Yep I read this articule before and took note. And it runs along the lines I remember when I did A level ecomomics. about the pro’s and cons of large discount sales and overall profit margins. ie it might increase them for the duration of the discount period but overall can have a negative effect on your yearly turnover. Economics 101
And as a buyer I to go with the ethos that a shop not doing too well with sales who then slashes their prices equates bad product, something is wrong with it poor quality, badly made, was originally extremely over priced etc etc and it just doesn’t give me ‘Consumer’ confidence to buy. So I pass and move on. I wonder if other Consumers get that same vibe as I do when I shop.
If I wasn’t busy making and selling glass (got 4 parcels for the post office in a minute
(3 sold directly as a result of my Facebook promotion, 1 from here)…
I would go through this thread picking out those discounting because they are not making sales and want to attract views and I would check how they are promoting themselves ,
… do they have a Facebook page ?
…if they do does it link to their shop here ?
… if they have a link to their Facebook page is it correct ?(I know one isn’t but can’t remember which)
and I would offer advice… but sorry got to go to do some promotion of my own
It is tough for new shops on here, with the number of sales being shown on the shop front, and the feedback figure being quite hard to get now there’s the guest buyer mode. I just don’t think discounting is the right way to go. Effective promoting, good branding, a unique product, all these are how to get sales.I very, very rarely drop the price of things. As I’ve said before, if something isn’t selling, a quick rephotograph and a fresh promote usually sorts that. It’s just about finding just the right customer for that item, and selling it well to them. And you won’t always get those customer immediately, it takes time and a bit of effort. Not just a quick slash of a price.
I hate ‘popping’ on here while I’m having a quick brew. It does eat time away. I’m currently sticking an owl and typing very carefully with my few clean fingers. I give up now, it’s taking way too long
I think the benefits of having a sale is not generally appreciated by the folks in the fora. It’s a real shame, too. I use sales for one reason only - to sell the items in my shop that are still there after a long while. I figure, ‘how long can I go on making the things I love to create if I cannot fund it by selling my art.’ If we have a shop, are we not acknowledging that we are here to sell?’ ‘Why does making handmade mean that I am too posh to discount items that are just sitting there taking up room in my studio and in my shop?’
There are a few reasons that I am prepared to sell my creations at a lower price in a sale such as this.
I don’t want to be sitting here for three days watching shoppers who are counting on these sales to be buying from other shops while I sit twiddling my thumbs
I have items in my shop that haven’t sold after a long time and I want customers who will come back soon and often
I have items in my shop that haven’t sold after a long time and I would like my money out of them so that I have more to purchase supplies (oh that lovely glass!) that will make the art that I hope to make in the future.
I have items in my shop that haven’t sold after a long time at which I am bored looking.
Even the most exclusive of couturiers discount (deeply) what they haven’t sold the previous season. I don’t equate myself to them but if they can do it, so will I If I can generate more interest in my shop without laying out any ££, I will be thrilled. I want this to be my artistic outlet and an income. I can’t see doing one without the other.
I can appreciate a sale as much the next person. In fact I shop in them frequently, and I understand why high street shops do them when a lot of them are selling the exact same goods as each other.
I can assure you I’m not too post to discount. What I am is very aware of how the handmade market works, and that, far from a high street shop, I’m not reaching thousands of people with each ‘ad campaign’ I do. So there may well be a customer out there for my item, I just haven’t reached them yet. I just need to broaden my marketing approach sometimes. There is a cut off time point in my mind that I might consider discounting at, but my items very, very rarely get to that.
Number 1 is exactly what I was talking about in an earlier post. People feeling pressured into doing discounts just because ‘everyone else is’. When, in reality, no one should lose sales to other shops because their work should be unique enough not to be found elsewhere.
2 & 3 are why I would think a handmade shop is having a sale, because they can’t shift things, which would make me question quality, or even desirability.
Number 4, if you’re bored of looking at them, why do you think anyone else would want them? Then they’d have to look at them instead of you. I’m happy to look at my work as long as it’s around. I like what I make, and I’m happy to offer it for sale as I think it would make other people happy to look at it too.
How much mark up is there in clothing? A lot more room to move than a maker like me, that’s for sure. Especially designer brands. They are dropping their prices into a different shopper group’s budget, which is why they can get more sales. But those shoppers won’t be repeat customers unless that designer brand have another sale. So it’s a bit of a vicious circle to keep them buying.
