Monday 5 September 2011

Dear Dilemma... what should I do?

If you are a regular reader then you will have seen my new feather brooches that I made recently... they have had a great reception so far, one even made it to the Etsy UK front page, and I really love making them but I wondered how well they sit within my Inkmeup shop. I think they look great by my worry is that the rest of Inkmeup doesn't do them justice and I don't want them to get buried under lots of prints and lavender bags.

I love my Inky shop but there are lots of things in there that I feel I have moved on from... after all we've been going nearly 2 years now. I wonder if a new shop is a good way to mark moving on to a new era, don't worry there will still be prints but maybe my fabric items would work better in a more textile dedicated shop. I need to ponder this carefully before I make any rash decisions. I need to work out if it's just the thrill of opening a new shop that's grabbed me or if there is something more to it.

I read an article about handmade shops a while ago by Mary Portas, that's Mary Queen of shops from the telly! In the article she said that people should carefully consider how they arrange their shops, she talks about product adjacencies... ... in my case I have a fashion item in a shop full of homewares and prints... how does this represent the item in it's best light? Will fashion shoppers even find my brooches buried in the listings of prints and lavender bags?

I think I am leaning towards a new shop... with just quitting my day job I feel I need some freshness... so we'll see... probably later in the week when I have some more stuff made up. In fact the more I think about it the more I'm tempted to do it... so watch this space for a grand opening... and maybe a giveaway!


3 comments:

  1. It certainly sounds good... Will you put the lavender bags in that shop too and keep the "InkMeUp" shop for prints, notebooks etc?
    You seem to be thinking about it carefully and not just diving in. I'm sure you'll make the right decision.
    I will visit your new shop, if you open it!

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  2. If you feel it'd be better for both the current shop and the new items, I think it sounds like a good idea!

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  3. My first thought was No - that the new brooches look fab mixed in with your other inky items, and it's good to have a mix of different items in a shop. But after seeing your proposed name - stitchmeup = genius (I already think feltmeup = genius anyway!!) and reading this post I say Yes! I think stitchmeup is a great idea. In fact I recommend if you haven't already to register the username stitchmeup (and pinmeup which was a great suggestion from someone else on fb) on etsy before anyone else does, even if you're not quite ready to set up shop yet ;)

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