This looks to be a viable trend for premium brands, as also seen at The Stronghold in LA. They carry their own line, but support it with add-on sales of Filson, White’s boots, and other staple heritage brands.

The same concept also plays out well on the web, sell your core product, but support with related items from other vendors.

As department stores suffer from decreased quality of merchandise, premium small retail has a good chance to make up the gap, and bolstering margins with add-on sales is the simplest way to succeed for brand-owned stores.

This trend has no choice but to reverse, as we are facing a downturn in available income coupled with consumer burn-out. If spending ticks down a little, but consumers choose to again buy higher quality, the premium market will make a comeback against the discount stores. Consumer behavior also predicts this movement, as the early adopter markets have already moved this direction, and the larger consumer backlash against the surge of stuff should follow soon.

Again, this is going to take substantial consumer education to overcome the price barrier. Tactically, there are many options at every contact with your customers, starting at the first encounter all the way to the point of sale.

I’ve helped a few companies and retailers work through price-sensitivity for a premium product. It’s hard going, but it can be done.

Consumer price sensitivity is perfectly reasonable, but when that price sensitivity manifests as demanding specialty items such as bicycle jerseys for under twenty dollars, there’s something wrong with the larger consumer goods ecosystem. The demand for low cost seems to be driven by the desire to have as much cheap crap lying around as possible, combined with tight economic conditions.

It seems that the smartest thing to do right now is focus on producing quality long-lasting goods, and deflecting consumer price criticism with messaging around longevity, the thriftiness of a well-made item, and environmental aspects of re-purchasing cheaper goods. Consumer education now will pay off long-term, especially in for active and outdoor brands.

Reasonable, one would expect customers to start to tire of poor quality and start to migrate towards the higher quality products.

The opposite approach, getting tangled up in the price wars led by Ikea, WalMart, and H&M will simply dilute brands, dissolve loyalties, and leave consumers with no upward path to quality/longevity.

If we look at current conditions wherein people are buying less of everything, yet still need certain things, exploiting the flaws of the efficient marketplace with “inefficient” products should lead to increased regional prosperity. A good portion of consumer needs can be met in the so-called craft marketplace, by local tailors, cobblers, woodworkers, and, to repair the factory produced appliances, a sizable force of repair people. Needless to say, this inefficiency also has positive environmental outcomes as well, with less packaging, less shipping, and fewer large trucks on city streets.

There’s definitely holes to be filled in to make the plot work. Many of the skills needed to build a local economy have evaporated over the last 50 years. Our infrastructure isn’t particularly friendly to local living once you get out into the suburbs. People have to buy into the concept of well-made, slightly imperfect goods made inefficiently, rather than poorly made, perfect appearing goods made efficiently. However, we’ve also got an army of marketers and advertising agencies who are going to need something to do now that simply telling people to buy more stuff isn’t working.

We are still working on the decision, but here are the key points to consider:
1) Opportunity cost – What asking opportunities are we going to miss if we take the time to build our own?
2) Staff quality and availability – Do we have the staff and spare cycles to build a solution?
3) Upkeep – Can we maintain this solution with spare time and volunteers?

The outcome of my research indicates that the cost (on average, about $300 to setup, with 3 to 5% transaction fee, and usually a monthly fee) is often cheaper and will pay for itself in the first round of donations received on the platform, while freeing up staff and volunteers to focus on the core mission of the organization.

Groundspring seems to be the best of the non-profit tools available for donation management. Most offerings also include email list management, crm features, and other extras, all of which are better done with specific standalone packages.

I’m pretty sure ninjas and rock stars are too busy being ninjas and rock stars to write code.

If you’re looking for solid talent, write a descriptive ad. Say what it is you’re really looking for, not just ninjas. Know the roles you’re hiring for, understand that (usually) a web designer doesn’t know AJAX, and most web developers (usually) can’t design. If you don’t know the job you’re hiring for, get some advice.

Should get you to where you’re going.

I read an entire email from a friend, mashed reply and asked them a question that I could have answered myself IF I HAD CLICKED THE LINK HE PROVIDED.

My new ideal email format:

Subject (Verify that if this is a reply, the content is still a part of the thread. Break out new subjects into a new email).

Greeting line

Context sentence to set the tone, unless the email is a reply to a thread.

Information to convey with links summarized and key points from links or attachments inline with the text.

Calls to action, placed last and together so each one gets attention, rather than forcing the recipient to do the work of finding action items in the email.

I’m going to try this template for a while and see if I get better responses with fewer follow up questions.