This week my guest on the podcast is Em Royston from Chasing Threads. Chasing Threads make stitchable accessories and cross stitch kits for the modern world. The first collection of unique, stylish and functional accessories that can be stitched and personalised, born from the idea to 'sew where you go'.

Em has an interesting background, having previously worked for product brand Suck UK. We talked about how this combined with her passion for crafts and travel led her to set up Chasing Threads. Em has has great success selling her products through distributors and wholesale platforms such as Faire.

Em explains how it works, her top tips for making those platforms work for you, and how she got started. 

It’s really inspiring, and my guess is after listening to this podcast you will be hurrying over to Faire to see if it is the right platform for you.

Listen in to hear Em share:

• An introduction to herself and her business (01:18)
• How and why she started Chasing Threads (02:02)
• Setting up her business whilst living in Hong Kong (04:16)
• How being in Hong Kong dramatically increased the speed of getting her products manufactured (05:07)
• Launching a product via a kickstarter campaign (07:01)
• Whether she would recommend running a kickstarter campaign again (09:50)
• Setting up on Woocommerce, then moving to Shopify, and selling on Etsy and Not On The High Street (11:28)
• Starting to sell via wholesale and trade shows (14:12)
• The challenges and advantages of running a business from Hong Kong (17:29)
• Selling globally via distributors, and how this can help you circumvent Brexit issues (18:43)
• Selling through Faire (24:19)
• Tips for nurturing customers through Faire (27:02)
• Faire alternatives including Ankorstore (30:01)
• Top tips for selling on wholesale platforms (31:01)
• Her number one piece of advice for other product creators (33:58)

USEFUL RESOURCES:

Chasing Threads Website

Chasing Threads Facebook

Chasing Threads Instagram

Chasing Threads Pinterest

Suck UK

Top Drawer

Maison Objet

Faire

Ankorstore

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Welcome to the Bring Your Product Ideas to Life podcast, practical advice

and inspiration to help you create and sell your own physical products.

Here's your host, Vicki Weinberg.

Today I am speaking with Em Royston from Chasing Threads.

Chasing Threads makes stitch book accessories and cross-stitch kits for

the modern world, the first collection of unique, stylish and functional accessories

that can be stitched and personalized.

Born from the idea to sew where you go.

I had a really great conversation with Em today.

We spoke a lot about the inspiration for her products, how she got

started, and also about wholesaling.

Em has wholesaled her products for years now and she's achieved a lot

of this via wholesaling platforms.

Um, specifically Faire.

I haven't yet spoken to anyone who uses one of these platforms

to wholesale their products.

So as you can imagine, I was really interested, um, we spoke about this in

lots of detail and if you you have ever considered wholesalers, but perhaps

the thought of picking up the phone or sending whole emails is putting you off.

I really think this is something that you're going to be interested in.

So I'd love now to introduce you to Em.

So, hi Em.

Thank you for being here.

Hi Vicki.

You know, it's great to be here.

So can we start with you?

Please give an introduction to yourself, your business, and what you sell?

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, yes, I'm Em Royston.

Um, and my brand is called Chasing Threads.

Um, and basically it's a kind of, um, modern cross stitch

travel accessories brand.

Um, and we make, well the original idea was to sew where you go.

So it all started from the idea of, um, just marking kind of

a destination with a cross.

Um, and that grew into a number of products, which I developed, designed,

um, I get manufactured, um, and now I yeah, sell market and sell kind of

internationally through my own website and throughout the platforms and wholesale.

Wow.

We have a lot to talk about.

Yeah.

So I'm going to start right at the

beginning if that's okay, Ash.

Sure.

And can you tell us how and why you started Chasing Threads?

So were you a big cross stitcher?

Where did it all begin?

Yeah, so, um, yeah, basically I've always loved making things.

Have been kind of sewer and crafty sort of person since forever.

Used to make my own clothes and things when I was a kid.

Um, and then I went on to study design, um, at university.

And I always, yeah, I loved product design.

That was kind of the area that I went into and yeah, it wasn't so much cross

stitch necessarily back then, but it was just like, yeah, making things.

Um, this idea of kind of personalizing things I got really, um, interested

in at university and how the kind of the customer can personalize

things and make them their own.

Um, and that was sort of worked through projects that I did at university.

Um, yeah.

And then I just went on to try and find a job in any kind of design capacity,

um, which isn't always the easiest.

So I actually just ended up working for other small design brands that I liked.

Um, and I actually started in kind of more of a sales sort of role

because I was just like, I need a job.

Um, and so I worked for other little design companies, one of which being

Suck UK, which is like a kind of quirky design brand, bit of a bad name.

