387 – Here’s Your Entrance into Wholesale (Even as a Young Handmade Small Business) with Amber Christian

Gift biz unwrapped episode 387.

There were a number of people that were using Etsy wholesale

that said,

well, now what Attention gifters bakers,

crafters, and makers pursuing your dream can be fun.

Whether you have an established business or looking to start one.

Now you are in the right place.

This is gift biz unwrapped,

helping you turn your skill into a flourishing business.

Join us for an episode,

packed full of invaluable guidance,

resources, and the support you need to grow.

Your gift biz.

Here is your host gift biz gal Sue Mohe.

Hi there.

It's Sue and thanks for joining me here today.

Are you new to the show?

Welcome. I'm so glad you're joining us before we dive into

today's topic.

I wanna make sure you're aware of a new podcast format.

I'm introducing.

That's going to serve you in a whole new way.

It's called a boost.

This is your chance to listen in while I address a

current issue faced by one of your fellow handmade product makers.

You know,

too often,

we stall in one area of our business where if we

could just get past the block,

it would open the path to new business growth.

That's what this is all about.

To give a boost and clear the way for the next

big move at the end of the show,

I'll tell you how you can sign up for your own

free gift biz boost for now.

Let's get to the topic of the day.

Our discussion is going to open your eyes to new possibilities

for your business.

As you know,

doubt got from the title we're talking wholesale,

but in a different way than any discussions we've had before,

you may have thought your business is too small or too

new to consider the selling option,

not necessarily.

So, in fact,

what you'll learn today is a way to get your business

into the wholesale arena with guidance and structure designed for you.

The smaller handmade product makers specifically because the holidays are approaching

so quickly.

I bump this interview up to get the information into your

hands in time for you to take action on it for

this holiday season,

huge potential await.

So without further delay,

let's dive in Today.

It's my pleasure to introduce you to Amber Christian.

Amber is the new owner of stackable and handmade seller magazine.

She comes from a technology background having spent over 20 years

implementing technology solutions,

given that she brings her finance supply chain and technology insights

and expertise to our handmade product community.

In fact,

her entire career has been spent bridging the gap between different

industries and functions,

and she sees lots of potential within the whole landscape of

handmade. She's been told by many that she has an innate

ability to make boring topics,

pretty fun,

but guess what?

We have no boring topics to cover today.

Everything that we're doing is super exciting and without further ado,

Amber, welcome to the gift biz on wrapped podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

I am excited for us to get into things today,

Me too.

And there's a lot for me to learn about what you're

gonna be doing too.

This is kind of like exposing to the world,

your plans with these two junctures.

I Know it should Be fun.

I know,

but we're gonna delay for half a second in that I

have this question I have to ask you because I do

with every single guest and I do this,

Amber, just to get a different view of who you are.

Bio is one thing,

but having you describe your motivational candle really gives us a

different glimpse of you.

So tell us what your motivational candle would look like by

a color and then maybe a quote or a saying or

a mantra.

Something like that.

My motivational candle is blue,

which for those that may not see if we don't ever

release any video with this,

I'm wearing blue today.

Cuz that is my motivational color.

I like things that sparkle that are really nice rich tones.

So my motivational candle's gonna start out with being blue.

It's probably gonna have a Teddy Roosevelt quote about the man

or woman in the arena.

The person that's actually in there fighting the good fight and

you can go Google famous Teddy Roosevelt quotes about the man

in the arena.

If you want to know this specific one.

So that would actually be written on my candle.

And I would tell you there's a particular scent that would

go along with my candle too.

And yes,

I know I thought about this a lot.

I'm Like,

oh, this Is a really fun question.

I love it.

Now I'm trying to guess what scent it would be,

but I'm gonna let you do the reveal.

So go for it.

It is a citrus scent.

Oh, I wasn't expecting that.

Yes. It's something that just makes your brain just spark alive

and gives you all kinds of creative thoughts and just opens

up your capacity to see things in new ways.

So I have a sparkly blue candle with a Teddy Roosevelt

quote that smells like citrus.

So unique to you.

I love it.

And Amber,

I don't know how many shows that you've listened to,

but it's so interesting because makers have all these creative designs

that they add to these candles,

which makes it really fun for all of us to hear

from other people.

Yes, but yours is a very unique combination.

I love it so much.

I was not expecting you to say citrus at all,

but like citrus reminds me of the sun and blue reminds

me of the sky and in the arena reminds me of

being open and available and it's perfect.

Absolutely. Thank you.

Now don't ask me to actually make that candle cause I

have no idea I would do that.

Don't worry.

We don't have to go go that far.

Okay. So we have a lot to cover today.

I think what I'd like to do is start with handmade

seller and just talk a little bit about what you're gonna

be doing with that.

And I think I'd rather start a step further back,

which is how did you discover and decide on this opportunity

for yourself?

Yes. So in the last seven months I have actually bought

two companies in the handmade industry.

Overachiever. I know It feels like it.

Sometimes That's a good label.

It is.

I'll take it.

Hey listen.

When an opportunity presents itself,

you've got to jump on it or it can escape you.

Yes. What you're gonna tell me,

but it might not have been your preference to do them

both at once,

but if you didn't take those opportunities when they were there

might not have been available when you were ready,

so you're gonna make it work.

That's Exactly how I ended up with two companies in a

short period of time.

Yeah. So I originally purchased stackable last January and stackable is

a wholesale marketplace for artisan entrepreneurs to sell their products to

independent retailers.

So as you think about how you start to break into

wholesale, lot of new people in wholesale,

then along the way,

as I was writing some articles about the wholesale industry,

I ended up meeting Danny from handmade seller and she had

run this digital publication.

It used to be produced 12 times a year,

but she had run it up to the end of last

year. And then she found herself at a new chapter in

life. Right.

This happens to lots of us.

She's like,

okay, I think I'm done with this part of my journey.

And she actually started her artisan business.

So that's what she was doing full time.

And she needed someone that would love and carry on that

mission and would wanna be part of that industry.

