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So your handmade creations are a hit at the local craft market, and you’d like to accrue a bigger band of supporters than just your friends and family? It might be time to investigate getting your goods stocked in a retail shop.
Cintia Gonzalez-Pell, who stocks more than 20 independent designers in Melbourne children’s boutique My Poppet, said crafters and designers should do their homework before they started approaching retailers. She’s more than qualified to dish out advice to ambitious artisans, having spent three years running her retro kids clothes label, Cinti Loves Vintage, before opening My Poppet in August last year. The Caulfield boutique stocks clothing, accessories and toys, much of which are retro-inspired and one-of-a-kind.
Cintia said once she’d moved behind the counter and was being approached by potential suppliers, she quickly learnt “what worked and what didn’t”. First of all, people must learn to deal with rejection, Cintia said. “If a retailer says no to you, it mightn’t be because they think your products are bad,” she said. It could be that they’ve already ordered stock up to a year in advance, or don’t have the physical space for extra products, she said.
“People buy so far ahead of time that their budget might already be expended by the time you come in,” said Cintia who, when Living Creatively spoke to her in August, had already finished buying stock for winter ’09. “I’d love to be able to take more stock but I don’t have the money, room or hangers!”
“I do support the local girls because they’re nearby, but I’m happy to stock any Australians,” Jenny said. ”90 per cent of the patterns I get sent just aren’t my thing, and I just don’t stock anything that I don’t like. If you don’t like it, you’re not going to make up a sample of it, and if you’re not going to promote it you might as well not have it on your shelf,” she said. “I suppose that’s part of the reason why you stock people you have a connection to, because chances are they’re doing something that you like.”
From a financial point of view, the biggest difference between selling your product at a market or through an Etsy shop is the retail mark-up, which Cintia said was usually double the wholesale price. “Think about what the end price is going to be: is that feasible? You might have a market stall and sell something for $10, but that might translate to $20-$22 for a retailer. Is that beyond what people will pay?”
Jenny said amitié’s customers were savvy shoppers, and wouldn’t buy retail if they could buy online for less. So designers wanting to get their products into retail outlets needed to be aware of their competition online.
“A lot of the indie crafters sell their stuff on Etsy, that’s probably the biggest reason I don’t stock more products. If people can buy directly from the person whose making it, that’s the way they’ll go,” Jenny said. “The biggest thing for pattern makers in Australia is that [their prices] have to be comparable with the States,” she said. “People are happy to purchase patterns online, and you’ve got so much choice in the world, so they’ll buy a pattern for $6 out of the USA with a few dollars’ postage compared to paying $20 here.”
Cintia said leaving a wholesale price list with the retailer was a good way of keeping in touch, even if they declined your products first time around. “If you’ve got some material to give them, they can file it for reference and look at things later. It will help them work out retail prices if they’ve got a clear price list of wholesale prices,” she said.
The handmade, limited-run stock gives My Poppet a point of difference from mainstream kids clothing and accessory shops, but on the flipside, relying solely on independent suppliers can make a retail business vulnerable. It’s a sacrifice Cintia said she made to have such unique, ever-changing stock.
“Working with little suppliers is more unreliable, because they work so close to the season. You need to have a balance between small suppliers and more mainstream ones to make sure you’ll have consistent supply of stock,” she said. Cintia said she was flexible with how she ordered and bought stock from wholesalers, and the relationship depended “on the person and the price point”.
Some of her suppliers drop in regularly with bags of hand-knitted goodies – “I guess it’s almost like they’re selling door to door” – and often she’ll test new products on consignment then order a bigger range next time. Cintia said this flexible model worked well for stay-at-home mums who were riding the craft resurgence but had family commitments.
“There are lots of mums at home who can’t go and sell at markets.” She said prospective designers needed to be flexible too, to make up extra items at short notice. “When I speak to my suppliers I ask them at the start, ‘If I get special requests, can you deal with that?’” Cintia said. “Sometimes customers come in and say, ‘can I have this but in a different size?’ and you can make a special request …You might get lucky and they might have some fabric left,” she said.
Often, clever packaging and supporting marketing material can be the deciding factor for retailers. Jenny Kingwell said presentation was “everything” when patterns were stacked in a display unit. “The visual aspect is really important. If you haven’t got a sample, you’ve got a 10-second grab when somebody glances over the patterns stand, and I have absolutely no doubt that people buy patterns from the visual aspect,” she said. “If there’s a made-up sample people will want to purchase the pattern, but if stores aren’t going to display a sample with your patterns the packaging is extremely important.”
Cintia said the most memorable brands featured swing tags and labels that reflected their quirky, individual style. “Maybe have the story about the product, how and where it’s made, and who makes it,” Cintia said.
By Megan Gannon |
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To save everyone time and energy, only approach retailers whose current stock complements your creations. An independent retailer’s personal taste will often influence their decision since they’ll be the ones promoting the product to shoppers. 
But designers shouldn’t bite off more than they can chew, and promise stock quantities that they can’t deliver on time. “If you’re making it yourself you have to be realistic on how long it will take you – don’t say ‘It’ll be ready next week’ if you’ve got 200 bibs to make!” Cintia said. She advised people to be sure of their maximum quantities, especially if they were working with vintage material.