Adversity is frustrating, but there’s usually a solution if you look hard enough.
Many of you have written lately to complain about suppliers selling directly to consumers online. I completely empathize with you — it’s not fair to the brick-and mortar retailers who have promoted and sold these products for years to suddenly pull an end-around and bypass retailers altogether.
No, it’s not fair — but it is business. The companies who have made the decision to sell direct are doing what they believe to be in their self-interest. (Time will tell if burning bridges with retailers is truly the best path.) Now it’s time for you to do the same.
There are still many suppliers out there who value brick-and-mortar retailers and who want to earn your business. The companies advertising in this very magazine are doing so because they want you to see them and do business with them. That’s worth a lot in this day and age.
The best product to sell is one that consumers can’t buy more cheaply elsewhere. And that means that if a company is selling direct for less, then you pull their merchandise from your showcases, plain and simple.
Technology has made it possible for suppliers to cut out retailers if they so choose, but it hasn’t made retailers obsolete. There are still many, many ways for brick-and-mortar jewelry retailers to be successful — heck, we tell those stories in each and every issue.
So yes, keep raising your voice to put the pressure on suppliers to remain loyal to retailers — but at the same time, make the necessary moves to ensure your store’s continued success.
Anything less just wouldn’t be good business.
Trace Shelton
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, INSTORE
trace@smartworkmedia.com
This article originally appeared in the February 2017 edition of INSTORE.