Finding and/or designing new products is fun. Super duper fun. It is one of my favorite parts of the job. It was particularly fun about 5+ years ago when we were really in the prime of finding our niche and narrowing our business model. This meant going to gift shows across the country (super fun!), scouring the internet for suppliers, and getting super creative with designs. In the past couple of years though, while we always have our eyes and ears open for new products, our range of items has become very narrow. But that’s a good thing. Because we’ve become very, very good at what we do sell and we know our market very, very well.
This is not to say, however, that occasionally we bring in a product that just doesn’t work. It’s always profoundly disappointing when this happens, because first of all it means we guessed completely wrong (what’s up with that?) and it means we have to go through the process of figuring out why it didn’t work. Price? Quality? Marketing? Similarity with other products? But, because we are so narrow focused it’s not always easy to pinpoint the issue. And that’s frustrating. Because pretty much all the time we are super passionate about a new token or stone or phrase.
Take the Miracle Pocket Token, pictured above, for instance. Beautiful saying: “You can live as if nothing is a miracle; You can live as if everything is a miracle. EINSTEIN” Engraved on the front and back of a simple, oval pewter coin. No brainer, right? Wrong. While it does sell occasionally, this token just never took off. Why? Quality? The same manufacturer that produces our number one seller makes this coin, so that’s not it. Price? Nope – this is one of our least expensive pieces. Marketing? Perhaps. We didn’t particularly market this coin any differently than any other coin…but maybe it needed an initial boost. Similarity to other products? Again, perhaps. We do have a granite block with these words imprinted…although I’m not sure I would call these items ‘similar’. It’s just not clear. But we made the difficult decision to discontinue this item to focus on our stronger selling pieces. Purely a business decision, but a sad one as we believe in each and every one of our items. We’re always sad to see one go.
But our loss is your gain…these gems are on sale now for $1.35/each (from $1.50) while supplies last! 🙂
Brenda
CourageInStone 