The Pitch: House of Handmade a shopfront outlet for craft producers
IN the Herald Sun’s ongoing series about Victorian entrepreneurs, our small business experts assess the potential of a shop showcasing handmade goods.
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IN the Herald Sun’s ongoing series about Victorian entrepreneurs, The Pitch, our small business experts assess the potential of a shop showcasing handmade goods.
HANDMADE advocate Nadja Bettin could see there was a love for unique goods but the effort required to get them to market was all to often prohibitive.
About 18 months ago, she teamed up with a group of makers to open a shop where people could sell their handmade goods.
They leased a 100 sq m shop in Richmond’s Bridge Rd, near the busy Epworth Hospital.
Ms Bettin, who runs Provincial Macrame and splits her time between Melbourne and Bendigo, said the first model involved several artists creating a co-op where they displayed their goods and worked in the shop.
The business was initially called Made It Lab.
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Early this year, Ms Bettin’s business partner became too busy to continue the commitment to the business, so she signed up a new business partner, Barbara Whittle.
The pair had met a few years ago when they were among 10 craftspeople who started a pop-up shop in Balwyn. She said it ran for six months but did not work out the way they had hoped.
“There were so many of us, we couldn’t make a decision,” she said.
But a few of them stayed in touch. Then the idea of Made It Lab was formed.
Ms Bettin said that, using everything they learnt from the two businesses, they renamed it House of Handmade.
She said that while the makers were creative, the selling process was often beyond them or did not interest them, so stocking with House of Handmade was a great way to get their products in front of potential buyers.
About 50 labels are stocked, including Quirkie Su stuffed toys, Winter Avenue Press prints and Fujinella fashion.
“It is much better for them to be able to stock with us instead of having to pack a car, drive miles to a venue, sit in the cold at a market and hope that you sell something. You don’t get any money back for all the time and effort,” Ms Bettin said.
Products are carefully selected and makers accepted to be stocked can enter a few different arrangements, she said.
Some pay rent and a small commission to be stocked, while higher-priced items are sold on commission.
A handful of makers work in the shop in exchange for having their items stocked.
Ms Bettin said people were increasingly invested in the provenance of their goods and many did not want to buy mass-produced items.
Over time they have become more discerning about labels they stock and feel they know what customers want.
“A lot of the story behind the product is what helps sell the product,” Ms Bettin said.
“It becomes like a personal attachment to the product. Especially if one of the makers is in the shop and the customer knows who has made the product. They walk away with a sense of attachment.”
Customers would often promote the products, posting on social media and recommending to friends, Ms Bettin said.
“Our customers want something that is not cookie-cutter,” she said.
“They know that most of the money actually goes back to the maker themselves.”
Ms Bettin said some of the makers still attend select markets, but for many a cost of $1500 for a two-day stint is uneconomical.
“House of Handmade is starting to become a destination shop,” she said.
They do not sell online — there are 5000 items, so it is too much work to load them — but they often follow up orders on the phone.
Marketing is focusing on Instagram and encouraging makers to tag the business. Relationship building is important with repeat customers accounting for 30 per cent of sales, Ms Bettin said.
The business collaborates with another nearby gift shop, Pookipoiga, sending customers to each other, and offers a 5 per cent discount to Epworth Hospital staff.
houseofhandmade.com.au
claire.heaney@news.com.au
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
John Downes, business coach, Acorro
WELL done Nadja on the development of a lovely cost and resource-sharing outlet for kindred, local crafty and design folks.
It is a lovely store chock-a-block with so many sweet items and gifts for the home, in a great location.
I can see that cost sharing is the motivation for all the vendors, but what is the vision and value proposition for the customers?
I think this needs to be the backbone of all decision making for the business.
In turn, I am wondering whether the store is too chock-a-block?
As I went through, I wasn’t sure whether the collections by designers made it difficult to choose with a series of limited ranges for each vendor.
This made it feel like a disjointed market stall. I can believe that you probably have 5000 different items, which is hard to catalogue.
But it is equally hard to select from without a simple, assistance-free flow or wayfaring.
A door counter compared with the number of actual purchasers daily will give you an indicator of whether people are becoming more or less choice overloaded as they walk through the store.
I would see what you can learn from how experienced giftware and homeware retailers merchandise collections and themes.
I wish you pleasure, fulfilment and to earn a just financial reward from your curation of talented local artisans.
Vivian Vo, mentor
Mebourne Innovation Centre
HOUSE of Handmade is a collaborative concept bringing back the artisan in apparel and crafts.
When it comes to online social activity, your Facebook posts are creative and inviting.
While tagging and sharing Instagram posts helps to increase visibility on a competitive platform, be cautious of missing out on sales when you direct your customers straight to a maker’s online store.
Never miss an opportunity to learn more about your customers.
You might think you know them, but preferences and tastes change.
Here, data will play a vital role in your business decisions. Consider linking the types of data you want to collect for House of Handmade’s business goals.
Data can be collected at a low cost and in real-time.
Start by accessing free analytics provided by insights on Facebook and Google Analytics.
Consider using HoH’s website to showcase and promote makers’ profiles and products. Drive traffic from your socials to the website to enhance brand awareness and search-engine optimisation. Introduce a newsletter sign-up function on your website as an easy way to collect customer email addresses.
To small businesses, email marketing is worth the investment of effort and time. Even a small conversion from an active email list is worthwhile.
Bruce Hall, mentor, Small Business Mentoring Service
IN a world of mass-produced product, most of which ends up in landfill, Nadja and her team have tapped into an opportunity with significant upside.
Today, people are hungry for quality products that have a story.
Products without a story are simply a commodity.
These are the items that are used for a time then discarded. Products with a story create a connection.
To capitalise on the opportunity, Nadja and the team must create awareness and establish the retail outlet as a must-visit destination.
It will be important they fully embrace the web. Their website needs a significant revamp as it is on this platform the stories about the products, the creators, methods of production and so on can be shared.
To work, however, requires a preparedness to invest the time and view activity on the web as a critical part of daily activity.
The potential of the web is enormous, but it takes work and consistency to get results. Many businesses fail to reap the full benefits the web offers because they view it as a non-core activity and only post material or updates spasmodically.
In today’s world it needs to be seen as a core function, otherwise it is like having a retail outlet only open on Saturday mornings and expecting to make money.
There are rich stories behind every product.
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