Camera Repair Articles

MAXIMISE YOUR R.O.I.
WITH CAMERA REPAIRS
Using Phototechnical's R.B.I. system.

I've always been a fan of R.O.I. - Return on Investment, rather than gross profit, as a method of calculating business effectiveness. After all the purpose of business is to convert your investment into profits.

The percentage mark-up on each item you sell is immaterial if you have a fast stock turnover. To illustrate this, some hypermarkets have an average mark-up of only 3%. But they turn the stock over, three times per week. Their R.O.I. is 9% per week x 52 weeks = 468% pa.

The R.O.I. calculation is particularly true in a retail environment, where you simply have to carry stock, in order to make sales.

In the Camera / Photographic business, I understand that a typical retailer might have an average gross profit of 35% and be turning over their hardware stock around eight times per year. Roughly every six and a half weeks of trading.

So, for a Camera retailer with a turnover of $500,000 per year, they would have to carry around $60 - $70,000 of stock, at all times.

From this they could expect to make an average GP of 35% or $75,000 per year. Their gross R.O.I. (Stock) would then be $175,000 divided by $60,000, giving an annual R.O.I. of 2.9 times or 290%. That certainly beats bank term deposits at 4% per year.

IMPROVING R.O.I.
There are only two practical ways of improving R.O.I.
Clearly you can't usually increase your mark-ups to give you a bigger gross profit, because market pressures will then result in you making fewer sales.

Also you can't reduce your stock, because as a retailer you rely on display and immediate delivery to make sales.

So ….. You can either increase your sales, so that you turn over the same stock, more times per year. Or …. You can sell something extra to your customers that does not have to be held in stock.

Like - Camera repair services or extended warranties on new cameras.

R.O.I. IS MUCH MORE COMPLEX, BUT …
I know that to relate R.O.I. to stock is a gross over-simplification and that your total investment in your business is a good deal larger than stock holding alone.

Clearly at least some of your investments were in the fit-out of your premises, display cabinets, signage etc. Your Yellow Pages and other advertising and promotion expenditure and your time.
In fact when you think about it, there is no end to the amount of investment money you have to spend, before you successfully sell one camera, let alone the number you need to sell to break-even and turn a profit, after paying rent, staff etc.

WHAT HAS R.O.I. GOT TO DO WITH CAMERA REPAIRS?
How do camera repairs affect R.O.I.?
Simply, because every camera repair sold, increases your return on investment!

Unlike a camera sale or a sale of any stocked item, there is no initial cost, or investment. With a camera repair, as the retailer, you certainly don't pay before the repair is done. In most cases you actually pay after you have already collected the money for the repair!

PHOTOTECHNICAL SERVICES R.O.I. MAXIMISATION SYSTEM
The organization I work for, Phototechnical Services (Nationwide Camera Repairers) define their business as creating extra profits for camera retailers and photo processors.

They take your R.O.I. seriously, by reducing the investment costs of doing camera repairs BELOW ZERO.

Basically, with Phototechnical, you can be making profits on camera repairs, for up to two months before you pay anything for them.

This means that Phototechnical are effectively financing their Camera Shop and Photo Processing client's camera repair businesses.

They invest and You get the Returns!

EXTENDED WARRANTY ON NEW CAMERAS
Phototechnical's other product, Extended Warranties on New Cameras, also provides immediate payment by customers, with wholesale price payment afterwards to Phototechnical.
Again, Phototechnical Services invests, and you get the returns!

HOW DOES THIS WORK?
Firstly, as camera repairers and extended warranty providers, Phototechnical Services provide 30 day business accounts for all their customers.

Secondly, on average, they have a turn-round time of ten working days on all their repairs.

That means all repairs undertaken for the first two weeks of the month, will be returned within that month and paid for by your customers, at your retail price.

Phototechnical Services then invoice your organization for the cost of these repairs only, at the end of the month, for payment in 30 days.

In the following month, your shop continues to receive repaired cameras and to invoice your customers for the repairs. By the end of that month, you will have in your bank, the total retail sales for camera repairs for one and a half months, without paying anything.

Only then, will your first payment for two weeks repairs, be payable to Phototechnical Services.

You will have actually have earned profits without investing a single dollar! That's a good R.O.I.!!!!!

The same is true for Extended Warranties, where the cost price of the warranties sold during the month are not due for payment until 30 days after the month end.

Again, Phototechnical Services providing profits before investment!

We don't know any other organization that has deliberately set out to provide profits before investment, so we have created our own accounting term for it:

R.B.I. Return before Investment
(It might have mystified you in the headline)

BUT WAIT ……. THERE'S MORE!
Phototechnical provide Point of Sale material , leaflets posters, shelf talkers, etc., for their retailer partners and a FREECALL 1800 number for telephone diagnosis and cost estimates, while their customers are in their stores, at no cost to them.

Incidentally, we hear that some of our competitors are saying that it's not possible to offer a telephone diagnosis on the phone. But, we are doing hundreds! So call us yourself and try it out, or ask one of our retailer partners!

MAKING PROFITS FOR CAMERA RETAILERS
PLUS …… R.B.I.
At Phototechnical Services we are committed to and succeeding in increasing profits for our retailer partners and to increasing their R.O.I's by providing our unique R.B.I.

"Return before Investment"