Nothing much has changed, it is just online
Not surprising but when I really understand the fundamentals of a business I bring a lot more value to the table. My work history is long and there were many successes and many failures on a daily basis particularly in wholesale and retail. You learn from each one.
I am an investor in Sourceeasy. As the founder said to me when he was trying to get me to commit early on was “but you get it”. He was right. As the business grew there were ebbs and flows as there always is but then something happened, they figured out the process. I remember it clearly. He came to my office with the way the business was going to work from start to finish. A brand enters the door and by the time the process is over the goods arrive at their door. Sourceeasy does the rest engaging the brand in the parts where need be and allowing Sourceeasy to be the experts from start to finish.
I went through the process and the thing that was so amazing is that this is the exact process I used 25 plus years ago in an offline business. Believe me it worked and it worked well. The only difference here is that technology makes the business more fluid and able to scale without tons of labor costs yet essentially the business hasn’t changed from decades ago. It is kind of brilliant.
I have been watching other businesses online, particularly ecommerce businesses. The key to getting people back and back is no different than it was 25 years ago too. When I was in the stores and the new merchandise came in the door we changed up the floor. If a product wasn’t selling we would move it somewhere else on the floor so the customer coming through each day didn’t see the same “look”. We mixed it up. We also marked down items that were not moving to move it out and bring new in.
Online stores need to be mix it up every day. New front pages, new content to be read, new information about a particular item, a new way to wear an item to move it out the door. Just like the stores are trying to figure out how to get a customer in the door these days, the ecommerce shops needs to do the same thing. Change it up. The same is boring.
Comments (Archived):
Everything old is new again. Again.
And again and again.
Paradigms are changing. Only a few people understand how the crossover has happened because its gradual and there hasn’t been this A-ha moment when it all changed.Always grateful for your support!
Hey this is you! Cool. (Read my comment above..)
This is true for many businesses, not just retail. Thanks for sharing this post. Process really matters.
This appears to be an amazing idea especially in that they can literally work with someone (say a celebrity) which would like to have a fashion line, but needs total hand holding and support. But also someone who just needs sourcing and has the rest all figured out.That said I think the website needs much improvement to communicate these points. Both in design, typography and editorial. After all, they are selling a design and fashion product and the website needs to better communicate that in it’s own presentation. They also should probably have a dummy NYC address on the site to enhance leads from that area. (I have done things like this in the past and it tends to work very well).But once again I really like what they are doing here.
Thank you for the support! Its true that our website sucks right now. We’re working on it :)We have a *real* NY address in the garment district we moved into last month so that hasn’t been updated yet either… working on all this this month!And yes, we are already working with celebrity management teams to build their lines 🙂 Its one of our core thesis that people should have no more barriers to entry to manufacturing clothing.
What a pleasant surprise to see that this is your company — and to know what you are doing — and that Cynthia is on your team! We don’t know each other well, of course, but have been bumping into each other at AVC and (it seems) other places over the years. Congratulations!
Hi Donna,Thanks for the kind comment! Always grateful for Cynthia and my team’s support! It is a pleasure to connect with you here. Thanks,Pranay
Great title! So true. But try telling that to our kids. 😉