We seem to have reached a plateau, normally when people say this it is seen as a negative in that you are no longer moving forward or learning something. But in this case I see it as a positive. We seem to have figured out our client base and are now attracting some amazing new crafters to the shop and to our events and so many are returning customers which is even more proof that what we do, we do well. The icing on the cake is when our regulars pop in with friends and you hear them say 'this is what I wanted to show you, isn't it gorgeous?'. Then we really know we're doing something right.
But .... we have learnt that no-one will do the work for you, and to be honest never expected it. We are an independent trader, and as such must stand or fall on our own merits and hard work, but we did expect a little better communication and promotion within the site we're on. This may seem slightly trite but to give you an example of what we are up against. We are based at a gorgeous farm shop in the middle of the Shropshire countryside but we are neither employees or outsiders. We pay rent for the shop and try to support and promote any activities the site are doing as that helps everyone. The ToyShop is independent too and we always advertise any specials they are organising. The site is not big enough for one part to go off doing their own thing without damaging another. So, we foolishly anticipated joint advertising of events. But no, a simple thing like their blackboard which welcomes you to the site only includes elements that they own. Might seem sensible, after all why should you advertise something you do not get direct benefit from? You have your own site to promote, and that should always be your priority - we understand that. However, we had a customer in on Sunday saying I didn't want veg and thought they only sold food till my friend told me you were here too. She then went on to say that actually she had bought some food for her tea as it all looked rather lovely. My point is, had they decided to advertise the whole site rather than just their own elements they would be attracting a wider audience who then impulse buy their gorgeous food and intend to return. We get a lot of customers saying the same thing, had they realised there was more than just a farm shop they would have been down sooner and now they know where we all are will be back with their friends.
Two of our crafters that supply the shop and are close enough to walk to us (that's how local we really do work) came through the farm shop asking why she didn't see our name anywhere and how on earth would people realise their work was being sold? We had to explain the scenario discussed above that because we are not strictly part of the site we don't get included. One cup of tea and much huffing later we were already giggling and plotting how to plant Hippos in the celery or other such subversive acts!
The other message coming back loud and clear was that folk like the craft markets we put on. While handing out leaflets to customers the reactions were pretty much all along the lines of 'oh I'm so glad you're doing those again, we love bringing our friends up here then' one lady was really impressed that we normally have a live acoustic set going as her children were fascinated by live musicians. Generally everyone was saying what a lovely atmosphere it created and trying to work out when their friends and family were visiting and could they all pop up for lunch.
Because this is the rub, by getting people onto site they go for lunch they use the playbarn and generally potter around the whole site. They may have come for a craft fair but are delighted to find so many other elements to the site so is it really that dangerous to be including us on their advertising? We love being where we are, the scope to work with so many amazing artists is incredible and as a landlord (apart from the communication) we couldn't ask for better but the frustrated Hippo is growing daily which is a shame as it can so easily be rectified just by using a piece of chalk and adding us to a blackboard. We shall keep plugging away, keep working with awesome crafters and listening to very contented customers and meanwhile always keep a piece of chalk in my pocket in case the chance arises to add a Hippo or two to the blackboards!
Monday, February 18
Monday, February 11
The Crafters' Dilemma
We have reached a bit of a mid point dilemma with the Hippos and it's all to do with buyer's perceptions, crafter's capacity and pricing structures. We set out with the noble intentions of only stocking hand crafted items from local makers and in the beginning it was great. People were keen to get involved, stock was arriving constantly and folk were eager to see what new things we had in stock.
But then capacity problems hit us. Hand crafters by their very nature take time to make, and many of them have to have jobs to support their lives. All quite understandable, after all the gas board don't care how beautiful your work is they just want their payment. And then we hit another aspect. As we came to learn about our customer base it became clearer what would and would not sell. This is no reflection on the care and skill of our makers, just the harsh reality of some things sell in some places and not others.
So, we took the decision to buy in some things such as books, magazines, and other items that have been bought in that our makers cannot make such as jossticks and soapstone carvings from around the world. We are heading towards a 3 way split between those crafters that are professional and can work to lead times, hand crafters who are essentially hobbyists and a third from items bought in. The bought in items allow us to have constant stock so the shop doesn't look empty and takes the pressure off us chasing already frazzled hand crafters. We took the decision to not buy in items that someone makes, so for instance we would never re-sell bags as we have several textiles crafters that supply us. However, we potentially hit the dilemma of if customers want the bags (for example) but our crafters cannot supply them due to personal capacity issues what do we do? Do we stick rigidly to our ideals but not pay our rent or do we buy in to cover the shortage till our makers bring new stock. And then, what if customers prefer the bought in items? And worse still, if we start hard chasing crafters we remove the fun and very essence of why they started in the first place. Eek is the word rattling round my head most days.
