DYMO Endicia

Great Music Cheap

Your Musical Blast to the Past

Great Music Cheap logo Brick and mortar music stores may be a thing of the past, but with GreatMusicCheap.com rare, hard-to-find oldies-but-goodies are not. With the Internet, Endicia, and the U.S. Postal Service at its side, GreatMusicCheap.com brings households near and far
CDs from the 50’s, 60’s, and some from the 70’s.

Rick Ward

Background.  Though not establishing its full-time online sales concept until June 2007, the origins of GreatMusicCheap.com date back to 1962. At that time, Rick Ward, head of the company, started selling music over the radio with a telephone number to place COD orders.

Since mid 2007, GreatMusicCheap.com has used the internet to sell CDs of rare, hard-to-find tunes predominantly from the 50’s and 60’s. Its big sellers include 50’s doo-wop music and music of teen idols of the 50’s and 60’s, such as Annette Funicello and Bobby Rydell. Offerings also include early Rock and Roll.

GreatMusicCheap.com generates about 85% of its sales via eBay. Some 50 customers place orders each day, with each order ranging from 1 to 10 CDs. Accordingly, GreatMusicCheap.com ships from 50 to 500 CDs per day, with 100% shipping via the U.S. Postal Service. Most of the shipments are sent First-Class Mail®, with some Priority Mail® and First-Class Mail International® as well.

Endicia’s Role. GreatMusicCheap.com views Endicia as much more than a postage solution. The company considers Endicia vital to its success. Through the Endicia Standard software, GreatMusicCheap.com keeps an address book of all its clients, saving tremendous time and greatly increasing accuracy by not having to reenter addresses for repeat customers.

GreatMusicCheap.com also derives huge benefit from the Postage Log. The detailed listing of each postage print (e.g., the date, name, address, and mail class) helps answer customer inquiries and provides clients with the comfort of knowing that their needs have been addressed and orders shipped. In the words of Rick Ward, the information conveyed in the Postage Log gives customers a “warm and fuzzy” feeling that GreatMusicCheap.com is “on top of things.” Additionally, by knowing from the Postage Log who ordered and when, GreatMusicCheap.com is better able to promote its business by emailing those clients who have not ordered in some time. GreatMusicCheap.com is also able to keep a quasi-inventory and run more efficiently by entering a description of merchandise for each postage print and having the description show in the Postage Log.

Other Endicia features most valuable to GreatMusicCheap.com are the Clipboard feature and Endicia Insurance. The Clipboard feature enables GreatMusicCheap.com to bring in addresses directly from orders. Endicia Insurance lets it insure shipments worldwide, saving time and money as no paperwork is needed to apply the insurance and rates are up to 65% less than USPS insurance.

Prior to switching to Endicia, GreatMusicCheap.com used stamps, often overpaying for postage, and had to wait at the Post Office for an open counter. Additionally, customer retention was hurt by the lack of an effective record-keeping system to provide customers with shipment details. By using an integrated postal scale and Endicia software’s “Weigh” button to draw in the correctly-rounded weight, GreatMusicCheap.com prints exact postage. Then, employees efficiently drop shipments at a closed counter window at the Post Office™. GreatMusicCheap.com even greatly improves customer satisfaction and retention by copying and pasting shipment information from the Postage Log into email and sending the emails to customers.

Great Music Cheap portrait

"Without increasing staffing from our current level of three full-time and two part-time employees, Endicia has truly increased productivity. Just by not having to wait at the Post Office to deliver shipments, Endicia has saved GreatMusicCheap.com over 21/2 hours per week. Add to that, savings of 7 to 8% from printing exact postage, plus increased customer retention and improved promotional ability from use of the Postage Log, and you’ll see how invaluable Endicia has been to the business," Remarks Rick Ward.

The Future.   GreatMusicCheap.com will expand to carry a much broader spectrum of rare items, including Country music and music from the 30’s. The ease of using Endicia and the resultant efficiency will drive the expansion, with GreatMusicCheap.com moving to Endicia Premium for further benefit.

To learn more about GreatMusicCheap.com, visit www.GreatMusicCheap.com.