Why Party Plan?
Home parties provide an ideal setting for expanding sales
of our products and raising awareness of the plight of victims
of human trafficking. Hatti products are attractive, well-made,
and reasonably priced. These qualities alone are enough to
compel retail customers to purchase. Attendees at Hatti Home
Parties are similarly impressed with the products, but home
parties also provide a platform to inform potential customers
about the mission behind Hatti Trading, introducing an additional
incentive to purchase a Hatti Handbag or product. Through
the Party Agents’ presentation of the story behind the
company, a “women to women” connection is forged
between western women purchasing the products and the
women who make them.
Home parties have been around for a long time,
but in recent years they have been a growing trend in the
UK. Whether the items for sale are cosmetics, greeting
cards, or kitchen goods, women enjoy and support home parties
for many reasons. They provide an opportunity to have a “girls’
night out” with friends and they provide an opportunity
to purchase quality products. Many women also like the fact
that, when they purchase through home parties rather than
conventional retail outlets, they are supporting entrepreneurial
women building home-based businesses. Hatti party customers
also know that their purchase is supporting women who have
suffered extreme hardships, but are taking advantage of the
entrepreneurial opportunities offered by Hatti Trading to
create a stable, independent, dignified future for themselves.
A recent study of Fair Trade
in Europe notes that “Fair Trade has become one of the
fastest growing markets in the world.” Hatti Trading
is a part of this exciting trend. Its home party scheme, in
particular, is positioned to tap into developed networks of
Fair Trade-minded consumers, and to educate party attendees
who are unfamiliar with the growing Fair Trade movement about
its merits and potential.
Hatti Trading Compared to Other Party
Plan Schemes
Hatti Trading’s party plan scheme is similar to that
of many other party plans in a number of ways: Party agents
are recruited and trained by the company, but they remain
independent; they are not formally employed by the company.
Party agents identify and recruit party hostesses who agree
to invite their friends and associates to parties in their
home or another venue arranged by the hostess. Party agents
follow a company-proscribed format at the parties, providing
information about the company and its products and offering
the company’s products for sale. Products ordered at
the party are delivered in a bulk shipment to the party hostess,
who in turn distributes the orders to the individual customers.
As in other home party schemes, Hatti hostesses receive free
goods as a thank-you gift.
Hatti Trading’s party plan scheme also
differs from other party plans in some significant ways. In
many other party plan schemes, agents are required to purchase
an inventory stock of products that they in turn sell to party
attendees. This can require an initial investment by the party
agent of several hundred or even thousands of pounds, depending
on the price and range of products required to operate a viable
home business. Party agents required to invest in stock this
way also assume the burden of storing their stock as well
as accepting the risk of financial loss for any stock they
cannot sell. In contrast, Hatti Trading PPAs are only
required to invest in a set of sample handbags for display
at parties. The sample kit bags are provided to PPAs at a
discounted price. Hatti Trading’s PPA “starter
kit” is comprised of a sample set of bags in a trolley
case along with a starter set of stationery supplies. If a
PPA decides to not to continue with Hatti Trading after trying
at least six Hatti Handbag parties, she can return the kit
contents in good condition and receive a partial refund. Thus,
the “sunk investment” or potential financial loss
risked in starting out as a Hatti Trading PPA is a minimal
amount. This minimal amount is retained by Hatti Trading
to compensate for shipping, communications, and other costs
invested in enrolling the PPA.
Most other party plan schemes also require Agents
to purchase other supplies necessary to successfully develop
their home business including product catalogues, promotional
materials, training guides, order forms, and other stationary
supplies. Hatti Trading, in contrast, provides training and
promotional materials as well as an initial stock of party
invitations, customer order forms, summary order forms, and
catalogues to new PPAs. Whenever a new catalogue is
issued, a complementary set of catalogues is shipped
to each PPA. Additional catalogues, order forms, party
invitations, and other supplies can be ordered at a subsidised
price.
As with most party plan schemes, the hostess
receives a gift for agreeing to host a party. However,
this hostess gift is provided free by Hatti Trading as a ‘thank
you’ for having a party. The Agent is not required
to buy the gift out of their commission as they are with most
party plan schemes.
As mentioned above, many party plans require
Agents to purchase an inventory of stock at a special price
available to Agents. Agents then make a profit on each item
they sell at the retail price. Hatti Trading PPAs also make
a profit on each item sold, but they are paid on a commission
basis, without having to first purchase the stock themselves.
Hatti Trading also differs from many other party
plan schemes in the way that it recruits, trains, and supports
new PPAs. Most other party plans are “multi-level marketing”
schemes. In these schemes, existing agents recruit new agents
to work “under” them. The recruiting agent orients,
trains, and supports the agents on her “team.”
In turn, she receives a commission on any goods sold by the
agents under her. Thus, it is not only the selling agent that
receives a commission,-several other levels of agents in the
pyramid will also receive a commission on the goods sold by
agents under them. While this model may work well for other
companies, Hatti Trading has rejected this model on the basis
that it seems inconsistent with our Fair Trade ethos. One
way in which Fair Trade companies provide greater returns
to producer groups while still offering high quality products
at competitive prices is by cutting out the “middlemen”
that clutter the supply chains for most retail products. Hatti
Trading directs a greater portion of the price paid by customers
to the producers and to the PPA that sells the bags–-supporting
entrepreneurship and real economic opportunity at both ends
of the spectrum—rather than distributing commissions
through tiers of “middlewomen.” Instead of having
agents trained and managed by more senior agents, Hatti Trading
employs a Party Plan Coordinator who recruits and manages
all PPAs directly.
The most significant factor that distinguishes
Hatti Trading from other party plan schemes, however, is that
Hatti Trading is a socially-conscious, mission-driven company
founded to combat human trafficking and poverty and to promote
human rights and economic opportunity for victims of human
trafficking and other stigmatized and disadvantaged women.
This mission gives Hatti Trading a competitive edge when it
comes to recruiting party hostesses and maximizing party sales.
Like cosmetics, kitchen goods, and lingerie, handbags fit
the profile of products suitable for sale at a “girls
night out” home party. Some Hatti hostesses will
be motivated by the opportunity to receive a free handbag,
host a fun evening for friends, and provide friends with an
opportunity to purchase quality products at affordable prices,
just as in many other party plan schemes. However, most
Hatti hostesses are also inspired by the opportunity to spread
the word about the tragedy of human trafficking and, at the
same time, offer friends a concrete, practical way to help
combat this modern form of slavery. |
