Stay Humble When It Comes to Handcrafted

If selling items for which you want to project the special qualities of craftsmanship, be careful of the doppelganger—from the German and defined as a ghostly counterpart of a living entity.
      Researchers at University of Wisconsin-Madison documented how Starbucks is suffering from a “doppelganger brand image” in which the company’s branding of the shops as an authentic coffee experience has come around to haunt Starbucks. Many customers after being convinced of the importance of such an experience decided Starbucks was bragging too much about their ability to be authentic. Those customers gave up on Starbucks and aimed for other shops which showed more humility.
     Etsy, the online retailer of craft goods made by others, is struggling with those issues, according to an article in Time magazine. Etsy wants to continue to grow revenues, and that’s facilitated by the artisans ramping up production. But mass production corrupts the positive image of handcrafted. Early on, Etsy required that the vendors employ only themselves, their relatives, or people living with them to produce the items sold. When an Etsy seller named Ecological Malibu was found to have been outsourcing work, other sellers cried foul.
     The Time article implies the cries were about unfair competition. I believe a greater danger was the prospect of a doppelganger brand image. Etsy buyers had been sold on the aura of personally handcrafted from me to you. That aura was being corrupted, and Etsy buyers would start looking elsewhere for sellers they could trust.
     CB2, a Crate and Barrel spinoff, is one of the retailers benefitting from the call for crafts. And CB2 encountered a doppelganger dilemma when they hired a craftsman to hand-build a limited edition of 200 American black walnut side tables, which were peddled at twelve stores and via the online catalog. Even at a production run of 200, a claim of uniqueness or of handcrafted authenticity wears like a thin veneer. The artisan was quoted as saying, “I felt like an employee at a Ford plant, drilling 1,200 holes in a day or two.” A brag of “uniquely authentic” starts sounding to consumers like a synonym for “faddishly routine.”
     Etsy may choose to forgo the humility of handcrafted in favor of market share expansion. Still, Brett Childs, an Etsy seller featured in the Time article does recognize the link. He said, “We don’t like to come off as too successful.”

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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