Jason wants to know if he should sell his leather goods to retailers or build his own customer base. He doesn’t understand why he is giving up so much up of the retail price, but I explain the risks. See the video.
As a recap:
-Retailers get a mark-up because they are taking on the risk of overhead, marketing, etc.
-If your competency is design and importing, how are you getting customers?
-For customers to find you (especially online) you need to have a brand and make investments
-Don’t start with a showroom, it’s a lot of overhead to cover and not scalable
-If you want to test different options, consider a limited budget towards an online presence and going to boutiques at the same time to see which gives you a better ROI; you may find both, neither or just one works for you