So as I had gotten talking to her,

she said,

well, you are already in this industry.

Clearly you love it from our conversations.

You're really enjoying what you're working on and the solutions you're

bringing. So one thing led to another and I just asked,

Hey, what are you gonna do with it?

And she said,

well, I don't know yet.

And I said,

can I buy it pretty soon?

I bought it.

Oh, that's amazing.

And when was that?

When did you say,

Oh, July,

this is brand new July,

like a couple months ago.

Yeah, like a month ago,

July 20,

22, Like the last month.

Okay. So share with us maybe some things that you're ready

to reveal.

All right.

So what a couple of your ideas or thoughts are for

the magazine when you think it'll be available again and most

importantly, how we can get our hands on it once it

is available again.

So let's cover those three things.

Yes. So let's start with all of the back issues that

were produced before are available for free on the handmade seller

site. So you can go to handmade seller.com

and you can pull up all of the old issues so

you can sign up,

get access to them,

which is great.

And then that'll put you on the list so that as

I, I start to reveal everything else that's coming out,

you'll start getting more and more communications from me.

But the goal is actually to start producing it again this

fall and we're going to go to a quarterly publication with

it and it will remain free.

And so it's going to be a little bit of a

different model than what we'd had before.

And so now I'm working on evolving what that business model

looks like for handmade seller.

So yes,

it'll be quarterly.

And we're also going to launch a podcast to go along

with it.

And I have a sneaky suspicion.

A bunch of your listeners are gonna be pretty interested in

that as well,

because it's about how we can actually help them get in

front of retailers.

Oh, wonderful.

So there'll be lots coming this Fall.

Okay. So the best thing to do for us then is

get on handmade sellers,

email list,

which I already am.

So I'm good to go there.

And then things will be revealed as they're ready for us

to know.

Would that be a good way to say it?

Absolutely. Yes.

I have so many fun things coming,

but we'll slowed them.

Yes, yes,

Yes. Okay.

One action step for that.

That's easy.

Go to handmade seller.com.

You can grab any free back issues that you want and

it's all online.

So you're not gonna have anything coming to your house,

no extra paper,

anything like that.

So probably immediate access to those back publications then too.

That's correct.

Immediate access.

Yes. Beautiful.

I'm loving everything.

I'm hearing Amber.

You're like an age old dropping down on all of us

today and then we'll automatically be on your list and then

we just watch our emails to see what comes next.

Absolutely. Perfect.

All right.

Wonderful. So let's be done with that because the real topic

and opportunity that our listeners have with you right now is

with stackable.

Right? Absolutely.

Share with us again,

in a little bit more detail than you already have,

how you came onto this opportunity.

And then let's dive in specifically to what this is and

how it could affect our listeners.

Absolutely. So last year I came across an opportunity to buy

this marketplace.

So what stackable was,

it was created by a maker.

She was a jewelry maker.

And at the time that Etsy's wholesale business was shut down

several years ago.

There were a number of people that were on that platform

that were using Etsy wholesale that said,

well, now what,

like, where do I go next?

And where do I go?

That is friendly for the smaller entrepreneurs.

Maybe I'm not selling at huge scale.

I'm not actually trying to sell enormous scale or maybe that's

daunting. So I don't,

maybe I don't want huge marketplaces.

So this marketplace was created and it's a lot of people

that are just getting into wholesale or just trying to build

up their wholesale businesses.

Oh, that's really interesting.

So it's a spot very specific or will really cater to

a brand new wholesaler.

Yes, Love it.

Okay. All right.

And in fact,

a lot of people are just kind of learning the ropes

and oh,

what's it like to actually set up a shop on one

of these and oh,

what kind of photographs do I need?

What kind of product descriptions do I need?

So this is a good place to learn.

It's your kinda your baby steps.

And so that's actually the bulk of people are brand new

coming to wholesale.

And then we do have other makers that are on several

different platforms.

Each platform has different strengths and weaknesses and is trying to

accomplish different things.

So it's actually common that some folks that are a little

further along will actually be on multiple marketplaces and stackable is

one Of them.

Perfect. So let me just back this up for a second,

Amber, because we already speak that language.

You know,

when we're talking direct to consumer,

there's been a lot of conversation about,

well, you should do in person shows and then you should

have a website and then you could also online be selling

on Etsy or other places,

too, multiple locations for direct to consumer,

we'll introduce you to new audiences,

new opportunities that are not just duplicating the same thing.

Right? Right.

So now you're saying this exact same concept,

but you're putting it over on the wholesale end.

Absolutely. Yes,

Yes, Yes.

And so where we're a little different for stackable,

right? So I come from a technology and small business background

and I know how hard it is to run a small

business. And I know that one immediate one off sale on

a wholesale marketplace doesn't really solve how I run my business

in a sustainable fashion.

It doesn't necessarily help me build my relationships for repeat business,

et cetera.

So what we're trying to do with stackable is connect with

the smaller,

more independent retailers that want to support handmade.

There is a whole growing movement on the retail side to

support handmade.

And so where I'm sitting with this marketplace is trying to

also educate makers,

educate retailers in growing that whole handmade space.

That's really the mission that I'm after as opposed to handmade

being one of everything else,

they wholesale,

we specialize,

it's all handmade.

So that makes it different.

And we actually vet and everybody has to actually apply on

our site.

You can't just sign up and sell.

You have to apply.

We look at your products,

we think it's mass produced.

We reject it.

We don't let those folks in.

So it,

again, it was seeing super,

super focused on that handmade industry and in then helping people

grow their businesses.

So part of the trick is sales and making your product.

That's one thing,

another part of it too,

is as you know,

how do you start to grow that business over time?

Oh, I have to do marketing for my business.

My business has to start showing up different places.

How do I do some of these different things?

So what I'm working on with stackable is I actually send

out periodically free promotional opportunities.

So, you know,

you're just starting out,

you're in a budget you're and through some of my partners,

you can get free advertising if your products are selected.

So I'm adding some different things that are really more about

those longer run solutions for running your business.

