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What does Transomnia
mean?
Founder and MD Shane O’Mahony was in a school Latin lesson aged 13 when
(he claims) it struck him that the combination of the Latin words trans,
meaning across, and omnia, meaning all or everything, would
make a pretty cool name for a global enterprise. When, 10 years later,
he started bringing back papier-mâché lacquer ware from his travels in
India to try and sell to gullible retailers in and around London, he
remembered this youthful epiphany. Amazingly, no-one else had ever
registered it as a company name, so the field was clear for Shane to
create Transomnia.
How long has Transomnia
been trading?
Transomnia's Year Zero was in 1979, so that's 32 years and counting.
The company was incorporated as Transomnia Limited in 1992.
Is Transomnia a ‘Fair
Trade’ company?
This question can be a real minefield. Transomnia aren’t members of, or
accredited by, any of the Fair Trade organisations which have sprung up
in recent years. Having been in this business for over 30 years, we
feel that some of these organisations tend to take an overly simplistic
approach to the often complex issues involved in trading with Third
World countries. We do however believe strongly in trading fairly, and
this principle is at the core of our business. We don't exploit our
suppliers - or our customers - and we don’t deal with companies who we
have any reason to believe treat their employees unfairly. We regard
these as basic ethical principles, not as a marketing tool.
Do you design your own
products?
We employ two in-house designers, and about 30-40% of all our new
products are designed in-house; many more are ‘tweaked’ by us from
products originally offered. The rest is bought ‘off the shelf’ in Asia
– these days many gift producers in developing countries employ very
talented designers themselves, and we’d be crazy not to make use of
their talents if the results fit into our own product directions.
How can I buy from
Transomnia?
We supply retailers, wholesalers, mail order companies, in fact any
bona fide trader buying to re-sell our products. We try to make it as
easy as possible to do business with us; we have sales agents in all
parts of the UK and Ireland (click on the 'Sales Agents' tab at the top
of the page for details) who’ll be happy to come and visit you with
catalogues and samples and discuss the range with you. You can also
order a catalogue directly from us (see the 'Contact Us' page). We’re
happy to open a credit account from your first order, provided you’ve
been trading for more than 12 months and can provide satisfactory trade
references. If you’re a new business, or you just prefer to pay
up-front, we can invoice you on a pro forma basis with a 2.5% pro forma
discount.
Will you supply any
retailer who wants to buy from you?
We try to be loyal to independent retail customers who are loyal to us.
What this means in practice is that – especially in small towns
and villages with a single shopping centre – we won’t open
a new independent retail account which would be in direct competition
with an established existing one. We don’t see anything to be gained
by selling the same goods to two nearby outlets competing for the same
customers, either for us or for them. However there are many factors that
go into such decisions. If a retailer is spending only a very small amount
with us relative to their overall buying, then it’s not reasonable
to expect us to show them more loyalty than they’re showing us;
nor is it if they don’t pay their bills on time! And, in larger
towns and cities, it’s often possible to supply two or more accounts
if they’re a sufficient distance from one another. If you’re
interested in opening an account with us, please contact our sales agent
for your area who'll be in the best position to discuss these issues with
you.
What’s your minimum
order?
If you haven’t bought from us before, the minimum first order value is
£300, which is also carriage-paid to anywhere in England, Scotland and
Wales (carriage paid to offshore islands, Northern Ireland and Eire is
£500). Re-orders can be as little as £100, but there’s a £12 carriage
charge (in England, Scotland and Wales – elsewhere it’s charged at
cost) added to orders below the carriage paid minimum.
Do you have a showroom /
Cash-and-Carry?
Yes we do – see the ‘Contact Us’ page for details of how to find us. If
you’d like to buy cash-and-carry and/or visit the showroom, please give
us a ring so we can make sure there’s a member of staff available to
help you (and put the kettle on). The minimum cash-and-carry purchase
is £100, and there’s a 10% discount if you spend over £300.
Do you export?
Yes, we can and do supply customers anywhere in the world (we’ve even
supplied Chinese-made products to a department store in Hong Kong,
which was a bit weird!). If you trade in the Eurozone we can invoice
you in either Sterling or Euros. The minimum export order is £300 /
€400. If you have shippers in the UK we’ll deliver to them free of
charge, otherwise delivery will be charged at cost. All export orders
are supplied on a pro forma basis with a 2.5% pro forma discount.
How do I know that
products will be in stock when I order them?
Hmmm ... stock levels are always one of the hardest things for any
supplier of imported products to manage. We have to try to predict
sales of more than 1,000 products at least four months before they
happen, and then make sure the stock is there in time to fulfil those
sales. We don't get it 100% right (we'd have retired long ago if we
were that good), so there will be times when some products are
temporarily unavailable, but we often hear it said that we do better
than most giftware importers at maintaining stocks.
What happens if some
products I’ve ordered aren’t in stock?
When you receive your order, any items which are unavailable will be
noted on a balance order form, together with an indication of when we
expect them to come back into stock. If the value of the balance is
more than £50 (£150 for offshore islands and Ireland) we’ll send it
carriage-free when available, unless you ask us to cancel it. If it’s
less than that, we’ll cancel the balance unless you ask us to retain it
and add to it to bring the value over £50/£150. Balances of export
orders are always cancelled.
Can I get better prices
if I buy more?
Yes! All our products are supplied in packs of varying quantities –
small, cheap items come in bigger packs than large, expensive ones. We
also have ‘bulk packs’ of all items, which are 4-6 times the basic pack
quantity. Bulk pack prices are around 10-12% lower than the list
prices. Plus, if the value of your order is over £1,000 you can take a
further 2.5% (30 day) settlement discount.
Why can’t I order
online?
As well as a comprehensive catalogue, we have sales agents covering all
parts of the country, and our research indicates that the majority of
our customers still prefer to place their orders using the catalogue
and/or with our agents. If we made our web site a transactional one
we’d undoubtedly get numerous orders placed in that way, but most of
them would be ones that we’d have received anyway, directly or via the
agents. This makes it hard to justify the costs of setting up and
maintaining a transactional web site. However we do keep this issue
under review, so if you have any thoughts on the matter please do let
us know.
Do you sell to the
general public?
No, we don’t. Ours is a wholesale business, and we don’t think many of
our retail customers would thank us for setting up in competition with
them. Any enquiries we receive from the general public are referred on
to an appropriate reseller.
I sell online. Can you
provide me with images of the products I buy from you?
Yes! We can provide you with images of specific products you’ve
ordered, and/or our entire catalogue as a high-res PDF file.
I’ve got a question not
mentioned above – how can I find out the answer?
Just click on the "contact us" button at the top of the page to send an
enquiry to our sales team, who’ll be happy to answer any other
questions you may have.
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