The final retail price of a climbing hold is a very simple formula:   C + P = Retail Price

C is cost and is determined by adding up all the associated costs/expenses to produce the hold itself and the costs to have an e-commerce store. P is Profit or how much you are willing to produce the holds and sell online for.  If you have a retail store as well, there could be another hundred or more expenses not listed here.  Keep in mind that all costs listed below go up in price every year.   

The expenses associated for just the e-commerce store are now greater than all other costs!

Here are some, but not all of the possible expenses to produce climbing holds:

Costs for Manufacturing Climbing Holds

• Research and Development (R&D)

  • Design Costs
  • Prototyping
  • Time
  • Designer fees

• Raw Materials

  • Polyurethane Resin
  • Color Pigments
  • Molds
  • Silicone
  • Foam or Clay and other materials
  • Release Agents
  • Washers
  • Import Duty, GST and Shipping

• Manufacturing Process

  • Casting
  • Sanding
  • Stocking Shelves
  • Quality Control
  • Replacing molds when they wear out.
  • Time

• Labor Costs

  • Skilled Labor
  • General Labor

• Equipment and Maintenance

  • Sander
  • Compressor
  • Pumps
  • Vaccuum Chamber
  • Drill Press
  • Dremel
  • Varoius hand tools
  • Maintenance of the shop
  • Computer
  • Phone
  • Printer
  • Shipping Label Printer

• Packaging and Shipping

  • Packaging Materials - boxes, tape etc
  • Time

• Warehousing

  • Storage
  • Inventory Management

• Marketing and Sales

  • Website and E-commerce. (detailed list below)
  • Advertising
  • Sponsorships
  • Donations
  • Social media 
  • Time associated with performing these tasks

• Overhead Expenses

  • Utilities
  • Rent and Property Taxes
  • Insurance: Public liability, building etc

• Miscellaneous Costs

  • Office Supplies
  • Employee Benefits
  • Royalty payments

Some of the Expenses of Selling Climbing Holds Online

Almost every aspect of running and maintaining a e-commerce store is now an ongoing monthly/yearly subscription.

Website Setup and Maintenance

• Domain Registration - annual fee for each domain
• SSL Certificate - annual fee for each domain
• Web Hosting - monthly fee
• Website Design and Development - ongoing
• E-commerce Platform Fees - monthly fee
• Payment Gateway Fees - percentage of every sale
• Shipping Integration - fee for every service offered
• Email Certification -paying a thrid party to certify email is from your domain (thank you spammers)- monthly fee
• Product photography - ongoing, can pay or DIY

Marketing and Advertising

• SEO Services - ongoing
• Content Marketing - monthly fee
• Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising - daily fee
• Social Media Marketing - daily, monthly or weekly fee
• Purchasing stock photos
• Graphic design
• Promotional materials
• Affiliate Marketing - depends on agreement; percentage of sales, monthly, cost per click
• Integrations to Connect Shop to Social Media - monthly fee
• Sales Channel Integration - fees for every sales channel used (ebay, catch, amazon, bunnings etc etc etc)
• Time to maintain and keep all of the above running
• Paying third party for review collection- monthly fee

Customer Engagement

• Email Newsletter Services - monthly fee
• SMS Marketing - monthly fee and per txt fee
• Customer Reviews and Testimonials - monthly fee
• Live Chat Software - monthly fee
• Time to produce and maintaine the above

Operational Costs

• Inventory Management - one time fee possibly monthly
• Shipping and Fulfillment - per item shipped
• Packaging Supplies - monthly fee
• Returns Management
• Vehicle expenses: insurance, fuel, service - monthly, yearly fees
• Accounting - monthly fee

Technical and Administrative Costs

• Software Licenses - annual fee
• IT Support - per issue or monthly
• Data Analytics Tools - free for the most part
• Legal - annual fee

Customer Service

• Support Staff - as required
• CRM Software - monthly fee

Miscellaneous Costs

• Business Insurance - monthly fee
• Office Supplies - monthly expense
• Employee Benefits - Super at 10% or more on top of wages