So, Hey reminder,

publication deadlines are this,

submit your products and see if you can get 'em covered

for free.

Some of those kinds of,

I consider those tools and can value ads to just being

in our marketplace and our ecosystem of saying,

I'm trying to help you build a business for the long

run. Am I sensing some overlap here between stackable and handmade

seller too?

Of course.

Absolutely. Just Wondering and It's made,

made sense for that acquisition.

Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. So that's really interesting.

So given the fact that makers,

their focus has always been making,

that's where it all started from.

So all this business stuff,

making website,

going out at craft shows,

I know a lot of people have gravitated to and now

love, but it wasn't the first thing that brought them into

the handmade industry and still promotion and marketing can be challenging,

even if you like to do it,

it's all the time part.

You know,

and even if now you have people helping you with your

making process,

production, shipping,

fulfillment, whatever it is,

you still also have to work through all those people.

So there's a lot going on.

And so you're offering some really valuable points within the business

that can help really directly grow the business.

It's a direct link like promotional visibility equals more sales.

Exactly. And that's how you should think about what I'm developing

around stackable,

how I'm looking at the offerings.

I am not trying to have hundreds of thousands of items

on this marketplace.

No, you want the marketplace to be a little smaller,

more targeted,

more focused about building those relationships and about those solutions.

And so that's one of them.

The other thing that we're in the process of developing is

the ability for those that are on the paid side of

our platform to do and participate in these open calls.

And so we also remember,

it's not just your unique product.

The retailer has the,

how do I be unique?

How is my inventory unique?

What can I do to differentiate myself?

And this is where handmade is coming into play.

And so I'm rolling out offerings to be able to say,

well, what if you wanted to custom make a product for

a shop?

What if they wanted that?

And then they get access to bid on.

That could be very much like your regular product,

but could be customized for a store.

Well, that's gonna help you build a relationship.

They'll come back more.

And so this is part of the conversations I'm having with

retailers to plant that sea because they didn't even know this

was possible.

They didn't even know people were open to doing these kinds

of things.

I'm like,

oh, makers are open for business.

And I will tell you,

there are some people within my coaching programs and other listeners,

even beyond that who are here who have gift shops or

brick and mortar shops or creative outlets,

different from only just handmade.

And they're looking for things that are made in their area,

right. Things that are made with local ingredients,

things that can be branded to their businesses,

potentially all of that.

So if you are listening and you have a shop like

that, both ears should be peaked,

right? Like people who have shops already and then people who

are makers,

because there's opportunity here for both of you.

And that is really exciting.

Absolutely. And it's been amazing as I've talked with retailers,

they look at me,

you could do that.

I have access to hundreds of makers.

Of course I can do that.

Yeah. That's the power of it.

So let's go from the maker end.

Okay. And let's do all of the maker and then let's

roll into if someone is looking for products because they have

a gift shop,

let's say,

and they're looking for more wholesale items just as you're saying,

not these mass produced,

but the one of a kind,

the very intimate that's gonna make their shop look different.

Right. So we'll do that second.

Okay. Yeah.

But for a maker,

what are you specifically looking at with them in like,

what are the qualifications I'm thinking there are people listening that

are like,

oh, I know she said,

it's for people who are starting,

but I'm not sure I'm even qualified yet.

So give us a little rundown of who would be the

right person.

Yes. So the right person already has their retail presence established.

If you haven't launched your,

you know,

selling to consumer or you haven't been selling at any shows

yet, you don't wanna try to launch wholesale at the right

time. So if you're a maker you want to have been

out there and been making sales,

doesn't have to be a lot,

but you have already been working through that process.

Yes. Because there are so many pieces.

You need the basics of a brand.

You're gonna need to be able to upload a shop image.

You're gonna need to know what to write about your shop.

You're gonna need to know how to talk a little bit

about your products.

So you want to have been doing some type of retail

sales to a customer,

right? Whether it's through a show or something so that you've

got the basics of setting it up,

otherwise setting up a brand is it's just too hard to

set up a shop because you haven't figured out all the

basics of just how you're selling to end consumers yet.

Well, and the danger to that,

if you jump forward in that is then you set something

up with you,

then you set up your website or something.

And none of it looks the same.

So the very first thing is targeting in on what your

brand is by colors and logos and taglines,

if you want and what you stand for and who your

customer is,

right? Yes.

Like, are you going for the quick short sales or you,

is your product more expensive?

So you're looking for more high quality investment type buyers,

right? Like you think through all of that,

that's really good information.

Not just to start with stackable,

but anything you'd start there.

Yes. You start there.

You have to make sure you've got those basics.

And the next thing I would tell you is you have

to make sure that you have a type of business that

supports wholesale pricing.

And this is part of the,

kind of the nitty gritty of business.

But wholesale margins are different than retail margins.

They're not sold at the same price to a retailer.

The retailer has to then mark up the products and then

sell them.

So the other key thing to understand is actually have I

created a cost profile for my products that is going to

actually support a wholesale business.

We've done some other episodes on that as Well.

Yes. In fact,

actually I created an email course from here to wholesale in

one year,

since you email every month with a step to do,

if you're like,

oh, I wanna do wholesale.

Oh, but I'm not quite there.

And so each month there's like hair,

do this,

this month hair,

do this,

this next month.

Step by step.

Yeah. I did that step by step because people would say,

I feel completely overwhelmed at selling wholesale.

And I was trying to break that down and said,

well, what if you were just given a path,

this one step at a time,

they're like,

well, that's pretty approachable.

Again, back to that whole,

how do I create these little practical solutions,

right. To make it easier Building your company is also kind

of like building a tower of blocks too.

You don't wanna start wholesale and direct to consumer at the

same time.

There's two totally different things.

Getting your pricing right.

Initially for direct to consumer will help you ease into wholesale,

much easier.

There won't be all these questions.

Well, how come your prices are increasing or,

you know,

all that kind of thing happening either.

But trying to do them both at the same time,

doesn't make sense.

And I would say,

and I just wanna say this for our listeners there.

Some people only do direct to consumer.