And then we turn to our customers. This was a startling discover on Sunday. A very pleasant lady and her daughter came into the shop, we had a lovely chat about how the majority of the work is handmade locally and she was impressed with that. She then went on to say that it's a shame that the High Street is full of items brought in from China and how lovely to see different things sourced locally. But here's the rub, what she actually bought were items that I had bought in from China - didn't have the heart to remind her that these pieces were not made locally but it got me wondering. Are customers so used to what a craft shop should look like that they are unable to distinguish between the items and worse are we wasting our time by having this ethos?
There are 3 key issues facing the Hippos and sadly they all settle ultimately with the sordid topic of coin or money.
1. Hand crafters take time to produce, they cannot mass market otherwise they would be a factory and not handmade but that may leave us with an empty shop if we stick rigidly to our ethos.
2. Customers whether we like it or not do seem taken in by items brought in from abroad, as shown by my Sunday customer and there is a sense of safety in having seen something before - new scares some people.
3. If we bypass the hobbyist crafter just to stay in business they may never get the chance to be seen and that would be disastrous for all the up and coming crafters we come across and completely defeat what we wanted to achieve.
Time is an issue too, what was supposed to be a shared venture is actually me running round like a headless chicken trying to stay afloat. We would love to become a social enterprise but so far the social seems to be missing somewhat, and the longer it continues the more likely it is that the Hippos become a business like any other because we will have invested so much time and money that why on earth would we hand it over? It's like if you own a house and someone lives there rent free while you're doing it up, and once all the hard work is done they say oh great I live here so that means I can have half doesn't it? Err no, we didn't see you with the paintbrush at 3am or not eating one night because the cupboards were empty and no money to buy food. The flip side is no-one forced us to do this, but it is a little sad when the inital promises of support and shared ideals haven't materialised, but again real life takes over and don't think any of us envisaged just how hard a slog it is to get momentum for a new start up.
We're doing quite well for a start up business in a recession and all things considered we should be around for quite some time to come. Hard lessons are being learnt and they are not necessarily the ones I expected. However, the dreamer and idealist in me will just keep popping up ideas so that somehow we will achieve the crafting village that was first envisaged but it may be a new project and the shop remain as our business separate to it. The momentum is definitely building, more and more are getting really interested in what we're up to but the hand crafters' dilemma will still remain and it's up to us to balance it so that they get a chance, we stay in business and the customer's enjoy shopping with us.
But then capacity problems hit us. Hand crafters by their very nature take time to make, and many of them have to have jobs to support their lives. All quite understandable, after all the gas board don't care how beautiful your work is they just want their payment. And then we hit another aspect. As we came to learn about our customer base it became clearer what would and would not sell. This is no reflection on the care and skill of our makers, just the harsh reality of some things sell in some places and not others.
So, we took the decision to buy in some things such as books, magazines, and other items that have been bought in that our makers cannot make such as jossticks and soapstone carvings from around the world. We are heading towards a 3 way split between those crafters that are professional and can work to lead times, hand crafters who are essentially hobbyists and a third from items bought in. The bought in items allow us to have constant stock so the shop doesn't look empty and takes the pressure off us chasing already frazzled hand crafters. We took the decision to not buy in items that someone makes, so for instance we would never re-sell bags as we have several textiles crafters that supply us. However, we potentially hit the dilemma of if customers want the bags (for example) but our crafters cannot supply them due to personal capacity issues what do we do? Do we stick rigidly to our ideals but not pay our rent or do we buy in to cover the shortage till our makers bring new stock. And then, what if customers prefer the bought in items? And worse still, if we start hard chasing crafters we remove the fun and very essence of why they started in the first place. Eek is the word rattling round my head most days.
