INITIAL TEST POSTING
Today, I'm testing the waters on KivaOnline's new blog -- After more than 22 years in Mom&Pop retail: shows, fairs and bricks&mortar, transitioning to a 100% online operation is not without its anxiety!
We've had our website up since 1996 -- 11 years -- but have only actually transacted sales from it since February of this year. The results have been encouraging enough to give us the idea to close the Main Street gallery.
So.... after all my years of expressing my beliefs about the value of Main Street commerce, and how small town retailers need to stick together, I've become part of the problem. The problem is that it is difficult to impossible for small-scale, niche market retailers to turn profits from a bricks and mortar operation alone. A lot of retailers we know have adopted a combination of b&m and online sales to keep even with past years' sales. We know. We did it for many years.
As a result, customers -- collectors -- get the short end of the stick, as is usual. Since most small operations are either folding up or moving online, the average person interested in American Indian handmade arts will find a smaller and smaller circle of choice when it comes to finding items. Especially if they want to have the opportunity to actually take an item in hand and feel it's weight, see how light plays across the surface -- in short, experience the item before making the purchase decision. We have found that our online customers are usually pretty savvy when it comes tot he work, so they familiarize themselves with artists, techniques and levels of quality associated with price-points. It's a smart investment of time that pays off for both the customer and the retailer.
It also means that a retail merchant's reputation is going to be very, very valuable. We've worked very hard to keep our customers coming back, and can recall several families where we have sold to the grandchildren of the original customers. Seeing them come through the door and catching up on how the fgamily is doing is one of the things I'm going to miss, but paying out the huge pile of overhead from a shrinking opile of income...that stress is something I hope I eventually forget. We'll see how Kiva moves into the future, but from where I'm writing this, it looks better than it did in February!
posted at: 19:25 | path: | permanent link to this entry