Some people only do wholesale.

Some people do both.

So you can decide for yourself,

what's right for you.

But wholesale does represent such a huge and different opportunity.

It's another source for you.

Although the structure looks completely different,

right? And Amber's our girl to teach us and get us

opportunities in that arena.

Yes. And you should think of it like revenue streams,

right? I always think of it as a bit of a

stool and you wanna have multiple streams as part of that

business and wholesale can provide a steady revenue stream.

As you get relationships built with independent retailers and you make

sure that you're able to move the products with them.

So they're able to repeat order with you.

All of that takes time.

The other big thing that I would say is if you're

going to come onto a wholesale platform,

any of them,

you can't be bouncing around one to the next,

to the next to the next,

every other month,

you have to give it time.

A key that I'll see sometimes is someone says,

well, I put my shop up the next day where the

orders like,

whoa. And like,

what did you tell anyone?

Your shop's there?

No. Well,

It's the same thing as direct to consumer,

right? Like,

just because you're there.

If nobody knows you are there,

how are they gonna buy from you?

Absolutely. Exactly.

And there's the thing too about,

this is just a kind of a side thought just for

us all to consider is,

you know,

how we talk about,

you can name your number.

Some say seven.

Sometimes people say as many as 12 touches before someone is

convinced that they should buy from you.

Right? If you make a product that you wanna place in

wholesale, whoever is going to stock your product and put it

in their shop.

It's their reputation on the line as well.

So they really need to feel comfortable with you and Amber.

This is one of the things I like about stackable.

And you talking about the fact that you're vetting,

as things continue to grow and build your platform,

becomes known as one that has quality products.

Like you could even say,

that's already three touches,

just being on and approved to be with stackable.

I already know that what I'm looking at here,

like has been reviewed.

It's good quality.

I can put it in my store and it's solid for

my reputation if I was a store owner.

Absolutely. Yeah.

Okay. So we're seeing,

if we qualify,

we need to have our branding down and our positioning.

We need to have solid pricing.

That's gonna work for wholesale,

right? Is there anything else under just the qualifying portion?

Oh my gosh.

Are you excited?

Is your mind opening up to the opportunity of wholesale for

you? Even if you're just starting out,

we're gonna continue the conversation with Amber after this quick break

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You wanna make sure you have your photos ready?

I mean,

you should have this.

If you've got your direct to consumer shot,

but making sure it's really a photo and a description that's

going to help the retailer really understand your product.

A key mistake that I see people make a lot is

like, oh,

we'll just take everything off of my direct to consumer shop.

And that'll be fine for the retailer that doesn't help the

retailer. Doesn't help them sell your product.

You need a description.

That's going to work for a retailer.

So I think that's a key area as well as where

people wanna just shortcut the process and just use everything they

did for a consumer thinking that I would sell in the

same way to a consumer as I would to a retailer.

It's a whole different customer.

It's A whole different customer With a different purpose of purchasing

from you too.

Yes, Absolutely.

And they have different information needs as well.

And so a lot of times where I talk about,

you gotta remember this as a process and it's going to

take time.

You're not gonna have every piece there right away.

You have to think about how am I gonna educate the

retailer on how to sell my product?

Because now if I want to go stand out to a

retailer, if I make it easy for them to turn around

and sell my product,

they're gonna order more from me.

They're gonna wanna work with me versus everybody else out there

that says here,

you figure it out.

Your problem.

At this point here,

it's handmade.

That should sell it.

No, no it's not.

So would that also include offering like point of sale materials

and things like that?

Exactly. It could be point of sale materials.

If you have any little videos of it,

anything that educates that retailer,

that's something I hear from retailers.

We aren't educated.

We don't get any education.

It shows up in a box and I'm supposed to figure

out how to sell it.

Right. That's great.

But if I have 150 products like that,

I can't do that.

I don't have that kind of time.

So put yourself in that shop owner's lens and say,

how do I make it easy for them to go,

oh, I have this beautiful product and oh,

maybe there's some little information cards or something where they can

learn more about the maker.

Maybe it's a QR code.

Someone can scan on their phone and look at,

oh, that's really cool.

I want that.

That's more interesting story.

So think about it as more of the experience for how

do you take your product and move it through the retailer,

to that consumer?

What information should you provide?

You know,

a lot of it in your head,

you just need to get it created and put it along

with your product And position it to the person that you're

talking to.

Yes. I'm also thinking that it's not a hundred percent.

I'm not exactly sure how to say this,

but you don't just take all the products that you have

and just flip them over and offer all of those wholesale.

Either. There may be certain parts of your product line that

are more suitable to wholesale than others.

Yes. If your products were really popular and you got a

huge order of 50 pieces,

somebody wants for wholesale,

can you make those in a timely manner?

Are you ready?

Do you have even the materials in this era of supply

and shortage of supply,

do you even have it so really to think through which

products to offer up right away too.

Yes. And we can actually,

you can set order quantities.

You can set min max quantities and things on our site.

So that,

that I think is a big thing.

People get hung up by,

they think I'm gonna get an order for a thousand and

I can't make it.

No, you just say you can't order that many,

you set that in your shop.

I mean,

this is one of the beauties of stackable too,

because if you're really looking at makers who are starting out

and smaller,

more local boutique shops who are looking for product,

they're not gonna buy that many anyway.

No. Right.

Exactly. And they wanna keep everything fresh and roll their inventory

through. At first,

they're gonna buy smaller quantities just to see if it sells.

And then they'll probably stay with smaller quantities because think about

it. Boutique shops have limited floor space anyway.

So they want lots of variety of products,

not necessarily within your brand.

So 2,

3, 5,

that makes total sense with what you're talking about.

Exactly. And so the other thing I would tell you too,

is sometimes I see the minimums that people put for a

wholesale order.

And I look at that and I was like,

we're selling to independent retailers who are buying small quantities and

you put $500 order minimum.

Like that's a lot for someone to take a new bet

on you.

So you have to really be thoughtful about it.

You can test the waters,

you can update things over time.