It was.

Everyone's like, Suck UK?

Um, but um, yeah, and, and it was that kind of company, um, after

a few others that I, I worked for about five years and sort of worked

my way back into design a bit more.

And I designed a product for them, um, which was called a cross stitch map.

And the idea was that it was, well actually going back again, the,

um, yeah, so I designed the cross stitch map for them and the idea

was, um, a map of the world that printed on a cross stitch fabric.

Because I'd done a road trip in America with my partner and cross-stitched

the actual roadmap that we'd used.

Um, and it showed the travel in thread.

And I thought just, I love this idea of showing your travels in thread

and that you kind of, um, yeah, marked this map with little stitches.

Um, and see I developed that product for them and they, they still

sell it and distribute it now.

Uh, and then a few years later I went on to start my own brand.

And that was one of the kind of key ideas that I wanted to take forward.

Um, which I developed into a range of passport covers, notebooks, tote bags, all

this idea of stitching where you've been.

So I don't know if yeah, makes sense.

Yeah, that's great.

No, that does make loads of sense.

And I'm sure I read something on your website.

Am I right in thinking that you weren't actually in the UK

when you set the company up?

Yeah, so it was, I was working in like UK um, at the time.

And then, um, yeah, my husband got an opportunity.

Moved to Hong Kong.

Um, and I thought it was, you know, a great chance for me to

sort of, I've always wanted to start having my own company.

I don't know why.

I've just always kind of imagined myself having, um, my own brand.

And when I was at Suck, I was always just jealous of like the

product design meetings going on when I was in the sales team.

And then when I was in more of a product side, I was, you know, wanted to know what

the kind of the bigger brand strategy was.

And I just, yeah, I found the whole process really interesting.

So I, I knew I kind of wanted to, to have my own brand to have kind

of more control over everything.

Um, and so yeah, so when we moved to Hong Kong, uh, that was the chance to,

um, I just kind of worked part-time and then started on the side developing

products, um, and designing and then getting kind of manufacturing.

And where, do you mind me if, I hope you don't mind

me asking this, but where were you getting your products manufactured?

So locally to us, so it was, um, it was actually, yeah, a

really kind of interesting place to be because it's, it's so close to, you

know, the hub of Shenzhen and China and manufacturing and everything.

Um, they say everything kind of happens more quickly in Hong Kong.

It's like a very, you know, fast paced, uh, sort of place to be in.

I found that was really true.

You know, you could get samples back from suppliers within a day or two.

And yeah, it was just a, yeah, a really great place to be for that.

And I've worked with one supplier still that I met then and just regularly

traveled to visit them and developed the products and, and now they're,

yeah, at a really trusted supplier.

So that's been.

Yeah, invaluable really to have that proximity.

That's amazing.

That's really, what's the word, Serendip?

Serendipitous.

I think that's the right word.

Yeah.

Because I, I speak to lots of people who sort of

set products from China, but for, for lots of people, particularly

over the last couple of years.

But actually in general, because it's so far away and so

expensive, um, most people, yeah.

Never get to meet their supplier face to face or go and have a walk around

because it's, you know, there's, there's so many reasons why that isn't possible.

But that must have been amazing.

Absolutely.

You could visit and really get to build relationships.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think, um, you know, it's obviously, there's mixed sort of, um, opinions

on, on trying to manufacture and things and I, I totally understand.

Um, but it's been, yeah, it was amazing to sort of, you know, actually see and

experience and get to know a company because it's obviously a a lot different

when you're just on the other side of the world ordering something blindly.

Um, and I definitely had learned my lessons from other suppliers as well,

um, where I didn't go and check kind of the products before they were

sent out and that kind of thing.

And, um, you know, you get a horrible surprise when it's not what you'd

expected and the quality wasn't the same as a sample and that kind of thing.

But yeah, now I just know, you know, the suppliers that I do work

with, um, totally trust and have been working with them for years.

So, yeah, that's a nice outcome.

Yeah, that's really good.

And, and coming back to when you got started, am I right in thinking

that you, you ran a Kickstarter campaign in the early days?

Yeah, so it wasn't actually for the very first,

first product, but um, to develop.

So the passport cover was like my kind of original, and that was like, um,

still is the best seller actually.

It's like the kind of the starting product.

It's still the star.

Um, but I wanted to develop other products and I didn't really have the, the cash

to reinvest in another production run.

So yeah, I did do a kickstart product project.

Sorry for the, um, notebook.

So, um, yeah, that was really, it was quite a scary thing to do actually.

The kickstart I found.

