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Posts Tagged ‘price’

Can You Get Credit When Buying USB Memory Sticks

Wednesday, September 21st, 2011

Promotional USB memory sticks printed with a company logo and pre-loaded with sales brochures, data sheets and press releases are all the rage at the moment and look set to replace CD’s and DVD’s and in some circumstances to replace printed brochures.

USB Credit Cards

USB Credit Cards

The price of promotional USB memory sticks has fallen dramatically over the past couple of years whilst the amount of memory you can get for your money continues to increase. These factors have contributed to a greater uptake of USB sticks but it’s the convenience and ease of use of USB sticks coupled with the fact that customers love them that has really fuelled their uptake.

Despite the fall in the price of flash drives a typical order value can still run to hundreds and in some cases thousands of pounds and most suppliers will insist on payment with any order or at best payment before any order is delivered. Whilst making the payment might not be a problem (particularly if you have a company credit or debit card) sometimes internal approval and payment processes can conflict with the timeframes you need to achieve on delivery.

At USB2U we are happy to accept request for credit terms on any orders including first orders (irrespective of the

USB Memory Sticks

USB Memory Sticks

value) and providing the credit checks we undertake are passed (most companies do) then any order for USB memory sticks will be supplied on 30-day payments terms starting from the date we send the sticks out and not the day any order is placed with us. This approach allows our customers to focus on getting organised for their events, shows or press launches and allows them to leave their finance teams to handle the payment.

Don’t forget that in addition to Free Credit (subject to approval) on every order for USB flash drives we also offer free 4 colour printing, free data-loading (up to 100MB), free gift boxes, free lanyards and free UK delivery. We also think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by our prices which are some of the most competitive in the industry! Interested? Then give us a call on our Freephone number 0800 008 7079 or fill out a quote request on our web site.

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Can You Get Credit When Buying USB Memory Sticks

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Why Do Small Quantities of Printed USB Flash Drives Cost So Much

Monday, July 18th, 2011

In tough market conditions more and more companies are turning to USB flash drives printed with their logo on in an attempt to engage with their customers, stimulate sales or just inform prospective customer about what they do.

Typically the USB flash drives will be pre-loaded with sales brochures, white papers, price lists, product specifications, video files and links to websites. Occasionally this pre-loaded data is “locked” onto the flash drive so it cannot be deleted but typically the data can be removed (deleted) by the users once they have read it – this is the recommended approach because it ensures on-going use of the flash drive by the recipient and as a result you get on-going brand exposure.

Most companies buying printed USB flash drives will typically order between 100 – 500 pieces with the most commonly requested memory size being 1GB or 2GB. These memory sizes are large enough to carry most companies pre-loaded data and they’re big enough to ensure they get used by the recipient.

Twister USB Flash Drives

Twister USB Flash Drives

If you order less than 100 USB flash drives at a time then you’ll notice a sharp increase in the unit price. Whilst some companies will print and supply as little as 25 USB memory sticks at this quantity level the unit cost is pretty steep. The reason for the fairly dramatic price increases when you order in small numbers is simply because there are a lot of fixed costs in the production and delivery that have to be amortised across a much smaller number of USB sticks. Examples of these fixed costs are:

  • Print set-up costs. Every print colour has an associated cost – each ink colour has to be bought and a “screen” has to be made for every colour before the USB sticks can be printed.
  • Carriage costs from the factory. Most USB flash drives are produced and printed in China and they therefore have to be shipped into the UK using carries like UPS, TNT or DHL.
  • HM Revenue & Customs charges. As the USB sticks arrive in the UK VAT has to be paid on them in addition to which there are normally associated VAT “handling” fees.
  • QA checks, anti-virus checks and speed performance tests have to be performed on a sample of every order before they are released to a customer.
  • Re-boxing – When the USB sticks arrive in the UK it is not unusual for multiple customer jobs (particularly small jobs) to be consolidated into a single box. These consolidated shipments need re-boxing after the QA checks.
  • UK shipment costs – because of the time critical nature of most USB flash drive orders they are typically sent on the final leg of their journey by next-day courier.
  • Invoicing and payment costs – every order needs a formal VAT invoice raised and of course the banks and card companies make a charge for handling any payment to clear the invoice. If payment terms are offered there can be additional costs in chasing the payment of invoices.

When the costs illustrated above are spread over an order for say 500 USB sticks they only add pennies to the unit cost but spread over say 25 USB sticks the additional cost per stick can be quite hefty!

