Minimum Order Quantities

For Our Custom Products.

 Let’s get straight to it! No Minimum Order Quantity?

There are certain economies of scale at work in the production of custom products, such as the ones we sell. Custom enamel pin badges, patches, keyrings, commemorative coins, bespoke medals, faux leather patches to name but a few. Here we will find out what the ideal minimum order quantities are for the products we sell.

Economies of scale can be defined as “a proportionate saving in costs gained by an increased level of production.” We don’t need an interpreter to understand this. The more you buy the more you save per piece.

With our custom products, there are certain setup costs involved, and depending on the item in question, will determine the value and complexity of such a cost. Let’s take a look at some of the custom products we sell at Studio Dais.

Pins by ALWAYS NERVOUS PINS (link to site)

Custom Enamel Pins

Minimum Order Quantities: Whilst we can make just one personalised enamel pin, we would never suggest this. The bare minimum is really 50 pieces, although we do suggest 100 pins as the sweet spot. As an example, due to the set up costs involved such as artwork preparation, the die-stamping tools and the man power to achieve just one 20mm custom soft enamel badge, the cost would be £92.

This is really just the costs minus the other badges. To complete this order to 100 badges would take us to £163 (inc VAT) and 200 20mm soft enamel badges would be £208 (inc VAT). As you can see, doubling the badges does not necessarily double the price, as the economies of scale are at work here. To best illustrate this, take a look at the uber-scientific diagram we prepared earlier.

Economies Of Scale

 Custom Woven And Embroidered Patches

Minimum Order Quantities: Our custom patches are much like our custom personalized pins, with no minimum order, but again, we strongly advise all of our clients to go for 100 pieces as a bare minimum, no matter what the design or size, as the economies of scale are also at play here. No surprise.

So why not benefit by choosing 100 patches as standard?

As an example, one 60mm woven patch would cost £105, while 100 x 60mm woven patches would cost you £142 (inc VAT), while 200 of the same patches would cost you £176 (inc VAT). Economies of scale in effect!

The Downside to Economies Of Scale With Custom Enamel Pins, Patches + All Other Bespoke Products

Unfortunately, the economies of scale is no genie in a bottle, eventually the costs start to rise once a certain level of production is achieved, but on a cost per piece basis, you still benefit by lower relative costs overall.

All of our other products follow the same pattern. Including our bespoke medals, commemorative / enamel coins, printed keyrings, hard / soft enamel keyrings, bike head tube badges, woven clothing labels, football / fashion acrylic scarves and jewelry / rings. The more you buy in one go, the more money you can return.

The ‘Bad At Business’ Person

We have a lot of emails from small to large businesses, bedroom creative and established graphic designers telling us they need just five badges, or 10 patches, and the best answer we can give to this is; How will you grow with such small amounts? Let’s say you run a graphic printed t-shirt brand, you have sold 20 t-shirts to friends, family and some new customers, things are looking up, so you decide to invest the profits into five enamel pin badges (good move but could be better).

The Emperor Wears Loads Of Clothes

Because you wanted to spend your newly earned money on new clothes, you decide to get five custom hard enamel pins made to your own design, when they arrive (we take 3 to 4 weeks as per industry standard) you start promoting them on social media. All five sell out on your website instantly, then you receive five more orders, and the next day you receive another ten and you suddenly experience exponential growth.

By the end of the week you have sold 122 hard enamel pin badges, but have no badges to ship! You decide to order another 117 pins right away, but as you did not invest in express production, over the next 3 to 4 weeks you have 60 refund requests, and the remaining 57 customers start getting cranky and demanding to know where their orders are and eventually more drop out never to come back. Sounds horrible yes? Don’t be this business owner.

The Take Away Lesson

Invest in your ideas, this includes your precious time and money. Think / plan ahead, fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Understand the external factors that can make or break your business, such as PESTLE analysis (Political, Economic, Sociological, Technological, Legal and Environmental). No matter how hard you try you can not change the threats of PESTLE, only worth with or around them as best as you can. And last but not least, think like your customers, because it’s about answering THEIR needs, not yours. Adding value is key!

We welcome you to try Studio Dais, no matter how big your company is, what your experience in design and manufacturing is or what stage your design is at, we look forward to hearing from you soon. We are here to make things easy for you. Simple.