I thought it was going to be just like, oh yeah, you know, you'd see, I've seen

ones really take off and, um, generate about 20,000, you know, just, um, easily.

But obviously it's, when you're actually doing it, it's quite a lot of of work.

Um, and I think I raised over 5,000 pounds to, um, to kickstart

the production of that notebook.

And, um, yeah, it was really exhilarating when I did finally get

that, that kind of, um, pledges all.

Um, in from, um, people that, yeah, obviously originally friends

and family, but then also just people that like the product.

So yeah, it was really good if you are, you know, at the beginning and

you have a kind of, I think it works really well with sort of simplistic

ideas as well, kind of products that people understand quite quickly and, um.

Yeah, I think it was definitely worth doing as a way to, to get

some funds to, to launch something new without that big risk.

Um, I guess there was an advantage that it wasn't your first

product because presumably you had some customers and people who liked

what you did, that then you could then approach, you know, for your Kickstarter.

Um, yeah, because yeah, exactly.

We had someone on here talking about, um, Kickstarter campaigns or, or

any kind of crowdfunding last year.

And the big thing I took away from that episode is how much work it is.

I had no idea that it would be almost like a full-time job to, to run a campaign.

Was that your experience?

Yeah, like I definitely didn't put as much into it as I

could and should probably have.

But yes, it was because it's like you kind of launch and I think there's an

expectation that the, the website will generate quite a lot of views for you.

But actually there's so many projects going live all the time that unless you

are picked up by Kickstarter team, you know, it's very unlikely that you're going

to get traction without bringing your own.

So yes, it was a lot more work than, um, than I kind of expected and it

was a bit scary when you are only halfway and you've gone over the half

the time because it is all or nothing.

Um, but yeah, and I was also already wholesaling a little bit

then, so that was quite good.

I could also, um, I had a few shops that pledged to sort of stock the products.

Um, so that was the nice thing as well as using direct to consumer

customers that I'd already had.

Um, but kind of using those stores that I'd been working with, um, yeah, to get

behind the project and the, a new product.

And that's great and we'll talk about that, um, in a

moment, a little bit more, where you were selling and how that came about.

But one thing I'd love to know actually is with the Kickstarter,

hypothetically, let's say you came up with a completely new product idea.

Now, would you, would you do it again?

Yeah, good question.

Um, I think because I'm now working with supply that I don't have to sort

of, um, commit to massive quantities.

Um, and the things I'm making, I sort of, you know, don't order so

many, and it's not like there's not a big tooling investment or anything.

Um, I wouldn't, unless, unless there was a product that was like, you

know, I need to order a big amount to make it happen, or there's a big

kind of, um, initial startup cost.

Um, and then yeah, I would consider it, I would definitely

consider it for that, um, purpose.

I can't see that at the moment, but um, yeah, I'd be open to it because it is

such a clever kind of idea of having the kind of almost pre-sold the stock

before you've even manufactured them.

I think it's, you know, it's a very good way of reducing risk

for, for brands that are kind of giving something a go if you're not

entirely sure it's going to do well.

Yes, because you're right.

Because as well as getting those original sales, you're also getting people to sort

of put their money where their mouth is and say, yes it is actually a good idea.

Which can be hard, can't it?

People will often tell you they think something's good, but then

will they actually part of any money?

It's a different thing.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

It's like, yeah.

And that kind of, um, emphasis on supporting the community and,

and supporting small designers.

Um, yeah, it's, it is really interesting area.

Well, it's really good to know that, um, it's something that hasn't,

you know, tightly put you off doing again.

No

Um, so you mentioned before that you were selling direct

to consumers and that you also were doing wholesale at that point.

So can we talk a little bit about sort of yeah, all of that really.

So where you started selling and how that evolved.

So did you start off with just a website, for example?

Let's, let's go from there.

Yeah.

I basically just, um, at first I was using a WordPress, a very basic

WordPress site that I sort of taught myself, you know, how to make.

Um, it just did the trick with commerce, but it was a bit, you know, a bit shoddy.

Um, and then got my products on Etsy.

I actually very nearly didn't continue to put my products on Etsy because I thought

they will have to be kind of hand -made to be on there, but I, in the end I would

just thought, oh, I'll put them on there.

Um, and you know, if they tell me to take them down, then fine.

But I think their policies have changed and it was an original design still.

Um, so it didn't matter that I wasn't the one actually physically making them.

Um, and yeah, that's been one of my biggest platforms.

Etsy still does, yeah, probably half of my direct consumer sales is through

Etsy, um, because it's such a good kind of international marketplace and

a lot comes from America, from Etsy.

And then, you know, it's obviously grown in the UK as well in the

last few years, quite a lot.

