One of the most important questions a store buyer will ask you is, "Who else do you sell to?"
I know I panicked when I first heard this. Were they trying to find out if I was such a rank beginner, I didn't have ANY other accounts? Should I fib to make myself look more experienced?? Impress them with a well-known swanky store that once bought some of my work? Was being in other stores a good thing or a bad thing?
Neither. And it depends. (Ha ha, you should know better by now. It ALWAYS depends.)
Yes, they may be trying to get a feel for what experience you've had selling to stores. But mostly what they're trying to find out is, are you already selling to their competition.
There is no set rule (again!), but many stores would rather you not sell to the other craft store across the street (yes, that happens!). Some stores would rather you not sell to anyone else in that town or city. Some stores don't want you to sell to anyone else within fifty miles, or a hundred miles. And some don't want you to sell to anyone else in their STATE.
This request--to limit your sales in some way to ONE STORE is called exclusivity.
Some people feel exclusivity only benefits the store. Obviously, if the store selling your work is "the only game in town", then they gain by you EXCLUSIVELY selling through them and only them.
Whether a store asks for exclusivity depends on many things.
It depends on your work, how generally desirable or eclectic it is, what your prices are. If you sell something small and simple that many stores could buy--say bookmarks that sell for under $5--then conceivably you could sell to many different stores. Bookstores, gift shops, card shops, craft galleries, etc. They are small impulse-buy items that could sit next to a cash register and sell quickly. No one expects to be the "only store in town representing artist X's bookmarks".
But if you sell high-ticket items, or big items, then a store has to devote a lot of shelf space/floor space to show your work. And they have to invest a lot of money to buy it, and probably wait longer for it to sell. They want to increase their chances of selling it by being the ONLY place in town you can buy artist Y's wonderful work.
Exclusivity may also depend on the personality and business acumen of the buyer. Some (fortunately, very few!) owners/buyers are like the proverbial dog-in-the-manger. They want to carry your work and they don't want ANYONE else to.
Most, however, are more reasonable. They know who their competition is, and who isn't. One buyer, for example, knows another craft gallery 20 miles away is competing with the same customer base. But another store down the road isn't. He knows that store attracts a totally different customer base. He knows how far his customers are willing to drive to see if they can get a "better deal" or "better selection" at another gallery, and any stores outside that time/distance factor is, again, NOT his competition.
The argument rages about whether exclusivity is good for the artist or not. And there is one aspect of exclusivity that definitely works in the artist's favor.
A big mistake many, many artists make when they are starting out is to saturate their local area with their work. They approach one store, and get a sale. Encouraged, they approach another store. That store buys some items, too. Wow! Money in hand! Cool! The artist tries another store, and another.
Soon you can walk into any store in town, and by golly, there's Molly's work again. (I only picked the name Molly because it rhymed with golly. Anyone named Molly reading this, please do not take offense.)
What's wrong with that?, you might ask. Plenty.
One of the more charming selling points about handcrafted items is, they are NOT mass-produced. They are made one at a time or in small batches by one person (or small team of people.) You CAN'T find them in the big-box stores. You CAN'T find them just anywhere. They AREN'T common.
Once your work is seen "everywhere", in many, many stores, it loses that cachet. And worse, the urgency factor, the impulse to buy it RIGHT NOW before somebody else does, is lost. "Oh, I'll buy one of those another time--I can get it anywhere", is what your customer thinks.
I know this is true because I see myself making the same purchasing decision when I know an item is available in many different stores in my town.
I even watched this happen to a talented craftsperson in New England. Her work is beautiful, unusual, each one a work of art. I lusted for one of her pieces. She was hard-working and business-savvy, too. Her work was constantly featured in magazines and newspapers. When I saw her work in a store, I would exclaim over it, and the store people would nod in agreement. They loved having her work in their store, too.
But after a couple of years, you could find her work EVERYWHERE. It seemed that every store I walked into carried a selection of her work. Instead of thinking, "I have to have a piece of her work", I found myself thinking, "Oh, there's so-and-so's work again." The argument in my head with the good angel and the bad angel ("Buy it! Buy it NOW before it's gone!" urges the good angel. "Nah....you spent too much money today already. You can get it later," says the bad angel.
Soon, store owners started commenting that her work "Used to sell like crazy" but now "everyone carries it, so they're not going to order any more."
Ouch.
Fortunately, like everything else in life except death and taxes, there are happy mediums.
You can always try negotiating. The variables are endless.
* You offer exclusivity for SOME of your product lines. For example, some stores carry only my jewelry. They don't care if another store nearby carries only my wall hangings.
* You can offer exclusivity for certain designs. One store in town, a tack shop, sometimes carries my horse jewelry. Another gift shop sometimes carries my fish jewelry.
* You can offer exclusivity for certain price points. One store may sell items under $50 like gangbusters. Another store only wants items that are $500 and up. As long as the $50 item doesn't look exactly like your $500, no problem.
* You can offer exclusivity IF and ONLY IF (Aha! I knew I'd have a use for my high school algebra someday!) the store orders a certain dollar amount or quantity of work from you a certain number of times a year. For example, if they agree to purchase $500 of work three times a year, you agree to only sell to them within an agreed-upon area.
Some stores will demand your exclusivity because you've been doing business with them for years. Even though that hot new store wants to now buy twice as much work from you, maybe you owe a debt of loyalty to the older store. After all, they took a chance on you when you were a totally unknown quantity, and helped you grow your business and your reputation.
How you respond to this one has more to do with your personal ethics and business strategy. Some people do not care who sells their work as long as they sell a LOT of it. Money talks. Other artists feel differently, and believe in different relationships with their buyers. It's up to you. (Remember, though, that older account has stayed in business through good times and bad, while that "hot new store" could go belly-up next year....)
But for now, as you are just starting out, try not to worry too much about figuring all this out. Many of these strategies will develop naturally as stores try out your work.
What do I do?
I ask questions, too. (You knew I was going to say that, too.)
When I talk to an owner/buyer, I ask who their competition is, and why.
If their competition is another store I was hoping to target, I ask if they'd be willing to split lines, or designs.
I'm lucky in an odd way. My work is eclectic, and it's just not for everyone. On one hand, I CAN'T sell to "everyone". On the other hand, a store that loves the work and knows they can sell it is a store worth working with through the crazy, bumpy path of exclusivity.
Once you feel you have saturated the local market for your work, you may have to start thinking about going farther afield. There are options there, too.
But for now, just focus on getting your lovely work out there in a local store.