I think it would be really interesting to re-visit this subject after Christmas to see whether those who have offered a discount achieved significantly improved sales as a result. If they did, then perhaps I will just raise my prices (I probably should anyway) and try a huge discount next November!
I have to say while I appreciate your views, I don’t agree with much of what you said, well, all of it ,actually but that is what keeps this world ticking over.
However, having read back exactly what you said there is something more I must say.
Unlike in your shop, all of my items are one offs, never to be replicated. I am sure that it must have taken you quite a while to figure out exactly what is going to sell. You have then chosen to stick with a tried and true design with the ability to make these one after another. While there is nothing wrong with that, I would rather go on and make individual pieces of art that make me happy, Not everyone has the same esthetics and I know I won’t sell every piece I make at what price I would ideally like to sell. I can live with that I do find it quite insulting, really, that you would say that you would question the quality, or in fact the desirability.of my art. Definitely not what I would do when commenting on a post, but then, there are all kinds, aren’t there.
I would like my shop to be part of BLACKFRIDAY as I’m hoping to get my 3rd Folksy sale at least!!
I’ll be offering 25% off all weekend, would love to be featured by etsy!!
I’m actually at a craft fair on the Friday and Saturday, so can’t take part as my shop will be shut. Will there be anything for cyber Monday? Or am I on my own?
On the subject of sales generally - I think its fine to offer items at sale prices to shift stock and make room for more fantastical creations! However I don’t agree with a blanket discount across the shop which is what has to happen if you offer a discount on Folksy so if you want to do a large black friday discount you either have to sell all your products (including your most recent pieces and those with very tight margins) along with those you want to shift or you have to remove those you don’t want to discount which defeats the object of drawing people into your shop.bEven the big stores don’t offer everything in the shop at discount rates!
Luckily I have got a second shop which I use just for this purpose. I have a lot of items left over from days when I was a multi crafter that just don’t fit in with my current shop and are just taking up space so I can happily offer a discount on that shop.
It would be nice if we could pick and choose which items/collections we could offer a discount on because at the moment I don’t really see the point,
I have so many items in my shop now (and really not many sales given that I’ve been on Folksy for over a year now) so I would like to participate in BLACKFRIDAY to try and get some more movement in my shop.
I probably could have worded the quality and desirability bit a bit better.I was actually talking about new shops, with no sales or feedback (which has been my point about this Black Friday thing all along, that they are getting dragged into discounting before they’ve even found out if they could promote well and sell it all at full price).
I like to think that every made to order design (‘replicates’) I create is made with the same care and attention as the first, with hand cut tiles, hand placed into the design so each item is individual from the next making each one a little piece of art for the customer to enjoy. And happy customers make a happy me. I also make one off pieces, I just don’t have them for sale here.
What I have chosen to do is have an idea for a range, I have created a brand, I have created my style and designs, I have researched my chosen area, I have tried and tested numerous marketing avenues to see which ones best work for me to find my target customer, and where I can engage with them so they get a feel for me and my shop, which creates confidence that I am confident in what I’m offering for sale. I also chose to keep adapting, and experimenting to come up with new designs all the time to keep my shops interesting for customers to browse. It is hard work, but I love it, and I appreciate every customer that spends their hard earned in my shops too.
Speaking of made to order, and on another point on this Black Friday sale being so publicly offered on a handmade site. If Folksy gets a reputation for doing a Black Friday sale, how many customers will now be hanging on to buy in case the shop they’re looking to buy from are going to discount in a couple of weeks? So, discount in your shop or not, all the sales could happen over that one weekend. Which, if you make to order like me, creates a bottleneck of orders that could be really hard to manage. making time and materials wise. You know what happened with the couriers last year, they went into meltdown, which delays supply orders for makers like me. I could have a best guess at what will be popular, but I could be caught out with demand, or that another item suddenly becomes popular unexpectedly. Ok for shops with one offs, not so great for me, or other made to orderers.
I was thinking about this. If I were walking down the high street, a month before before Christmas and saw a rather nice craft shop with a big sign in the window… everything discounted 10% - 50%. I wouldn’t go in.
I would assume they were selling off all their old, unsold, unwanted stock (like the Americans clearing the shelves after Thanksgiving ready for new Xmas stock).
I’ve never liked sales. I find it impossible to find the nice stuff under the piles of things being offloaded. Sales of clothing - well do they ever have it left in my size. Of course not so… I don’t do sales.
PS: Now if that craft shop sale was in January that would be a different matter.Might pick up a bargain then…
x