So yeah.

And then more recently, well a few, three years ago maybe, um, got into

Not on the High Street as well, which is obviously again like a really nice

platform that's got a good, um, you know, customer base and the products

work well because it's, yeah, that kind of creating your own, um, idea and, and

personalization, that kind of thing.

So, uh, yeah.

And then I've since, um, developed my store on Shopify, which is a

lot better than the e commerce one.

A lot less glitchy, um, and yeah, I've kind of dabbled in doing

Facebook ads and things to get the air traction on that, going a bit better.

And yeah, I think that's about it.

There's a few other marketplaces I am actually, I do have some of the

products listed on Amazon, but I haven't really invested much time in that and

I'm, yeah, it's probably not the main focus for my products at the moment.

But um, yeah, the se, the central world as well is just so unpleasant to be in and

I just can't spend too much time there.

Oh, well if you ever need a hand, you know where I am.

Yeah.

Well it sounds like you're doing really well and, um, I

agree with you about Shopify as well.

I think Shopify, if anyone is wanting to build their own site to

sell their products per personally.

Now, like I said, this is not, yeah.

Um, I've got no links with Shopify, but I just think it's

great because it is so easy.

Definitely.

And it looks really nice as well.

Yeah, it is.

It's so easy to set up a shop like in a day, really you can.

And um, yeah, and it, it kind of, it syncs to everything, so yeah, it's great.

I definitely also highly recommend Shopify.

So you mentioned, um, so we've spoken a lot about

selling direct to consumers.

So you mentioned earlier that you were stocked in a few stores

as early as a few years ago.

So how did you first start wholesaling and talk us through,

through what you did there.

Yeah, sure.

So that was actually probably one of the biggest benefits of, um,

when I started at Suck UK, I was working in the kind of sales side,

which wasn't really my intention.

I just wanted to get kind of into a product design world.

Um, but actually it's, it was so useful because I was essentially, um,

kind of an ad, you know, uh, account manager for these wholesale shops.

So selling stock products to stores and being.

Yeah.

Uh, customers, yeah.

Yeah.

Being the kind of admin person for those sales.

So I really understood, uh, when going to trade shows for them.

I was, um, sorry, I , I, yeah, so I used to go to the trade shows for them.

Um, and I would, I just got to learn kind of the wholesale pricing, um, how to

approach stores, um, you know, all of that pack sizes stuff that I just, I suppose

I would have just had to learn from.

When I started my business later, I kind of had all that knowledge.

So it wasn't so scary.

I think I approached Halsa right from the beginning.

It wasn't actually a case of waiting for that long.

I think I, I launched a Top Drawer, um, in my first or second year because I,

I just, that was like the way, that was the path that I knew that you would sell

some direct to consumer, but wholesale was sort of the end goal for me.

Um, yeah.

Yeah.

It must have been invaluable having that experience.

When I was selling my range of products, I never did much wholesale,

just a few local shops, because to me it was just an absolute minefield

of things that I didn't know.

So I can imagine having all of that experience and contacts as well.

I, I assume, um, I mean, you don't need to tell us whether you were speaking to the

same, but you don't need to disclose that.

But I imagine just knowing people in that world must be really helpful.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah.

And just kind of, um, just having yeah, having that kind of, background

knowledge of, of how, if you want to approach a department store,

you know, you just give it a go.

Um, and the big guys are probably doing the same as, as little

businesses just, you know, trying to look up buyers' details and, and get

in front of them as easy as they, you know, the best way they can.

Um, and sending samples and all that kind of thing.

Um, so yeah, it was really invaluable and yeah, I was lucky to get a few

wholesalers sort of straight away.

Um, and since then it's grown.

So the first wholesalers you got where they through Top

Drawer, you mentioned that you went there where you were just sort of

starting thinking about wholesaling.

Was that what kicked it all?

Yeah, I think I had, um, just from direct emailing some other stockers

that I knew, I had a couple of, of, um, customers before then who were actually

selling through, Not on the High Street, and I wasn't selling it, not through,

Not on the High Street at that time.

So it was quite perfect.

They kind of dealt with that side of things and I would sell wholesale to them.

So that was my first wholesaler I remember, which was, yeah, so exciting

when I first got the first orders, I was like, oh, it's actually happening.

So where are they selling your products?

On Not on the High Street?

Yes, they were.

Yeah, so they, since they don't anymore now, I, I took it over because I wanted

sort of my brand to be there as a whole.

But yes, originally they were buying my products a wholesale and then selling

them on, Not in the High Street.

That makes sense.