And then we turn to our customers. This was a startling discover on Sunday. A very pleasant lady and her daughter came into the shop, we had a lovely chat about how the majority of the work is handmade locally and she was impressed with that. She then went on to say that it's a shame that the High Street is full of items brought in from China and how lovely to see different things sourced locally. But here's the rub, what she actually bought were items that I had bought in from China - didn't have the heart to remind her that these pieces were not made locally but it got me wondering. Are customers so used to what a craft shop should look like that they are unable to distinguish between the items and worse are we wasting our time by having this ethos?
There are 3 key issues facing the Hippos and sadly they all settle ultimately with the sordid topic of coin or money.
1. Hand crafters take time to produce, they cannot mass market otherwise they would be a factory and not handmade but that may leave us with an empty shop if we stick rigidly to our ethos.
2. Customers whether we like it or not do seem taken in by items brought in from abroad, as shown by my Sunday customer and there is a sense of safety in having seen something before - new scares some people.
3. If we bypass the hobbyist crafter just to stay in business they may never get the chance to be seen and that would be disastrous for all the up and coming crafters we come across and completely defeat what we wanted to achieve.
Time is an issue too, what was supposed to be a shared venture is actually me running round like a headless chicken trying to stay afloat. We would love to become a social enterprise but so far the social seems to be missing somewhat, and the longer it continues the more likely it is that the Hippos become a business like any other because we will have invested so much time and money that why on earth would we hand it over? It's like if you own a house and someone lives there rent free while you're doing it up, and once all the hard work is done they say oh great I live here so that means I can have half doesn't it? Err no, we didn't see you with the paintbrush at 3am or not eating one night because the cupboards were empty and no money to buy food. The flip side is no-one forced us to do this, but it is a little sad when the inital promises of support and shared ideals haven't materialised, but again real life takes over and don't think any of us envisaged just how hard a slog it is to get momentum for a new start up.
We're doing quite well for a start up business in a recession and all things considered we should be around for quite some time to come. Hard lessons are being learnt and they are not necessarily the ones I expected. However, the dreamer and idealist in me will just keep popping up ideas so that somehow we will achieve the crafting village that was first envisaged but it may be a new project and the shop remain as our business separate to it. The momentum is definitely building, more and more are getting really interested in what we're up to but the hand crafters' dilemma will still remain and it's up to us to balance it so that they get a chance, we stay in business and the customer's enjoy shopping with us.
Monday, January 21
Dreaming is what Hippo does best
Apologies for not posting for a while, been slighty chaotic inside the small brain lately!
Ok, so where have we got to? We now have over 40 makers in the shop, not exactly setting the retail world on fire but it is taking off. We're seeing lots of returning customers and they love the stories behind our makers. Who wouldn't? They are so varied and each maker arrived at us through such unique routes it's fascinating.
Craft fairs, again getting there. We struggled a little last year because footfall wasn't the greatest at some events but as always we take the criticism on board, listen to the grumps and try and put them right. We know that the venue is critical, but balancing the accessibility against venue is tricky on times. Had an interesting conversation with our newest Hippoette about this on Sunday, and thankfully the crafters see all the hard work we put in and just feel flat for us that sometimes the venues don't seem to be as supportive as they could be. So we are trying to be more realistic. Stick to those that are working, try new ones for a while but need to be a little more business minded and cut them if they don't work.
I have also discovered that I am now getting bored! Not that the shop isn't great, and loving what it's achieving but I didn't set out to be a shopkeeper. Nothing wrong whatsoever in being a shopkeeper but we're starting to get some serious interest from economic regeneration teams around our area and that part really gets me excited. The thought of being able to create something of a meaningful scale is just too tempting to my brain. I've already had talks with a few people about expanding the Hippos and if we can get it to work, my goodness it will be awesome for everyone.
One thing I've tried to stay away from on here and on FaceBook is the politics of it all. However, think it's reaching that stage now where you kind of need to hear some of it. So, for all of you that just want pictures of the cat - log off now!
One aspect of work that is particularly frustrating for many is having no control over their own destiny, even William Morris recognised this one. And for us as the Hippos what we are trying to achieve is a working craft village where they do start to take control of their own work. For some it may not work, but the chance to try it is something that just seems too far off for many and that needs to change. We're not trying to say we are the only ones that can do this, however we are finding that folk trust the Hippo idea, feel confident to ask the questions and we have seen some amazing growth from so many Hippoettes that it would be fantastic to offer that out a little more.