And I think sometimes people think,

well, I'm gonna set it and forget it.

I'm like,

no, you're gonna work with this over time.

As you learn and grow and you wanna start small and

a little simpler,

you do not wanna start with a catalog of 500 items,

right. Outta the go,

that's gonna be horrible to maintain.

You're not gonna be able to manage that between your,

I see that too,

between the consumer and wholesale is yep.

Take my entire exact same catalog.

And to your point,

maybe they all don't have the right margins to support that.

Are you sure you wanna wholesale that many items?

So the planning for what you wanna wholesale is something you

really need to think about.

And I think that's what you're getting at.

Sue gotta be intentional about this.

Yeah. I mean really thinking about where these products would be

placed and the value that yours have over others Right Now,

would there be any products that would not be suitable?

I usually think of it more in terms of does the

margin support.

It. That's really kinda how I think of it right now.

We have some categories.

We don't sell fresh food.

Like we don't sell that.

And so some things like that,

but otherwise that's a,

if you have a question about that category,

just shoot us a note and ask that's what I tell

people. What About consumables that are packaged?

Like if someone makes cookies or a sauce or something like

that, that's has some shelf life to it.

Let me put it that way.

Yeah. Right.

So we've done like coffees and teas,

but we have not expanded into those categories with shelf life,

but there are other marketplaces that have,

okay. So that one's not really stackable,

but I know there are some other more artisan food marketplaces

that do wholesale.

So there's some other folks out there that you can find

that, do That.

Okay. But I'm also thinking for our bakers and food makers

out there,

if you were looking at doing some type of a product

that you would want to pair with something.

So I'm thinking of like,

if you made a fig spread and you for Christmas wanted

to make that into a gift kit that had like a

little serving plate,

ah, they could come to stackable yes.

And buy wholesale a serving plate that could be used with

the fig jams and then they could wrap them up as

the gift.

Yes. Yes.

So you're a maker turned wholesale purchaser at that point kind

of right.

You would be,

yes. You would be on the business side.

You'd be on the purchasing side at that point.

And sure.

If you have your own business and you want to buy

other handmade things to put into kits.

Sure. Of course you can do that kind of stuff.

In fact,

actually, that's one of the things that I've been trying to

talk to more retailers about,

you know,

you can put multiple things together.

And one thing I actually suggest for makers too,

is think about these sort of gift baskets and sample kits.

And if I think about my products,

what are things that make it really easy for that retailer

and for some of your folks that are thinking about,

well, I don't want to have huge orders.

Maybe you do sample packs.

That's another thing to do.

And retailers like those,

right. That's a smaller quantity and it's a few different things.

Right. And so you could actually get a slightly bigger sale

cause they're like,

oh, why do I two or three?

Sure. I'll just try the whole sample kit instead of just

that one item again,

think about how do I make it easy for the guy

on the other end guy or gal on the other end.

And you mentioned gift baskets and now gift boxes are all

the rage too.

Yep. I'm intimately familiar with this industry.

And many of them are looking for those local based products

yeah. Or products that are super unique because their gift baskets

don't then look like the big guys that are just the

brand name products,

you know,

big boxes,

small amount of ingredients inside,

but more local and things that if you were to give

that gift box as a gift,

aren't things that you could just go buy at your local

shop. Right.

They're very much curated for that business.

We keep going off on the side and tangents about this,

which is great.

Cause it's just a whole bunch of brainstorming ideas,

right? Yes.

All right.

So branding,

pricing, photos and descriptions.

Well photos ready,

but then the descriptions probably just need to be tweaked for

the right audience.

Right. Right.

Anything else on qualifying?

Yeah. Actually let me back up a little qualifications.

Really. When you submit your application for stackable,

it's actually super easy.

You're gonna give us your website,

your Instagram profile.

So I can go take a look at all of that.

And as long as we know,

it's handmade,

we know it's the artisan,

the, the smaller made that part of the process is easy.

What If I am just starting my Instagram account really?

Haven't paid a lot of attention to it.

And I sell at craft shows.

I'm thinking about a website might not have one still,

even after all the warnings,

after what we just went through.

Right. So if my business model was face to face,

but then I'll do wholesale orders on the side behind the

scenes. That would also still be okay.

Yes it is.

Cuz here's what would happen.

Right? So we look at all the applications,

we'd say,

huh, there's no website.

Hm. There's only a couple posts on Instagram.

We would shoot you an email and say,

Hey, can you tell us a little bit about what you're

hoping, hoping to sell on stackable?

And then usually people go,

oh, I'm looking to sell blah,

blah, blah,

handmade products.

I'm doing everything at craft shows.

Here's some pictures.

That's usually how things works.

And then we go,

oh, okay.

We can see what it is.

And again,

we're just trying to make sure that it's a fit for

our site and that we're not gonna waste your time.

That's the other side of this too.

And the other reason we vet and we look at the

categories is sometimes we reject people because we say,

guess what?

People don't come to our site to buy that.

I don't wanna waste your time as a small business.

And so if it's not a fit,

I tell you that versus,

oh, come on in.

And then have you go through all that work.

I'm gonna tell you if it's not a category we really

sell or we really see.

So give us some examples of categories that are a fit

Candle makers.

We've had people that do like small batch aromatherapy,

home decor,

jewelry, handmade apparel.

We've had things in the pet space.

Let's see.

I'm sure there's more,

I'm not thinking of,

but off the top of my head,

those are all Handmade bird,

feeders, glass ornaments,

like all those true handmade.

Yes. Okay.

All right.

Yeah. So apparel and all that.

I wanted to hear that too.

So pretty much.

Yeah. Okay.

We got that.

Okay. So we do the qualifications now starting.

So it starts with,

is there a form on your site or how does that

work? Yep.

There's an application form right on our site that you fill

out that provides all those basics to us and then we'll

review the application.

And when we accept the application,

we'll send you a series of emails to help you onboard.

And then you can just email us as you have questions.

If you're having questions,

getting set up.

Okay. How long does it take to get approved?

Approximately? Usually under a week.