And I guess that also probably gave you some confidence when you decided

to sell them on Not on the High Street directly, because presumably you knew

then that they were, they were selling on Not on the High Street, and obviously

they'd passed the application process to get on there in the first place.

Yeah, exactly.

And they were based in the UK and at that time I was still in Hong Kong.

So it was, it just made more sense.

Um, I think at the very beginning, I, I didn't have a warehouse, so I,

yeah, I was relying on sort of me posting out orders or having friends

in the UK helped me post out orders.

Um, so it was a bit difficult until I was established with a, a warehouse properly.

I didn't actually think about that.

So, of course.

So how many years were you running your business from Hong Kong?

Uh, yeah, like, um, I think like four.

Oh wow, that's quite a long time.

Yeah, it was and it was, yeah, it obviously had its drawbacks as well as

its sort of advantages, you know, the kind of time difference thing was sometimes

awkward and I would get, you know, look at my phone in the middle of the night

and get emails and be like, oh God, no.

Only, you know, the having different working hours was quite difficult.

Um, but basically because I had the warehouse set up, um, and orders

would just go out through them.

It was, it wasn't too much of a barrier, but it was obviously, yeah,

it's e it's been a lot easier since I've been back in the UK, but then

I was establishing that sort of the supplier side of things in Hong Kong.

So yeah, it's a good mix.

So when you were, um, getting started to wholesaling,

was, was the idea always to find wholesaler hard, find stores in the UK?

Was that always the intention?

I was actually open, I've always been open to

kind of stocking everywhere.

Yes.

Like definitely the UK has always been sort of my strongest market for

stockists and it's now definitely kind of where I have the most stockists.

Um.

But yeah, I, I was kind of, again, from the start, I was confident that

we could sell anywhere, um, in theory.

And America was one of the places that even from quite early on,

I had a few stockists there.

And yeah, you know, I was looking also for distributors because I used

to deal with distributors at Suck UK, so I knew that was another option.

And I did work with a few distributors, uh, in Europe.

And it has, some of them have worked out, some of them haven't.

So, But, um, yeah, I was very much open to like, I'll sell anywhere.

Well that's great.

And I, I, you know, I don't think I've ever spoken to anyone

who's sold via distributors, so would you mind just explaining a

little bit about how that works?

Because that, that might be interesting to someone who's never

thought of going down that route.

Yeah, sure.

Like, I think, um, especially at the moment, especially in Europe, I think

it's, can be a really good solution.

Um, because obviously since Brexit, all the import issues have, have

been a nightmare personally.

And I think lots of other brands also found that what used to be

quite a straightforward process of just importing is, you know,

delays and expensive import fees.

And, um, so yeah, if you can find a distributor, I worked with some good

ones in camp for Germany, for example.

And basically they would have exclusivity for Germany with my brand.

So I wouldn't sell to any other, um, shops in Germany.

And if anyone approached me in Germany, I'd say, please get

in touch with our distributor.

And so, yeah, they would basically buy at like maybe 30, 35% discount on my

wholesale price, but the benefit is that they were buying bulk and they would

sort out the delivery from my warehouse.

So yeah, so they would kind of deal with the whole, they would just pay

me in a lump, then they hold the stock in Germany, um, and then sell

to stock stores from their warehouse.

So for, for stores in Germany, it made sense for them because they weren't

having to import and worry about duty charges and excess things like that.

And then the distributor would do trade shows to promote the

brand and yeah, contact there.

And they would obviously represent other brands as well.

So they would go to a store with, you know, selection of different

brands and they could sell products from all these different companies.

So yeah, in, so in theory, it's, it's a really good.

I mean, it is a really, can be a really good model.

That's really interesting.

Is approaching a distributor, because I'm assuming it's, it's a case of you

approaching them in a lot of cases.

I'm sure that now your brand is, you know, really well known.

Maybe you're getting people approaching you, but when it comes to approaching

distributors yourself, does it work in a similar way to approaching retailers?

Yeah, I'd say very similar.

I think like the best way probably to find a distributor is to look at brands

that are similar to yours or brands that you know, not necessarily in competition

because you don't really want to have competing brands, but brands that

yeah, you, you are in the same realm.

You know, they're distributors for very specialist things, so you'd have like

maybe kitchenware distribution or I think generally I would always fit into kind

of gift, um, distributors, but you want to be like, not at that novelty level.

So, um, yeah, finding kind of the right kind of fit.

If you can see that the products that they're selling, you would see those

in a, in a store next to yours usually um, then it's probably a good fit.

And so, yeah, I, I would usually just approach the, yeah, the same

way as a retailer, basically.

Yeah.

Just contacting and saying could be a good fit.

