Don't 'Over Expose' Your Business

True story - have fun with it...

So - I was doing a craft show in my home town last December. I had just bought a fabulous new blouse from Coldwater Creek with the coolest tiny metalic buttons. Loved the blouse so wore that to the show.

Things were slow and I was sitting down and a couple of people walked by. For some reason I looked down and EVERY SINGLE BUTTON was undone and my shirt was WIDE open.

Let's just say I had 'over exposed' myself!

My face turned every shade of red there was. I honestly don't know if anyone saw me or not. If they did - they didn't say anything. I had my hand on that blouse for the rest of the day and took it back the next week.

So - dress for success - but maybe stick with a pull-over! Carla!

The Economics of Selling Floss

I've been surveying my customers to see if they thought I should start selling embroidery/cross stitch floss in addition to the cross stitch designs I sell. The consensus was an overwhelming YES - especially if it could be sold at a discount like I do with my charts.

So - I spent most of two days looking into wholesale sources for floss. Well here's what I found:

1.) DMC floss is sold in boxes of 12 skeins per box.
2.) The WHOLESALE price (what I pay) of a box around $3.96 - which comes to .33 cents per skein.
3.) The SUGGESTED retail price for a skein of floss is .66 cents.

Wow - I never knew this. Most people tell me they get it at stores like Hobby Lobby or Michaels for anywhere from .35 - .50 cents - but it can be on sale for 4 for a dollar or even 5 for a dollar.

So - what does this mean?

Well - you're local LNS is probably making little or no money when they sell floss. .05 - .10 cents at most. So how can Michaels or Wal-Mart afford to have 5 for $1 sales? They buy 100's of thousands of boxes of floss as opposed to a couple of thousand a year (if that) by a small independent LNS store. So - they most likely get a GREAT deal, at far below wholesale. OR - they can afford to offer a great sale on a low-cost item like floss, because they know you'll most likely come in and purchase something else in addition to floss. This is called a 'loss-leader' and means they're willing to take a small loss on one item to gain a larger overall sale.

So - next time you have the luxury of visiting a local LNS - you'll have a better understanding and appreciation of why their prices on floss are what they are. I certainly appreciate it more!

Now - will I be selling floss? It's a tough call. Let's say I buy all the colors at .33 cents a skein and I offer it for .43 cents a skein. A customer shops at my store (yeah!!!) and purchases 3 skeins of floss for $1.29. I would make .30 cents - that's good!

But then the customer pays with a credit card or PayPal (which I encourage). The minimum fee for a transaction this size would be approximately .45 cents - so I would actually LOSE .15 cents.

This is why you're seeing the minimum shipping costs of $5.00 and minimum purchase amounts of $10 or more on many sites.

I am going to keep pursuing the issue - but I need suggestions. How can I offer this GREAT service to my customers, and not lose money doing it?

Regardless - I thought the whole story might enlighten you as it did me. I always figured floss cost the store maybe .10 or .15 cents and they were really marking it up - but not so.

You're ideas, comments, input etc. are GREATLY appreciated.

And so ends your lesson in economics for today! Thanks for reading! Carla

Making the Most of Business Cards

Business cards are an essential part of any business. It is an easy and inexpensive way to give someone a reminder of what you do, along with the ways a potential customer can contact you or find your store.

I use business cards to hand out when people ask what I do. I include them with orders so people will remember where they bought that favorite piece of jewelry, and I have them sitting on my tables at shows, so future buyers can check out my store or contact me at a later date.

For years I had a standard business card that I was pretty happy with. The supplier was reliable, the quality good and they were inexpensive. However I was limited to 6 lines of information. When I opened my Etsy store and started my blog - I wanted to include additional information on my card. In addition, I wanted my business card to be more of a marketing tool.

Happily I stumbled upon Moo.com. Moo.com allows you to very easily download up to 50 of your own images to use as the front of your business card. In addition, the format I selected had room for nine different lines of text, so I was able to put everything I wanted on my cards. In the picture above the top part of the image is the front of one of my cards and the bottom of the image is the back.

For a jewelry designer this business card solution is perfect because I can showcase dozens of my designs. People often stop at my jewelry table and go through my stack of cards to look at the different designs I have. And, when I tell someone I design jewelry, I can pull out 8-10 cards and go through them to show the person the types of designs I create.

The only drawback is that they are very expensive compared to what I was purchasing before. But the quality is exceptional and I now feel like I have a real marketing tool.