Getting
Started In Stores
By
Susan Beal, susanstars.com
Once
you have perfected a few of your cool handmade designs, try
approaching small, independent stores you like around town.
Call during slow hours (weekday afternoons are usually a good
bet) and make an appointment with the manager or buyer. Bring
a selection of your best-made pieces and your cards and catalog
or line sheet (more on this below). I know this can be nerve-wracking,
but be confident in your work! You’re doing the buyer
a favor bringing cool stuff in; otherwise he or she would
have to go out searching for inventory. Try to be open to
constructive criticism/feedback, too; if the buyer is a jerk,
write off the store, but suggestions from people who look
at cool stuff all day can strengthen your designs, too.
A $3.00
sales order invoice book is invaluable here for keeping simple
records of how many pieces or samples you are dropping off
and how much you are selling them for. Leave one carbon copy
with the shop owner and keep one for yourself. That way you’ll
know for sure how many, how much, and how long they’ve
been there.
Check
in about once a month to see how things are selling.
The
Switchboards is a great resource for advice and business
tips; if you want feedback on your products or designs before
you try your luck at stores, just ask around!
CARDS
AND TAGS
Shop
owners and customers will take you much more seriously with
professional cards and tags for your work. Put your name,
your business name, contact info , and website (if you have
one) on your cards. Try designing them yourself, or ask a
friend—I traded a pendant in exchange for mine. You
can print and cut them yourself at Kinko’s, or get free
ones made at Vistaprint.
After you get your cards made, never, ever leave the house
without them.
For sew-in
clothing tags or custom hangtags, I highly recommend NW
Tag & Label ( 2435 SE 11th Ave in Portland , 503-234-1054).
They’ll work with your own design or create something
new. Once you have tags made, they’ll keep your design
on file forever—very handy for reordering.
CATALOGS
+ LINE SHEETS
If you
offer different designs or fabric choices, a catalog or flip
book of photos is very helpful for showing the range of your
work. Name or number each piece for maximum simplicity (like
Resin Ring in design #4B, or Butterfly Bag in #7 denim lined
with #2 red cotton). If you do one-of-a-kinds only, number
or name them clearly too.
You can
make a catalog using Photoshop, Quark, Microsoft Word, or
scissors and a gluestick. Organize your work into categories
and create pages with good photographs paired with descriptive
text, wholesale prices, and design choices. Don’t forget
to mention things like your minimum order (mine is $150, for
example), shipping options, and return & exchange policies.
Also be sure to put all your contact info rmation on the price
list or first page.
Another
option is a line sheet, which can be as simple as a one-page
list of what you have available and how much you’re
selling it for. Definitely bring (or send, if it’s an
out-of-town shop) samples of pieces with the line sheet.
You may
want to update your catalog seasonally—many shops buy
for spring in January and for fall/holiday in July. Mixing
in new designs or choices can keep your work really current,
and the beginning of a new season is a great time to check
in with buyers.
PRICING
This
is a truly difficult part of the job. There are a few good
ways to get started pricing your work.
One is
the standard formula of tripling your materials and paying
yourself a decent hourly wage. Another is to ask several friends
or crafty businesspeople what they would pay for a piece.
Ask shop owners their opinion, too; you can start something
out at the upper end of your price range and lower it after
a few weeks if it hasn’t sold yet.
CONSIGNMENT
VS. WHOLESALE
There
are two ways to get paid for your work:
•wholesale
means the store will pay you outright for your pieces, either
when they receive them or at net 30 terms (within 30 days
of getting your merchandise and invoice). The store typically
doubles your wholesale price, so you will be paid 50% of the
retail price.
•consignment
means that the store will pay you for a piece after it sells,
and the percentage you’ll receive will be set between
50 and 70%. There is no guarantee things will sell, of course—you
may be getting things handed back to you after a few months;
be prepared to trade old pieces out for new ones.
Either
way, you should get paid in a timely fashion. Many shops pay
on either the first or fifteenth of the month for the previous
month’s sales. Consigning is a little trickier than
wholesaling—ask for a list of which pieces sold, so
you can check it against your own records and make sure everything
is in order. This is especially crucial if you are dealing
with a shop in another city! Good communication is essential.
ONLINE
SALES
Selling
your work online can transform your business. Creating a simple
website, finding hosting, and creating a shopping cart are
easier than ever. Services like DotEasy
or Hexstream
Media provide inexpensive hosting; if you sign up with
PayPal,
they offer a free shopping cart. If you can’t make your
own site, trade for the design—that’s what I did
to create mine, susanstars.com.
Get in
touch with other handmade businesses you like online to trade
links. With more links to your site, you’ll have better
placement on search engines, and more traffic. List your business
on resources like I
Buy DIY and
BUST’s for maximum visibility, too.
Make
sure your URL is on your tags and cards, and add it to your
e-mail signature if you like. Add an opt-in e-mail list on
your site if you want to send a periodic newsletter mentioning
updates, sales, or new products.
+++
Susan
will be posting articles on other creative business topics
like basic web design, DIY marketing and promotion, and organizing
art and craft sales over the next few months, and will have
more how-tos and business advice up on susanstars.com
and pdxsupercrafty.com
