Shark Tank - Bantam Bagels - QVC's Margin

Keebies · ‎07-14-2010

I was watching Shark Tank last night (1/9/15) and Bantam Bagels was on. They said they sell to QVC at $19.80/unit and looking at the website, QVC sells them between $49-$53. Granted shipping is included so QVC's margin has to be higher than normal, but that seems really high. I always thought the manufacturer gets a 50% margin and the seller gets a 50% margin - so an item that costs $1 to make, would retail for $4. QVC's margin is a lot higher than 50% in this case.

Lori did the deal so I assume more will be coming to QVC - reviews don't look so good on what they sold so far.

Moonchilde · ‎05-23-2010

Wow, the reviews are terrible, aren't they? Lucky for me that where I live, I have access to freshly baked bagels of all shapes and sizes, and fresh deli whipped cream cheese, for far FAR less $$ than these overpriced ripoffs. Good grief!

Life without Mexican food is no life at all

millieshops · ‎03-09-2010

I truly do not care about the margin - my job as a consumer is to care about my money, not that of the manufacturer or the retailer. If I don't like the price, I just don't buy.

I wouldn't buy those bagels and it has nothing to do with the margin. I can buy bagels locally where I can see the ovens they're baked in. I can buy one or a dozen. I bought Lender's bagels - once. Someone gave me a gift of bagels from Wolferman - once (and I'd not waste my own money), etc.

Margin is not the issue, price isn't even my issue. I want my bagels, my breads, etc. from local sources. If it's already in plastic, I'm not buying even if the margin is 10%!

Can't think of a single reason why Ishould care what their margin is - unless I'm invested financially for more than $39 in the company!

scotnovel · ‎12-31-2013

There is no set margin that most companies use when setting prices or that the manufacturer gets, like your 50% example. For most companies, margins for each of their products can vary greatly depending on a number of things such as the demand for the product. They can get a higher margin on a high demand product. In a restaurant, for example, the markup on all regular and alcoholic drinks is much higher than it is on the food items themselves.

You also don't mention what the $19.80 per unit means - how many bagels are included in a unit & exactly what does that amount cover. Does it cover just the bagels or are other S&H costs added to that amount, like the fancy looking cardboard basket for each dozen (from the Q pictures) and the dry ice when shipped. Those S&H costs may seem insignificant but will add up, and the manufacturer (or QVC) will recover whatever handling costs they have in addition to the base price of the product. That includes warehouse refrigeration costs, wages for packers, etc.

One unit (from manufacturer standpoint) may include less bagels than what is included in the QVC offerings For example a unit could be a dozen or 24 or any other number and QVC sells in lots of 36.

If I can afford the price for a product that I want or need, then I will buy it. For me, what the company makes doesn't matter unless I own stock in it. I've worked in the financial planning area of a Fortune 500 company and can tell you that it is almost impossible for a consumer to determine how much profit margin a company makes on a given product because there are so many costs and variables.

Nightowlz · ‎03-11-2010

Glad you posted who did the deal. I recorded the show & the dvr cut off the end of it. This show seems to run a few mins. late for some reason. I would set up to record a few mins. longer but I always have other shows set up to record. I know I won't be buying any. The price is ridiculous. I know when I worked at Zales when they sent out jewelry repairs they always added on an additional 2 1/2 to 3 times what they were charged. I know where they send some of their repairs & I go there instead of going through Zales.

ValuSkr · ‎03-15-2014

No idea what Q's margin is or should be. But I'm surprised they'd disclose Q's wholesale cost on Shark Tank. On the face of it though, the margin seems okay: Q pays $20 for product and $5 for shipping, then marks-up by 100% to cover its substantial overhead and promotional costs.