because they are being referenced by a material, labor or machine rate within the template.

You can add your own attributes by going to:  Company menu > POS Settings > Pricing > Pricing Attributes > Add new.

Step 4. Once your attributes are selected, start building your template with the materials, labors and machine rates you desire. Once finished you will have a custom product ready to price.

This item can now be added to any transaction as an item. The options you are required to complete will be based on the template you've designed for the product. Pricing with it will look similar to this:

PROS:

  • One product many scenarios
  • Discounts available for quantity and size/total area.
  • Importing available for product setup (materials etc.)
  • More intelligent estimating scenarios for faster creation, more consistency and requires less experience to estimate properly.

CONS:

  • They’re challenging to grasp at first. Pricing templates are only 30% of the software but 70% of the setup work.
  • Initial setup can be time consuming, however once they are done; your hard work pays off as you estimate with them over time.

Finishing up

As you can see I now have essentially the same item in my pricing library but with very different product description layouts.

Once all the details are in the database, pricing with these scenarios is a breeze. Try it yourself by adding pole pockets, ropes, wind slits and any other pricing variable needed. You can easily build any type of product using the same concepts. Simply decide what makes the most sense for the product you are going to build.

As always let us know if we can help.

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