Sometimes it's a day.

If it's a no brainer,

cuz we can tell there's a website.

It says it's handmade all over it.

And there's a picture of you as the maker on it.

Those tend to get approved within a few days.

They're pretty quick.

Those are easy.

I'm thinking about this only because of what we're talking about

for the opportunities coming up.

So it doesn't take a long time to get approved,

but go ahead and do it right away.

And is there a cost to getting approved or should we

get to costs later?

It's free to apply.

Okay. Free to apply.

So now you've gotten approved and then we get emails with

links that guide us through how to set everything up.

Correct? Yes.

And so you should carve out some time because it's gonna

take you a little while you get your little shop banner

set up,

you get your description of your shop.

You have to add in kind of all your social profiles

and all that.

So that it looks the way you want it to look,

to represent your brand to retailers.

That's the piece where don't do short shift on this,

give yourself a little bit of time,

carve out a day or something to actually thoughtfully work your

way through it.

I'm underlying what you said,

how your brand looks to retailers,

not how your brand looks to a consumer,

who's gonna buy.

Right. Right.

How should your brand look to a retailer?

How do you want that sold to a retailer who then

will turn around and sell to an end consumer?

So thoughtfully work your way through that process.

And the setup for that,

we send a series of onboarding emails cuz the practicality is,

you know,

lots of people are doing this in off hours or they're

gonna do it on the weekend and they'll apply one weekend

and the next weekend they'll come set their shop up or

something like that.

Very common.

That's very typical.

And for what we see,

so you'll work your way through the shop setup process.

And at a certain point you have a decision point and

that's really related to your business and how you're planning to

grow your business.

So we have one level that is what we call our

free level,

where it's commission based.

And you can have up to 15 items on that level

and they have a 15% commission if they sell plus a

3% fee that pays for Stripe basically.

So there's that level.

Sometimes that's great for people that are just getting started and

feel like they're learning so many ropes on this,

that just in the beginning stages of building their wholesale business,

then there's other folks that have said,

Hey, guess what?

I want access to some of these other opportunities.

Like some of these open customizations,

I want you to promote my stuff through your social channels.

They get access to because I write for other publications,

I reach out to some of these folks to get quotes

from them.

And so they can,

they might get a little press coverage,

courtesy of me and other things I write as well.

And those are all the folks that are kind of on

our paid tier again,

how do we solve it to make it easier?

Right? Is you'll get the,

Hey, would you like to provide a quote for a certain

question? Oh yeah,

yeah, yeah,

yeah. Yeah.

Takes like 10 minutes,

like, Hey and I'll cover your shop.

You'll answer a little question for me and I'll cover your

shop. They're like,

oh well that's amazing.

And so as I say,

those value added services and those are for folks that are

on our paid platform.

And so how that works is you can either do a

monthly one,

a quarterly one or an annual one.

And it's all depends on if you do a monthly one,

it's $25 a month.

If you do quarterly,

there's a price break.

So 62 50 and annually is 250 and that covers all

the cost to run the platform.

And then there's no commissions.

You just pay the 3% strip fee.

That's like a no brainer,

Amber. Yeah.

Are you sure those prices should be that low Prices haven't

been adjusted in several years and I'm pretty determined to try

to keep 'em there.

Cause what I'm really looking at is saying,

look, you're gonna have Shopify square space,

something for your retail site,

where are you gonna put your wholesale stuff?

Who vets said,

it's a business that's buying it.

Do you want to a hundred percent of it to then

just go through your own site?

Or do you want some discovery and promotion and help in

the process from someone else?

That's kinda,

as you think about that,

Dang, like I would jump on it now.

That sounds amazing.

I was expecting you to say seven 50.

You know,

something like that.

No. And you may not have thought this through yet,

but if someone comes in now and they stay with you

you year after year,

will you maintain their entrance where they came in or will

it change as like,

if you start increasing it down the road?

Oh I would grandfather prices.

I'll tell you that.

Yeah. You would grandfather prices.

Okay. I'm not a fan.

I'm like,

Hey look,

if you came in,

you were that loyal in the early days when we're little

and we're working through all this stuff and you're working,

heck yeah.

I'm gonna be loyal to you too.

So yeah,

we would grandfather,

I would add new tiers and new pricing for people that

came in later.

I've had other businesses.

So I'm like,

yeah, I know people are like,

Hey, you're leaving money on the table.

Yeah, I know.

Yeah. Oh gosh.

I love that.

I knew I liked you when we first connected.

Cause I had to challenge you about the pricing.

That was just the very first thing that came to me

is like,

that's a steal,

You know?

I know as I talk to people like seriously,

really? Yeah.

Yeah. But so get in on it now because then you

can keep that.

Okay. So amazing.

Okay. So you choose your place,

but for those who aren't yet comfortable because let's face it

when you're growing your business and starting out and have never

done wholesale before,

maybe they wanna try the free.

Yeah. You know,

it costs them a little bit more per order,

but just to get their feet wet.

And can you always jump to different levels to upgrade your

level at any point?

Yes. Okay.

You're making this very easy,

Amber, Like I said,

I've tried really hard to make it easy for you to

focus on the things,

to grow your business.

And, and I'm always asking myself,

what else can I take off your plate?

That's creative.

That's thoughtful that accesses the information I have.

Right. Because I have access to some retailers.

I have access to the makers.

How do I create these win-wins for everybody?

And I'm really just the underlying marketplace.

That's transacting and trying to nudge people along and help 'em

grow their business.

Right. Okay.

We've made our decision point.

Okay. So we're now past that.

What happens next?

The decision of am I gonna do free or am I

gonna do a paid program?

And so then what happens?

We finish our shop,

set up,

get everything ready to go.

We need to tell people on social media,

we're there.

I mean,

we provide some templates and some things via can vote to

say, Hey,

let people know I'm UNS stackable.

So let me ask you a question on this.

Finalizing your shop setup.

So is there a point where you can push the button

and it goes,

live onto stackable so you can do all this stuff behind

the scenes and then when you're ready,

do you control pushing it and getting it live or do

we send something to you?

