[Jewelry making - Article 00072] - Re: [Orchid] BlueNile Vs. "wholesale"

[Kevin P. Kelly]

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    A couple of comments on business practices.  Big, big business is
    now a way of life.  I watched an interview (discussion) on PBS with
    the man who's the head of Harvard's MBA program.  He wasn't talking
    about our sort of business, by that I mean smallish.  He said in
    business there are two things "price point or differentiation". 

    There have numerous comments on Orchid about copyrights etc, and
    people saying "you should sue".  If we are "artists" we're
    supposedly the avant garde.  We're supposed to be ahead of the crowd
    not looking back to protect our "arses".  Where does this lawyer
    stuff fit in.  And some of these people are talking price point. 

    We can not beat foreign competition on price point or for that
    matter competition from larger enterprizes in the US.  What we must
    do to survive is to differientiate ourselves;  by our imaginative
    designs, our innovative technique, and perhaps by seeing things
    differently than others and perhaps by more attentive, personal
    service. 

    I lived in the San Francisco area for a couple of decades and
    watched the "boutiqization" of Mill Valley.  When I moved there MV
    had a shoe store, a real hardware store, a family owned stationery
    store, etc.  No more, some of the store owners sold out because they
    got offers they couldn't refuse.  They went for the big bucks. 

    I decided I would do what I could to support my local business
    people.  I would buy my office supplies downtown.  The owner had a
    cash register that printed out  blank receipts.  I mentioned to him
    that I needed receipts for my tax records.  He gave me a look.  I
    continued to shop there in spite of that encounter hoping that
    eventually he would fix the register.  He didn't.  I stopped
    shopping there. 

    I won't go into his mental state; but this was a very simple thing,
    perhaps as simple as changing the tape.  And this was a person who
    bemoaned the changes in the business community. 

    Perhaps if small businesses responded to the Wal-Martization by
    providing service they could survive. 

    The complement to the stationery store story is a hardware store in
    Santa Fe called "Big Joe's".  Big Joe's was in business when I first
    lived in  Santa Fe.  They are still here.  If you walk into Big
    Joe's at the very least one person will approach you and ask if they
    can help. 

    And they can, the people are knowledgeable and helpful. I haven't
    seen that at Home Depot or Wal-Mart.  Big Joe's has differentiated
    themselves and I'm willing to pay a little more at Big Joe's. And
    "Big Joe's Has survived in the face of Wal-Mart and Home Depot. 

    As for corporate greed Wal-Mart can go to a supplier and say we will
    buy from you if you give us your product at such and such price. 
    The supplier agrees. putting all his eggs in one basket, and goes
    for it.  This supplier does have alternatives. 

    Wal-Mart does not pocket obscene amounts of money via this method. 
    They pass the savings on to their customers.  Wal-Mart operates at a
    2% profit margin.  These basic facts ( profit margins) I recall from
    "Frontline" on PBS. 

    There seems to be a lot of nostaglia for a smaller more intimate
    America and comments made on the basis of this half remembered past.

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