Tradesource

MARKETING CONCEPTS COMPUTERS

Barter Puts the “Byte”

On Oudated Hardware

Chuck Davenport, owner of CD’s PCs, needed to find a new home for a few of his friends without reducing them to a level where he would hurt their feelings. Chuck’s “friends’’ in this case where his second and third- generation computers, which had worn out their welcome at his computer store. Chuck didn’t want to have a year-end sale where he would have to drastically cut prices in order to move his excess inventory. Complicating matters was the fact that Chuck had to act quickly because he was expecting a new shipment of state-of-the-art computers in the next week and he needed the space.

The situation Chuck faced that day would have caused most computer dealers to byte the dust and sell off their excess inventory, only to get little value in return. But Chuck was light years ahead of his competition ever since he logged on as a member of Tradesource, several years prior. Tradesource helps provide Chuck with new customers in a new market place. New customers who have a constant demand for his second and third-generation equipment. The new sales income which Chuck receives from Tradesource allows him the luxury to use barter to purchase many of the day-to-day business products and services he needs.

With a simple call to Tradesource, Chuck was able explain his situation to his trade broker, who in turn found Chuck three takers for most of the in- ventory he was looking to unload. Best of all, Chuck received nearly full value for the computers – in trade.

“The barter customers that Tradesource delivers to me have allowed me to expand my market and increase my revenues and profits while I still maintain my current base of cash customers,” Chuck said. “Best of all, barter helps to cushion my operating budget. I barter for such things as office furniture, printing, advertising, a delivery service . . . even trips for my sales contest winners. These expenses can really add up, but by using barter, I keep the cash I would have spent on these items in my checking account. Barter has really helped to improve my business and my cash flow.”

there are about 400 barter exchanges in North America, with more than 350,000 business members doing in excess of $4 billion annually.

Trade exchanges like Tradesource help cash-strapped entrepreneurs stimulate sales, develop new clients, convert excess capacity or inventory into revenue, and acquire the goods and services they need to conduct business. The most important benefit of barter is that the new business helps to conserve cash. Businesses can trade for things they need and keep their cash for the expenses they may not be able to barter for.

Bartering also can be an ally to small business owners looking to expand. Normally a business owner would have to go to the bank for a loan or save enough from receipts to finance the project. Barter is a way businesses can use the value of their own products and services to fund company growth.

Bartering enabled Phil Murphy, owner of The Computer Place in Buf- falo, to enhance a 5,000-square-foot showroom expansion project. Because of the new customers that Phil’s trade exchange generated for him, he was able to purchase a higher quality of carpeting and flooring, and add a state-of-the-art security system to his show- room and warehouse. Phil also used barter to install a new phone system, and purchased lettering and mainte- nance service for his delivery vehicles.

Computer dealers have discovered a niche marketing avenue to move excess and sometimes outdated hardware inventory — without steep discounting.

Bartering is an idea as old as civilization itself. By strict definition, bartering is the cashless, item-for-item trading of goods and services. Where our ancestors might have been trading chickens for cows, today’s savvy business people are bartering hotel rooms for printing, landscaping for jewelry, or like Chuck, computers for just about anything – all this through the help of a professional barter exchange like Tradesource.

Part accountant, part matchmaker, today’s barter organizations exist to bring their members new business. According to Tom McDowell, Executive Director of the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE),

“I probably generate about $25,000 a year in new business through my trade exchange. That’s $25,000 of business that I wouldn’t have had had it not been for my decision to join a barter company.”