Would you like conversation?

And if you can go to trade shows to meet them, that's

another good, good thing to do.

If you have the, the time and, and money to do it, to go to, you know, visit

ambiente, for example, or, or and, and see the, the kind of the biggest stands

where they're representing a few brands.

Um, yeah.

Oh, of course.

I didn't think about the fact that distributors, of course, are

attending trade shows as well.

Yeah, usually.

Um, so they might find you, like for the top drawer, often we get some

distributors kind of wandering around, um, and they might find you that way,

but, and also if they're, they'll be exhibiting, um, on their home turf.

Um, yeah, which is where you could find them if you are, um, yeah, if you're

particularly looking for, for France, for example, then yeah, go to Maison

Objet and see kind of the stands.

Yeah, that's really interesting.

And actually thinking about it, when I went to Top drawer last September,

um, that was the first time I'd been, and I did actually meet a toy

brand distributor that who was, had a, who had a stall there as well.

And um, I know, you know, they were a distributor because I spoke to them,

but I, I think it's probably fair to assume that some of the bigger

stands could have been distributors.

Yeah, certainly not all of them.

Some of them would've been brands, but I'm sure that it, I think if it's probably

a case of if you were interested, I, I don't know what your thoughts on this

are but I, I suggest that people maybe go to a trade show, walk around, talk

to some people, and yeah, just keep an open mind and just see who you can meet.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah.

Talking to, talking to other brands that you kind of admire or that are on the

same sort of, same path as you, um, is yeah, really, really invaluable to, to

get those contacts and, um, it's often by like a, a word of mouth introduction.

Like, oh, you should try, yeah.

Try talking to these guys.

And that's certainly how, yeah lots of my agents and distributors

have worked out, so yeah.

Oh, that's good.

That's good to know that it is infact useful to try.

Yeah, definitely.

So you mentioned earlier that you also wholesaling your products

in the US so how did that come about?

Because I'm, I don't want to assume that you didn't go away from there and hold a

lot of trade shows, but, um, did you do that or did you do something different?

Yeah, no, I've never done a trade show in America, actually.

I would like to, but no, um, it definitely, I don't think

it's necessary to get started.

And yeah, I actually sell, um, through Faire and that's probably,

the, the majority of my US stockers have come from, um, is through this

wholesale platform called Faire.

That's really interesting.

I think, um, I've heard of Faire because again, when I went to Top Drawer,

they were one of, I believe, I think they might be one of the sponsors.

They were certainly giving out coffee at the station anyway, and uh, yeah, that was

the first time I'd come across them and I've had a look and I've been, am I right

in thinking they're a wholesale platform?

Small, well, perhaps not only small, but retailers can go on there and they can buy

product in wholesale direct from the site.

Is that how it works?

Yeah, exactly.

They've just basically kind of made it like a, a sort of Etsy

platform for business to business.

So yeah, you list your products, it looks just like an online

store and then customers can buy only in packs of your minimum

quantities, um, at wholesale price.

And I think they have to qualify through Faire, you know, to prove

that they're like a physical store or they have a website.

But yeah, once they're qualified, it's kind of the orders just come to you.

It's, it's very much, um, like an easy kind of way of

just turning on a tap orders.

Like you don't really have to sort of have that, you know, usually with stockists

you'd kind of get in touch and introduce the products and send the catalogue.

Send over a price list, whereas it's, it's a lot of kind of cold customs coming

in and just having an order that you accept, which is great because obviously

it saves all that time of, um, you know, you finding the customer and things.

Um, so yeah, we've had a lot of success with Faire.

And another great thing about them, although this might be changing now, is

that they have been, um, covering the delivery fees for you and the customer.

So, um, that's been kind of amazing really, that, you know, um, you just

have to say, I guess I accept this order, and then you ship it with

your, you know, FedEx, whoever, and then you type in how much it costs.

And then Faire will cover the, the cost of that shipping.

That, that's amazing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It's pretty, it's it like, it's, it's kind of too good to be true, and I

think now they are actually starting to say that those offers are limited

and it's only limited to insiders, and soon Faire.It's just, yeah,

definitely worth being aware that those.

I think they wanted to get, you know, all the, they want to get as many shops buying

that way as possible, get as many brands on the platform as possible, and the terms

will probably be less favourable, I guess, after the initial sort of getting you on.

But it's still a really great platform.

Like I, I, I wouldn't have, you know, I've, I've had, I don't know, hundred, a

few hundred kind of stockers that I, I'm really sure would, would never have found

my products without being just unfair.

That's amazing.

Yeah, I mean the, you know, they can have smaller, well, I, you

can set your minimum order as well.