So, the small brain will continue to come up with random ideas - some will work some will just be too bonkers to consider. But think about this for a second, if no-one ever tried something so silly we wouldn't have aeroplanes or radio or other such amazing inventions and ideas. The dreamers are needed, but thankfully I have a lovely sensible group around me to flesh out details into something manageable. Hippo xx
Ok, so where have we got to? We now have over 40 makers in the shop, not exactly setting the retail world on fire but it is taking off. We're seeing lots of returning customers and they love the stories behind our makers. Who wouldn't? They are so varied and each maker arrived at us through such unique routes it's fascinating.
Craft fairs, again getting there. We struggled a little last year because footfall wasn't the greatest at some events but as always we take the criticism on board, listen to the grumps and try and put them right. We know that the venue is critical, but balancing the accessibility against venue is tricky on times. Had an interesting conversation with our newest Hippoette about this on Sunday, and thankfully the crafters see all the hard work we put in and just feel flat for us that sometimes the venues don't seem to be as supportive as they could be. So we are trying to be more realistic. Stick to those that are working, try new ones for a while but need to be a little more business minded and cut them if they don't work.
I have also discovered that I am now getting bored! Not that the shop isn't great, and loving what it's achieving but I didn't set out to be a shopkeeper. Nothing wrong whatsoever in being a shopkeeper but we're starting to get some serious interest from economic regeneration teams around our area and that part really gets me excited. The thought of being able to create something of a meaningful scale is just too tempting to my brain. I've already had talks with a few people about expanding the Hippos and if we can get it to work, my goodness it will be awesome for everyone.
One thing I've tried to stay away from on here and on FaceBook is the politics of it all. However, think it's reaching that stage now where you kind of need to hear some of it. So, for all of you that just want pictures of the cat - log off now!
One aspect of work that is particularly frustrating for many is having no control over their own destiny, even William Morris recognised this one. And for us as the Hippos what we are trying to achieve is a working craft village where they do start to take control of their own work. For some it may not work, but the chance to try it is something that just seems too far off for many and that needs to change. We're not trying to say we are the only ones that can do this, however we are finding that folk trust the Hippo idea, feel confident to ask the questions and we have seen some amazing growth from so many Hippoettes that it would be fantastic to offer that out a little more.
So, the small brain will continue to come up with random ideas - some will work some will just be too bonkers to consider. But think about this for a second, if no-one ever tried something so silly we wouldn't have aeroplanes or radio or other such amazing inventions and ideas. The dreamers are needed, but thankfully I have a lovely sensible group around me to flesh out details into something manageable. Hippo xx
Tuesday, January 8
The sordid topic of coin
We've hit a bit of a snag! Not a major one, but if we don't address it soon it will become a major one and possibly close us down which would be a crying shame as we are so so close to being really sustainable.
The snag: we need to create an income to pay all our bills but we're not quite managing it yet.
Possible solutions:
increase the % we charge all our sellers
only deal with what we call professional crafters
buy in items to re-sell
close down
With each of these options there is a plus and a minus, some obvious and some not so obvious. If we increase the % we charge all our sellers then all the prices need to go up to ensure that what each crafter wants for their item is what they receive which may well put customers off. Also, some sellers may be uncomfortable with this idea as they have an idea of what the market will bear for their work so either need to reduce what they are happy to receive or use an alternative retail outlet.
Only deal with professional crafters - the reason this option is on the table is because if each seller sold at least £150 pcm all the %s add up quite nicely to pay the bills. However, a small crafter often produces smaller quantities or lower value items due to their capacity issues as most have a main job while they try to transition to becoming a full time crafter. The obvious snag here is that if we only deal with professional crafters we lose the ability to offer hobby crafters the chance to show off their work and gain valuable feedback to take them to the next level. If we had sufficient stock from everyone it would probably work, which takes us back to potentially only dealing with professional crafters who have the capacity and means of production to produce in volume. And, again if we asked smaller crafters to produce in volume it takes away the fun and the reason they started - often to escape the 9-5 pressures of an external employer which is the role we would have to take on and that in turn would mean they say I didn't sign up for this.
Buy in items to re-sell - the obvious thing here is that it completely goes against what we stand for in that we want to offer locally hand made original work and buck the trend of only finding the same things everywhere. However, we do stock some items that are not hand made already such as books and kits so allowing a small element of stock to be re-sold items isn't quite such a horrific thought. But obviously we can't buy in items that one of our crafters currently makes, the easiest example is dreamcatchers.
