The internet age is truly upon us. Booking a flight, buying tickets to a show, checking the bus timetable, communicating with overseas friends…it’s hard to imagine all those things were once done in person, on the phone, or even (hilariously) by letter.
The internet age has even permeated the shopping world. It seems unlikely people would buy items like clothes and shoes online, but figures show online shopping has been sky-rocketing.
In fact, some retailers exist entirely in cyberspace –no shop, no browsing, no sales assistants. New Zealand business www.felt.co.nz is one of them. It’s an easy to navigate website which sells handmade crafts. Paintings, necklaces, toys, there’s a veritable host of items for sale made by sellers from around the country that can be purchased at the click of a button. Bridget Gourlay talks to founder Lucy Arnold about the concept.
When did you start up Felt?
I began it in 2007. There was a site called etsy.com in America, which started the year before I did, and I was selling on it. It wasn’t really set up well for New Zealand sellers and I saw that New Zealand could benefit from something similar to it. I guess it’s like eBay and Trade Me. I found other people to list their crafts on Felt by just talking to people at crafts markets, looking online and going through craft blogs. It was just a matter of finding people and emailing them.
How successful has Felt been over the last five years– have you been getting good sales?
We’ve doubled in size every year. I wouldn’t want it to grow any faster than that as that would get unmanageable!
How exactly does it work? How do you make a cut of it?
It works like Trade Me. Sellers have a pre-paid account and Felt gets a fee every time they make a sale, plus a five percent commission which gets deducted from their pre-paid account.
I don’t really sell anything myself on there any more – I’m too busy running it!
That must make it easy for both Felt and a seller to test the waters.
Yes. We’ve got 2500 sellers. Some sell a lot, but they usually have their own websites and are at craft stalls, sell into shops and galleries, sell on Trade Me and Etsy as well. Others are medium sized and some are just getting started. Felt is just a tool really.
Are there just New Zealand sellers?
I’d say 95 percent of my sellers are New Zealand-based, but there are a few from overseas such as Australia.
Do you think there’s a growing market for NZ-made things?
People are recognising, especially with the recession, that it’s important to support local people – its money going back to our economy. There’s been a backlash against the global brands, buying local is bringing a human link to shopping, and with Felt people do like a direct contact with the seller.
With the online aspect – are people prepared to buy things they haven’t seen/touched?
There is some hesitation still. New Zealand lags behind the rest of the world in online shopping. Hesitation depends on the product, some sell really well such as jewellery. It’s easy to see what it looks like, but clothes are much harder, people want to try those on. People are becoming more savvy, both the buyers and the sellers – buyers know what websites to trust – the internet isn’t seen as a dodgy thing anymore.
How do you advertise?
My advertising is largely done through Facebook and Twitter – I’ve got a lot of followers. Firstly I just advertised to the crafts community because I needed sellers, but now Felt is really well known in the crafts community – it’s a household name.
I’m now focusing on making it more mainstream. I have started to buy some ads in niche magazines that target my core market – women, aged 20-40 who are mums and/or professionals. We are at craft markets and things like the Women’s Expo. But largely sales come from word of mouth.
What advice would you give someone starting up their own online shopping business?
Don’t expect to make money really fast! It’s quick to get a business up and going online but it takes time for the profits to come in.