Further on the subject of pricing. How do we price our items? I am talking about artists, craftsmen, DE's (design entrepreneurs- a term I picked up from fashion incubator), whatever category you may put yourself in. On one end of the scale there are people who sell their wares at markets and who are just doing this as a hobby. For instance there is a market I go to once a year and there is a lady there who sells hand knitted beanies, scarves, tea-cosies etc. I always tell people this is the best place to buy a beanie, they are inexpensive (mine cost $10) and you can get one in pure wool. On the other end there are artists whose work can be sold for tens of thousands of dollars (more if you're dead!). But can people who sells things at craft markets, or DE's compare themselves to artists? Well, why not I say. I was talking about Akira Isogawa (his work at right) in the previous post, this designer is one who leans toward 'artist' rather than 'designer' in my opinion and this is why he can charge a lot more for his pieces than us mere mortals just starting out.
The spot where pricing becomes tricky is when you have to sell items in order for this to become your employment and means of income, rather than a hobby, and you do not have a reputation or name to rely on. So the price has to be low enough for people to buy and high enough for you to make enough money to support yourself.
I rang the publishers of Vogue Australia to ask how much it would cost to put an ad in the back of the magazine. They asked me who my target market was and what my prices were. At the moment the items on 5trillion range from $20 - $105. They advised me that their customers would be prepared to pay more than that. I explained to them that I had just launched the shop and it was not ready for marketing in a big way yet, I just wondered about how much this would cost. Initially they gave me a price of $650, but then said they could do this for $500 for a business card size ad in the back of the magazine.
This was all food for thought anyway and got me thinking more about how important pricing is. When my man came home from work and told me they needed to re-wire the shed and the electrician was charging $65 an hour, that too was food for thought!
3 comments:
I know what you mean when you talk about pricing and its hard. As you know I have increased my prices and so far I have sold nothing. I am sure if they were cheaper they would sell. As they have in the past. But if I did that then it would not help to reach my long term goal of being a self employed designer. Rather I would be the hobby sewer selling at the local market as you described.
I like to think that my bags contain artisic value. When I am making them I always think about what I am trying to say to the consumer. However this is not displayed on my bags.
In order to find out one's target market or if one exists for the new product. It is important to do a study. I have not done this. It can cost time and money if it's done proffessionally. Another option is to cheat and see if there is anything similar in the market place and see how much that is selling for. Searches online are also good. I have found designers selling tote bags for $100.
I am still kinda working on pricing and finding my niche..
I want to talk about this some more but my partner is nagging for the laptop to be given back. So I'll comment again...or maybe email you.
Further to my post. Oh and sorry about the spelling! I was writing it in a hurry.
I guess what we need to do as DE's is to work on our reputation's and do some PR. I put a post up on Kathleens blog about driving traffic to online stores and got some great tips. One of them was to donate an item to a charity Auction. I am going to do that on ebay. Hopefully that will help with traffic to my Esty store.
And speaking of stores. Was your own online store easy to set up? Was it expensive? and would you recommend it?
And a final thought. I wonder how much CUCCI began selling their bags for...?
I think there definitely is more value in an item that has been handmade and I really do not think it is a good idea to under price items. 'Build it and they will come'! I have decided to concentrate on getting the shop the way I like it, with more items, and have them at the price I would like to sell them. I.e. not at a price I think they will sell for. Then I will do some more investigation into advertising and marketing. I was really lucky to have a relative do the site for me, as my knowledge about such things, when I started at least, was practically nil, but is slowly improving.
I did not see the post on Kathleen’s site, there is so much on it, and I find it hard to keep up with everything. I will have a look when I can.
I saw some tote bags in a shop in Melbourne, at the GPO, which is at the mid to high price end and they were $65 each- I think. Not sure if they were hand made, they had the same print on them as tops in the shop, so maybe they were a short screen print run at least.
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