And then you just look at it,

make sure it all looks okay and then you turn it

on. You actually control that.

And so the way you control that is you go ahead

and upload your shop.

And so then the shop would be there.

But if there's no products in it,

it's not really gonna show up anywhere.

Yeah. So you don't do that until you're ready.

Yeah. You do your baseline shop stuff.

You put your items in a draft status and then once

you publish them,

they go live.

So it's really easy.

Yeah. That's why there's the two steps.

Yeah, yeah,

yeah. Yeah.

Okay. All right.

So we've done that.

And so now let's get to the promoting and marketing,

cuz just like we were talking about earlier,

if nobody knows you're there,

they're not gonna know to come to you unless they happen

to fall upon you even in stock.

All right,

Exactly. Exactly.

They might be sorting a catalog and find you.

But if you're relying only on other people to a hundred

percent of your sales,

you're gonna have a real mixed bag.

They might find you.

They might not,

who knows.

Right. Just like anything with businesses,

there's some intentionality to all of this.

And with the thing to think about with the other thing

to think about with wholesale to is I tell people,

okay, so you're still going to those shows right?

In your direct to consumer stuff and you're still meeting people.

You're gonna come across businesses along the way.

Do you have in the same materials that you do,

even for your direct to consumer links to your wholesale shop,

like somebody might be walking by and be like,

oh look,

they do wholesale.

They might not tell you they're a business owner.

They got a friend that has a shop that I'm like,

that'd be really cool.

Oh I should tell my friend,

I'll just grab your little card or your information and hand

it to her.

That has my little shop link to it.

And this is your wholesale shop.

Yeah, Exactly.

You should have them both because consumers and they're not gonna

come by wholesale.

Cause we're like,

give us your business information.

And so you can even put four businesses,

wholesale link,

blah. And it's something I don't see people do.

And I ask makers said,

well, you're on a wholesale platform who knows you there?

Yeah. Oh,

well don't you just deal with all that?

Like I do what I can,

but you know,

if you don't even tell people on your main website that

you wholesale,

there's a problem.

So that's one thing I you'd be surprised.

It's not like they're handing everything over for you to run

your partners together.

They're coming on your site,

you're going to support them.

It's a back and forth.

And the other thing I really like about things like with

stackable is if you are a maker and your're driving people

to that site,

so are the other makers who are there.

So you all win because think of a gift shop,

they don't need just one product.

They need multiple products on the shelf.

So you're gonna get the value from others,

driving their contacts there.

And you do the same thing by driving some of your

contacts there.

Exactly. It's a community effort.

Yeah. That's that reality.

And knowing that you're part of the handmade community,

you know,

you're not part of just everything else that might be mass

produced or handmade.

And then they're trying to make you compete on price and

other things.

No, you're all part of this handmade community when you're doing

that here.

Okay. So any other ideas for promotion?

So we've got the biggies of even just having some of

the collateral and the information that you can share with people.

I think that's the first big one.

I think we've given,

'em kind of a list already.

I don't wanna open 'em.

Yeah. OK.

All right.

And also the,

what do you call 'em the calls bid Open calls,

Open calls.

So they,

those two,

if you're in one of the paid programs Yep.

We would email those to you.

Then you're able to put your name in for those.

So that's another option and there's also social.

There's lots of opportunities that we all already know.

Yes. Okay.

And so anything else we need to know in terms of

just the structure setting up and being on the,

the platform?

Nope. I think that's everything so far.

Okay. And timing wise,

it's the fall now?

Is it too late to get on the platform and potentially

capture some holiday sales?

It is not too late.

Here's why there is con these continued supply chain shortages and

manufacturing shortages.

And that's why it's definitely not too late yet.

So the big thing that's been happening over in China,

depending on how much people have been following it,

the country has a COVID zero policy.

So what they do is they open and close different regions

of China based on outbreaks.

They basically break their supply chain over and over and over

again. Right.

Because one area might be manufacturing something,

but the other area does the packaging.

And then it has to ship from a third area,

no different than here,

right in the us.

And so you're seeing more and more retailers turn to handmade

and other markets saying some of that isn't quite as reliable

in the timing and they're wanting to differentiate.

And so I would definitely say you still actually have plenty

of time for the holidays.

Yeah. Okay.

Perfect. And some might be looking for substitutes if things that

they thought would be coming in don't because I've heard this

horror story a lot too,

is retailers end up sitting on product that finally arrives in

February. That was for the holiday sales.

Yes. They're caught off guard.

So they've learned,

and they've gone through this at least one year.

I don't know that two years ago it was such an

issue cuz we were focusing on other things.

But last year this definitely happened to many people.

So they're thinking differently now of where they're gonna purchase or

reducing the risk of overseas purchases and having something local.

So at least they know they have something to sell.

Absolutely. The other thing that's in your favor right now,

especially with working with some of your local retailers is the

fact that freight is just,

I mean,

freight costs are outta control.

I wrote an article for smart retailer a few months back

and in some of the research I had found freight costs

were 70% year over year.

Yeah. What do you think that does to their margin on

product? I'm actually seeing that today because while we're recording like

an hour after we're done with this,

I'm getting a huge ribbon shipment in yes.

It's from China because that's where you can make it right

now. You know,

I don't go through middleman,

I'll go directly to the factory,

but I've been comparing my costs of,

you know,

getting a support shipping like on the rail over here and

getting it actually to my office,

all of that.

And I'm right at that mark 70%.

Exactly. And it's horrible.

I mean we're talking thousands of dollars over what it used

to be.

So I am a incredible source to what you're talking about.

If I could find it stateside,

even if it cost me more per item,

if the shipping is lower,

it could yes.

Still be in my favor.

And then I could supply American,

which I would love to do.

Yes. Some things are possible to,

to do some things aren't but I felt like I wanted

to reinforce what you're saying cuz it's not just talk.

No, no.