So these are kind of generally smaller orders.

I think I've set my minimum quite low just to make it easy.

But yeah, it's worthwhile because you get you, it's very low effort.

Um, I would say definitely if you are, if you're going to do go through Faire

and I would recommend just trying it because it's free to list the product.

Just be, yeah, the first order is 25% commission to Faire and then reorders,

you'd pay 15% commission to Faire.

So it's really worth, um, nurturing, still nurturing those kind of customers.

I always try and send, um, like a thanks so much for email message and, um, you

know, kind of try and get them onto my mailing list, um, as well, so that

in the future, so um, so they'll come back in the future and place another

order and, you know, reorders, yeah, it's going to be less commission.

So it's worth kind of keeping them as a customer.

Um, and if you send them your link directly, then it's 0% commission.

So it can be a really good way for customers that are maybe already ordering

that they can make the most of a free shipping deal that Faire is offering,

or, um, there's discounts that they often have that I give 5% Faire, give five.

So the customer can really, um, yeah, make the most, and they can order any time.

It's not like having that back and forth of business in stock, um, because it

follows my Shopify, uh, stock levels.

So it's like live ordering, um, which I don't have as, I don't have

a wholesale platform that does that.

So, um, yeah.

So there's lots of benefits.

Wow.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm sold.

There's, not like I sell anything.

Yeah.

Should I, I would be sold because that does sound great.

It should, yeah.

Does it completely sync with Shopify then?

Does it pull in the product details and everything?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, so you can like upload the products that way just by, um, getting

them synced over and then you can choose not to, or you can choose to

sync it to your Shopify for stock.

So yes, so it's just one more thing list thing to manage.

If you know you're marking things that's out of stock, um, it

should just do all of it for you.

Yeah.

Wow.

It's certainly a lot more passive.

So making lots of phone calls or sending emails, and I'm not saying there's

anything wrong with doing that because I think there's, well, you've definitely,

you know, told us you're doing, you're doing both, but it definitely sounds

worth doing as something additional maybe.

Yeah, definitely.

If you can afford to be selling, you know, to, um, without 25% commission, like it's,

it's definitely worth giving it a go.

Yeah.

It'll be interesting to see how it kind of progresses from here, because

obviously, yeah, I think they, they have all these big incentives and free

shipping and they were even covering duties and taxes, which is, you know,

amazing because I think that's something that puts, um, international customers

off from ordering from, you know, um, UK brands, for example, in America, they,

you know, they don't like that there might be duty and taxes on bigger orders.

And yeah, Faire for a while we're covering all of those.

So that was just like a really good thing to be able to say, like,

don't worry if you do get charged, you know, Faire will cover it.

So yeah, it's, I I would definitely recommend.

Um, the other one is Ankorstore as well.

I don't know if you've heard of, of them.

No I haven't.

So that's another, um, B2B marketplace and I think they're

more, um, focused on Europe and I do sell on there as well, but a lot

less, because I haven't really been put putting that much effort into it.

But, um, it's another, it's very similar.

I think the commission rate's probably kind of the same,

but yeah, they, they kind of specialize, I think more in Europe.

So that's another one to check out if you're looking for b2b,

that's really worth knowing.

Thank you.

And I, and I'm assuming that certainly at the moment, there's no restrictions

to how many you can be on, so none of them say all you have to be

on us exclusively at the moment.

I know these things change.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No, um, no, as far as I know, and I think, you know, they've have,

I think at the moment they just want to grow as big and as quickly.

I went to some of their kind of drinks and they've got big plans.

So, um, I think, yeah, they're not keeping on top of it, in that way at the moment.

No.

So, um, yeah, I would say kind of no po, no reason not to be on multiple platforms.

Thank you.

And is there anything else you think people should know about

using wholesale platforms?

Any tips or advice?

I mean, you've told us a lot already, so don't worry if there isn't.

Um, no, I mean I think, um, you know, I guess your images

really have to sell the product because there's not much else to go on.

Um, and you, you know, you don't really have a, like a pretty

catalogue necessarily that they're going to, people are going to see.

So yeah, just make sure images are good and I think adding new products

regularly helps you stay sort of at the top of the, the page and

to be on, on the found section.

Um, so it can come in lulls.

I find that it's very much when I'm busier, I get busier and busier.

I think maybe, you know, if, if brands are ordering, I think

you tend to climb up the ranks.

Um, at the moment it's really quiet.

Obviously it's January as well.

Everyone's a bit quiet, but, um, yeah, so maybe, you know, in the quieter times,

adding new products and maybe putting on a little sale or discount, um, just to

entice people, it's probably worthwhile.