Where possible it’s recommended that you buy your USB flash drives in quantities of 100 plus but if you do only want 25 pieces then you can buy them from USB2U

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Why Do Small Quantities of Printed USB Flash Drives Cost So Much

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NHS Hospitals Challenged To Save £500m On Basics

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

NHS hospitals in England spend around £4.6bn each year on a huge range of supplies but this is just a small proportion of the overall budget of the NHS which stands at £100bn per annum.

Even though its less than 5% of the overall NHS spend it’s still a huge amount of money and the National Audit Office

USB Flash Drives

USB Flash Drives

(NAO) is clear that significant savings can and must be made by the NHS hospitals. The spend includes many everyday items like paper clips, gloves, bandages, USB flash drives and paper.

The worry (and the opportunity) is that the Trusts that administer the spend on behalf of the hospitals are not being sufficiently smart in the way in which they procure products and services. Too often lots of small orders with multiple suppliers are placed rather than a larger consolidated order that would attract discounts. The administration costs of handling lots of small orders are equally expensive and the Audit Office believes that using the power of bulk orders could save £500m.

There are also huge price variations for the same item(s) across the Trusts with the prices paid for the same items varying by as much as 100%. The NAO calculated a variation on more than 5,000 products of 50% or more so there is clearly plenty of scope for savings to be made.

Whilst USB flash drives are a relatively small part of the overall spend of NHS Trusts it is a spend that could be better managed. Too often we hear of Trusts just placing “repeat orders” for flash drives at the same price they’ve been paying for years. Flash drive pricing not only falls year in year out but the pricing is dynamic and driven by currency exchange rates and global demand and as such it would be in the interests of every Trust to not only challenge the price every time an order is placed but to get competitive quotes.

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NHS Hospitals Challenged To Save £500m On Basics

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USB Flash Drive Price Trends In 2010

Wednesday, January 12th, 2011

It’s always interesting to look back over the last 12 months to get a feel for how prices for USB flash drives might move during the coming 12 months. As we enter 2011 one thing is already certain and that is demand for branded and promotional flash drives is going to show further year on year growth but, what is less certain is how prices for flash drives are going to react to yet another year of rising demand.

USB Flash Drive Price Trends - 2010

USB Flash Drive Price Trends - 2010

During 2010 there were several key events throughout the year that had a marked effect on prices of USB flash drives at the factory gate and these include:

  • Chinese New Year – for around 2-3 weeks in February China effectively “closes for business” whilst it celebrates the New Year. The impact is a huge jump in demand before the Chinese New Year Holidays as customers rush to get their orders before the factories close and backlogs in shipping orders once the factories return and start up the production lines again. In the run up to Chinese New Year prices increase by around 10% – 20%.
  • The run in to Christmas Production – As production settles down after Chinese New Year there is typically a gradual reduction in price across the range of memory sizes with prices bottoming out around the month of June.
  • Christmas Production Begins – As surprising as it might sound the factories that produce flash modules and flash controller chips start to ramp up production to fulfil Christmas orders during July and August. As you might expect the increase in demand during this period pushes up prices with typical increases of around 5% – 10% being common.
  • 4th Qtr Tail – Barring any unforeseen events such as factory fires and power outages prices tend to tail off during the 4th quarter to end around 30% lower than they were at the start of the year. The price falls are more extreme for higher capacity memory drives, e.g. 16GB drives where prices fell by around 45%, conversely lower memory capacity drives only fell by around 15%.

Assuming the trends in 2011 are broadly similar then we’re about to see prices spike to the highest level they’ll be all year before a bumpy fall of between 15% – 45% during the year.

Assuming you need to buy promotional flash drives during 2011 the optimum points to buy are June or any time in the 4th quarter. Of course in “real life” it’s rarely pricing that determines when you buy your flash drives but other key events like product launches, press events, trade shows and sales promotions. At least armed with this information you are better placed to understand why prices fluctuate throughout the year and better informed when it comes to negotiating with your suppliers.

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USB Flash Drive Price Trends In 2010

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How Many Branded USB Memory Sticks Does £500 Get You

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010

If you’ve only got a relatively small budget for branded USB memory sticks and you want to know how far you can stretch it then there are some steps you can take to maximise your spend. There are also some pitfalls to be aware of when trying to “trim” costs so that you don’t end up with poorly finished sticks that are prone to failure.

Things to do to ensure you are getting value for money and that you don’t overspend unnecessarily include:

  1. Shop around. There are lots of companies offering to supply branded USB memory sticks these days so make sure you get at least a couple of quotes and make sure you get a fully inclusive price. Its perfectly acceptable for the actual carriage costs to get the sticks to you to be quoted separately but all other set-up costs, origination costs, data-loading costs etc. should be factored into the unit price when you are making comparisons.
  2. Don’t pay for lots of unnecessary memory. USB memory sticks come in various memory sizes starting at 64MB and going all the way up to 32GB. The most popular memory size for a promotional USB stick is between 512MB and 2GB. USB memory sticks of this size are large enough to carry your companies brochures, sales material and media files as well as being large enough for the recipient to use for the storage of their own data.

