Neon makes comments on Sourcing furniture, and I'd like to converse...
Neon:
With existing 'off the shelf' items the argument is: what's to stop the retailer going around you and buying from a cheaper source? Well... since you're distributing tha minimum order amongst all the retailers perhaps there wont' be enough demand for another importer to take on a minimum order, so you're effectively crowding out the competition.
***Perzactly!***
I do see importers all the time taking off the shelf items and basing their business on it. Some who have good products and distribution deals, usually who've been around for a while, make millions. Others seem to build their company product by product such as https://www.shortgrass.co.uk/catalog/index.php
***Yes, but we have no idea how they are doing financially, and anyone can compete on price with all of them ...***
You could always go in with some pictures of furniture from the internet that you don't see in stores and ask the retailers if they like it. Then you could become the importer, and have a distribution deal with the manufacturer.
***But back to problem #1... compete on price... I challenge the idea that furniture is unique in that aesthetics must be seen to be appreciated. One might shop around for burl card tables (meaning natural rough wood in natural shapes) without ever showing a picture, since furniture retailers already know what this is, but one never sees it as a card table.
I'd also observe if one cannot describe the problem to solve, then one either is not solving a problem, which is fundamental to starting a business, or one ought consider a field in which they can describe a problem to solve.***
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Neon On Furniture
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1 comments:
You can go in and describe 'burl card tables' as you say, but it seems to me to be one of the exceptions where they can give an opinion without first seeing it. '... exceptions such as if you're using a new material, or using patterns from some part of the world that have never been seen before. Or putting old designs on a new medium.' It seems difficult to get feedback on items such as clothing, furniture, bags where the problem it's solving is aesthetic if you're not doing one of these things.
What if you're designing jewellery- Is it possible to verbalize the uniqueness to the point where the retailer can say good idea (how about that example of the lady you give in the videos) What about selling t-shirts with cartoons and slogans.. I've actually tried that but was asked for a 'look book'. Another idea might be a line of traveling bags with each bag in the collection representing a different city. The retailer says good idea, but needs to see some samples first or a catalog because everything still depends on how it finally turns out. 'We can only know if we can sell it after seeing it'. Is it because in these cases the differences between the new product and the existing product is too minor, or the innovation is too small to warrant an unreserved 'yes'?
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