That's really good to know.

Thank you.

And I think that, that certainly makes sense.

I think that work, a lot of platforms work that way, don't they?

That the more sales you get, the more you are shown and therefore

the more you get, which is why it can be so hard to even get started.

Yes, because you're just getting absolutely bike

of those who are doing well.

Continue to do well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well thank you.

That's super useful.

And I didn't think about that with the images, but yes, I guess it's

like a lot of marketplaces where, where presumably customers are

searching and then just getting a page of results, which are pictures.

So that's really useful.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

And that was a great point you made also about the margins as well and just

making sure you can absorb those fees.

Yeah, yeah, it's um, it's definitely worth thinking and then

delivery on top or, um, yeah, or not, and yeah, I guess the last one is really

just to nurture those because you know, you don't know at what point Faire might

suddenly not be, not be an option anymore.

It might stop, um, altogether.

So if you can sort of have contact details, you, so that you don't lose that

store if anything were to go wrong with Faire and they could always order direct.

You know, I think it's, it's good to try and start a relationship.

It was quite hard because it's quite a faceless sort of platform and I

don't get much back and forth usually from customers, but sometimes, you

know, it's always worth just sending a message saying, oh, thanks so much.

It means a lot that you're stocking the products and sort of show that human side.

That's excellent advice.

Thank you.

Because you're right, there's, with all of these platforms that we

don't own, there is always a chance that they might just vanish so

yeah, that's, yeah, that's useful.

And, and I'm assuming that Faire don't give you the customer details

either, so, um, unless they choose to add themselves to your mailing

list or send you their email address.

Yeah, exactly.

You just have to sort of ask if they'd like to.

Yeah, to, to sign up with you kind of thing.

Yeah.

Oh, it definitely sounds like doing that proactively.

Well, thank you so much for that was just, yeah, I think that's been

invaluable, everything that you've shared.

Oh good.

I'm glad.

Thank you so much.

Um, I've got one final question for you before we finish em, if that's okay.

Sure.

Which is, what would your number one piece of advice

be for other product creators?

And I know it's hard and I know you've shared a lot.

If you wanted to leave us with something, what would it be?

Yeah, no problem.

I think it's probably maybe more down to kind of how I think, you know, a lot

of product creators and small businesses work on their own and the whole kind of,

um, the benefit of, of having your own business is, you know, that flexibility

of lifestyle and, um, but I think that can be quite hard to kind of, to work

with your own energy and like, you know, work with your own time when you are

feeling creative and when you are feeling actually, like, I can't, I don't, I don't

feel creative today, but you know, I guess basically what I'm trying to say

is like the whole point of of being your own boss is to be a good boss to yourself

and not sort of give yourself a hard time if things aren't like going that well.

I, I used to just set myself kind of a nine to six working day, but actually

I found that that's not necessarily the best way to be productive.

And you know, if I'm just sat at my computer just not really achieving

anything, then I do just go for a walk and listen to podcasts.

Or I'm lucky that I can stitch as part of my kind of work.

Um, even though it feels really weird, especially like a cross

stitch, uh, sorry, a trade show time when I'm trying to stitch up samples

and I'm manically cross stitching.

It doesn't feel like work, but um, yeah, I think just kind of, yeah, allowing

yourself to, to use time as, as it works for you and, and give yourself a break if,

you know it's not all happening every day.

Because I think I went through a few years at the beginning when I really did

late hours and weekends, and I really put all of my energy into my business.

And that's, you know, put me in the position I am in now, um,

where I don't necessarily have to burn the candle all the time.

And yeah, just allowing myself to sort of work with my energy

when I'm feeling creative and, and know that it'll come back.

Um, so yeah.

That's great advice.

Thank you.

And I can definitely see that if you're doing something creative.

You can't, it's not something you can just turn on and off, is it?

You're either feeling it or you are not.

So I think yeah, that makes so much sense.

Yeah.

And kind of this idea that, you know, always having to launch.

I think I felt like I always had to have new products coming, but yeah,

I think, you know, people just, you know, they have not, everyone's always

seen everything that you've done in the past, so you can always just present a

different product in a different way.

Um, yeah, and still it feels new, even if you're not making new, all the time.

That makes sense.

Thank you so much and thank you for everything you shared then.

I'm going to link to your website and your socials and

everything else in the show notes.

Lovely.

Thank you.

We'll go and take a look and thank you again.

That's great.

No worries.

No, it was great to talk to you.

Thank you so much for listening right

to the end of this episode.

Do remember that you can get the full back catalogue and lots of free resources

on my website, vicki weinberg.com.

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