    If you are looking purely at “lowest cost” promotion giveaways then think about using a 64MB or 128MB stick. These will be the cheapest options. The downside is the usable memory on them won’t make them that attractive to the user because they’ll fill them pretty quickly but they still have a reasonably high perceived value and they’re useful for distributing your own information.

  3. Printing is expensive and consequently the more colours you want printed on the USB memory stick the more expensive it’s going to be. It’s worth considering reducing complex logo’s with lots of colours to a single or two-colour version. Single or two colour prints still look great you just need to be more careful about choosing a body colour for the memory stick that works with the logo.
  4. Don’t leave it to last minute to orders your branded USB memory sticks otherwise you’ll have to buy locally held and locally printed stock. Many USB suppliers will hold some local stock but you’ll have far less choice in terms of style and memory size and you’ll pay significantly more to get them printed locally rather than during the manufacturing process at the factory. A lead-time of around 10-14 days should be ample.
  5. Stick to the more popular factory designs like the Twister USB flash Drive or other “classic” models. You’ll pay a premium for wood, metal and custom USB flash drives.
USb Memory Stick

USB Memory Stick

In your search for value you should also be on the lookout for the following:

  1. Companies that offer a price that simply looks “too good to be true”. If one company’s price is significantly cheaper than the other quotes you’ve been given then it’s worth double-checking that you are not being offered Grade B (re-cycled) flash modules. It not uncommon for these to be passed off as “new” by some less reputable companies. The USB memory sticks will look and feel the same as the genuine article but Grade B chips are notoriously unreliable and tend to be very slow at transferring data.
  2. Make sure the suppliers you’re talking to have a contact phone number and a proven track record of delivery. If things don’t arrive on time or there is a subsequent problem with your order that you need to resolve then it’s important that you are able to get hold of them. With growing amounts of business conducted over the its increasingly difficult to know just how big or small the company you are dealing with actually is. Don’t be afraid to use resources like Google Earth, Companies House and other Trade bodies to check them out.
  3. Be aware that the price for USB memory sticks is volatile and driven by a number of factors including the currency markets, the supply/demand for flash chips around the world and Chinese Holidays! Because of this it’s important to get any price locked down and confirmed in writing.
Branded Memory Sticks

Branded Memory Sticks

As a general rule of thumb you should be able to buy around at least 165 USB Memory sticks that are supplied in a gift box with a 2-colour print. These will be USB sticks at the bottom end of the memory size but they should be supplied with new, Grade A flash chips and controllers.

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How Many Branded USB Memory Sticks Does £500 Get You

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Cheap Branded Memory Sticks for Schools & Universities

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Perhaps we should qualify that statement and make it clear we’re not talking about cheap in any negative or derogatory way but rather cheap as in fantastically discounted offers that are only available to Schools & Universities in the UK.

Why are we offering such good deals? Well, put simply we want your business and we want to be able to demonstrate to

Branded Memory Sticks

Branded Memory Sticks

you (if you’re not a customer already) why you should be buying your branded memory sticks from USB2U. We also appreciate that school and local education authority budgets are coming under renewed pressure and we want to help you get the best bang for buck when buying your USB flash drives.

Rather than making you jump through hoops to get the best deal you can we’ll lay out very clearly and simply what we can offer you and at what price. There are no hidden extras, not nasty incidental costs that are tucked away in the small print and there is certainly no compromise on the quality of products. We only ever supply branded memory sticks with Grade A flash memory chips modules and we certainly never supply re-cycled or “re-graded” flash modules because whilst these are cheaper they have a high failure rate and are to be avoided.

As a school you will be guaranteed immediate trade terms for any order for branded memory sticks or custom flash drives and we offer this irrespective of your order value. All we need from you to get the ball rolling is a school Purchase Order or an email confirming your order from your school email account. That’s it. Simple isn’t it.

Here the full list of fantastic discounts and benefits we offer to schools:

  • Free design & mock-ups
  • Free samples
  • Free plain coloured lanyards or key ring attachments with every memory stick
  • Free data loading
  • Free delivery to any UK mainland address
  • Free small gift box (or we can supply in individual poly bags)
  • No quibble 30-day payment terms on all orders
  • Discounted pricing

Interested? Please give us a call or fill out our on-line enquiry form and one of our team will get in touch with you.

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Cheap Branded Memory Sticks for Schools & Universities

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