How to sell shrink-wrapped software
Internet is undoubtedly one of the most efficient ways to distribute software applications to the end users. However, not always it’s the best medium for selling broad market apps, as Beyond.com would tell us. Exposing the product through regular retail channels like CompUSA or BestBuy is very tempting, but where do you start? DevX has the article on selling shrink-wrapped software products through retailers, working with the publisher and figuring out the profit margins. The last part, as the article claims, can be negative:
The investment needed to get a product into just one store, says Seeyle, is at least $100,000 and that’s just for the cost of goods. Whether you ever see a return is another matter—retailers won’t pay you until the consumers pay them. And you’ll be expected to take return delivery on all unsold inventory.