There is a big argument for supporting fair trade and giving workers around the world a fair deal, and we want to do that too. If we ask crafters to reduce their costs they in turn have little or no chance of making it for themselves and we would be doing them such an injustice that quite frankly we would deserve to be closed down. There is also the argument that we are in retail, we do have to compete with the real world and maybe the fight can't be won, maybe we were a little too ambitious in our thinking. Or maybe we just got the figures wrong in the first place.
But here's the rub - we are just so so close to making it work that with a few tweaks here and there it's almost touchable. But, at what point do we draw the line and say we are unable to subsidise anymore. Because up till now we've taken the hit, we've never taken a wage or even been paid for our work to allow for the cashflow to build up. We don't expect sympathy, it was our choice after all but we did anticipate it turning around slowly so that the early months of not taking payment would eventually turn around but sadly it's not turning that fast and our food cupboards are constantly empty!
So, to all you crafters out there - we'd love to hear a suggestion or solution. If you were working for a company that continually didn't pay you yet expected you to work a 60 hour week I can imagine what most of your reactions would be! Sorry if this sounds pessimistic for the Hippos, but we will work something out and I suspect the simplest one is to put the % up so that everyone can get involved if they choose to. But if someone has an out of the box solution that we didn't consider then please shout up, Hippo xx
The snag: we need to create an income to pay all our bills but we're not quite managing it yet.
Possible solutions:
increase the % we charge all our sellers
only deal with what we call professional crafters
buy in items to re-sell
close down
With each of these options there is a plus and a minus, some obvious and some not so obvious. If we increase the % we charge all our sellers then all the prices need to go up to ensure that what each crafter wants for their item is what they receive which may well put customers off. Also, some sellers may be uncomfortable with this idea as they have an idea of what the market will bear for their work so either need to reduce what they are happy to receive or use an alternative retail outlet.
Only deal with professional crafters - the reason this option is on the table is because if each seller sold at least £150 pcm all the %s add up quite nicely to pay the bills. However, a small crafter often produces smaller quantities or lower value items due to their capacity issues as most have a main job while they try to transition to becoming a full time crafter. The obvious snag here is that if we only deal with professional crafters we lose the ability to offer hobby crafters the chance to show off their work and gain valuable feedback to take them to the next level. If we had sufficient stock from everyone it would probably work, which takes us back to potentially only dealing with professional crafters who have the capacity and means of production to produce in volume. And, again if we asked smaller crafters to produce in volume it takes away the fun and the reason they started - often to escape the 9-5 pressures of an external employer which is the role we would have to take on and that in turn would mean they say I didn't sign up for this.
Buy in items to re-sell - the obvious thing here is that it completely goes against what we stand for in that we want to offer locally hand made original work and buck the trend of only finding the same things everywhere. However, we do stock some items that are not hand made already such as books and kits so allowing a small element of stock to be re-sold items isn't quite such a horrific thought. But obviously we can't buy in items that one of our crafters currently makes, the easiest example is dreamcatchers.
There is a big argument for supporting fair trade and giving workers around the world a fair deal, and we want to do that too. If we ask crafters to reduce their costs they in turn have little or no chance of making it for themselves and we would be doing them such an injustice that quite frankly we would deserve to be closed down. There is also the argument that we are in retail, we do have to compete with the real world and maybe the fight can't be won, maybe we were a little too ambitious in our thinking. Or maybe we just got the figures wrong in the first place.
But here's the rub - we are just so so close to making it work that with a few tweaks here and there it's almost touchable. But, at what point do we draw the line and say we are unable to subsidise anymore. Because up till now we've taken the hit, we've never taken a wage or even been paid for our work to allow for the cashflow to build up. We don't expect sympathy, it was our choice after all but we did anticipate it turning around slowly so that the early months of not taking payment would eventually turn around but sadly it's not turning that fast and our food cupboards are constantly empty!
So, to all you crafters out there - we'd love to hear a suggestion or solution. If you were working for a company that continually didn't pay you yet expected you to work a 60 hour week I can imagine what most of your reactions would be! Sorry if this sounds pessimistic for the Hippos, but we will work something out and I suspect the simplest one is to put the % up so that everyone can get involved if they choose to. But if someone has an out of the box solution that we didn't consider then please shout up, Hippo xx
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