And the other thing to think about too is especially in

putting a driver on some of the building out some of

your local business,

I mean you just create a schedule of,

Hey, I'm gonna run around and be over in your suburb

on this date,

dropping off orders.

And so we're gonna do that instead of shipping everything to

you. And so people are like,

oh, all of a sudden people are having to get creative

so you can get a little creative too.

Yeah. They've had to get a lot more open-minded because they

haven't been able to find some of the supply.

And so it gives you some advantages and there's just so

much more awareness now that we're a couple years into it

and that doesn't even get into the whole environmental,

social. Yeah.

Kind of other things that just feel really good about buying

that, that doesn't even tap into that whole feeling.

Right. Whole stream.

Right. Okay.

So let's finish this out by talking about,

well, first I'm gonna prompt everybody.

Fill out your application.

If you're interested,

think about it for this holiday season.

It is the fall with any luck you've already been planning,

but I think you could probably slip this in.

Even if there's only a few wholesale orders,

you start getting going and remember there's holidays right after December

too, for us to be looking at and considering yes.

So get your application in,

get started with the process.

And now just to close the circle here,

how does it look from stackables and when someone actually gets

an order,

how does that flow through the system?

Yes. So you actually get an email that confirms and tells

you that you have an order and then we actually go

in and monitor it as well.

And you go into your shop dashboard and you can complete

the information for the order from your shop dashboard.

So once an order comes in and you see that email,

you would go log in,

you would see that you have that order in the dashboard,

and then you can complete your additional information from There.

Does it give you any of the customer's information,

if you have questions on the order or how would that

work? Usually you would work with us if you have questions

on the order and what additional information is there.

I don't remember right off the top of the head,

if we give you their,

their email address or not,

I'm like,

oh, I don't remember.

I'd have to go double check that to see,

but yes,

you always wanna work with us on it cuz we're monitoring

and looking at orders too,

just to make sure everything goes smoothly and that there aren't

any issues or,

or escalating.

If somebody isn't responding right away to that retailer's order pretty

quickly to that retailer's order and stuff.

So we're also watching that process as well to try to

help you out and have you Back and important because if

someone might have missed the order,

because let's face it,

if it's email,

it could go into the promotion folder,

spam, whatever.

So you're kind of a backup protection like,

Hey, Hey,

you've got an order out there.

Let's look at this.

Yes, exactly.

And one thing we forgot to tap into,

I will recap really quick.

If you're a retailer and you find shopping on all these

sites completely overwhelming,

you can just email us and we'll curate for you.

Oh, we'll be your personal shopper.

Oh, Love it.

You're like,

Hey, I'm looking for a couple different things in,

in candles.

And here's a link to my website and take a look

at the kinds of stuff I sell and gimme some recommendations

that for retailers.

So again,

like I said,

I'm trying to create solutions that make it easier on both

sides or how do we do this and move business.

I absolutely love it.

Okay. And I'm sure there are other questions that people will

have and they would go over to your website or where

would you direct them to go to get in touch with

you, do all the things You can go right onto the

stackable website.

And you can just put in a little help request support

requests and ask us questions.

Or you can email us@helloatstackable.com

as well.

And we can kind of route from there,

depending on what kind of question it is,

whether it's on the maker side or on the purchasing side

for the retailers.

Perfect. Love it.

Okay. Any final statements that you wanna talk about with stackable,

where you are,

where you're going message to newcomers who are considering joining,

what would be your final message here?

I think my final message is this is a great time

to be both an independent retailer and a maker because consumers

are more educated than ever about wanting to support their small

local businesses because of the pandemic.

And they're also more educated than ever about wanting to support

handmade. And the key is continuing to bring forward that message

about handmade and what you're doing because all these little micro

businesses, they're the lifeblood that are driving our economy.

And so for all of you that are on the front

lines, doing all of this,

thank you.

We love you and we love your products and we will

keep buying them.

As I say,

in my tips and talk episode,

they bring us so much happiness.

You know,

these handmade products.

Absolutely. And because we can imagine envision ourself as the little

guy, that's getting their fledging business off the ground and growing

it and how much courage that takes.

And some of these businesses that think are little aren't so

little anymore,

they're still all handmade.

But I mean,

there is money to be made in handmade,

which is amazing and the opportunities available for all of us.

But we have to find people like you,

Amber, to help us along to have platforms,

to provide a community where we can all enrich each other

and help build each other up with a visibility of a

platform like stackable.

So I am so excited to see where both these things

go handmade seller and stackable,

but stackable is the focus for the time being cuz of

holidays. So thank you so much for coming on the show,

sharing with everybody.

And I can't wait to see what happens in the future.

Thank you.

Okay. Short and sweet summary here.

First get on the handmade seller email list and take advantage

of all the free back issues that Amber is offering you.

Second. How about wholesale for you?

You heard the qualifications and that you don't have to have

been in business for a long time to integrate wholesale into

your strategy.

Stackable is made exactly for you and only for you as

a handmade product business.

It can't get any more targeted and supportive than that.

Now it's time for you to act.

So go over to the stackable website and make that next

move. But if you're still on the fence or you need

to enhance some areas of your business to qualify,

this could be the perfect topic for a gift biz boost

to remind you these are free time slots with me to

help move your business forward in one specific area.

If you wanna sign up for a gift biz boost,

go over to gift biz,

unwrapped.com/boost and select a time.

This is a chance to get coaching for free.

So make sure to grab your spot today.

Gift biz,

unwrapped.com/boost, and now be safe and well.

And I'll see you again.

Next time on the gift biz unwrapped podcast.

I wanna make sure you're familiar with my free Facebook group

called gift viz breeze.

It's a place where we all gather and our a community

to support each other.

I got a really fun post in there.

That's my favorite of the week.

I have to say where I invite all of you to

share what you're doing to show pictures of your product,

to show what you're working on for the week to get

reaction from other people and just for fun,

because we all get to see the wonderful products that everybody

in the community is making my favorite post F every single

week, without doubt.

Wait, what aren't you part of the group already,

if not make sure to jump over to Facebook and search

for the group gift biz breeze don't delay.