CRSW MIA

I don't think our best customers get sticker shock from us.

It is not necessarily the total spend in a vacuum but rather:
A, the total spend relative to one's financial situation
B, the total spend to acquire what a casual user might consider soaps differing only in scent coming from the same artisan
C, the spend when confronted by a significant other enquiring why so many soaps have been accumulated when they all do the same thing.

These questions take on merit whether the buyers are very well heeled realizing they have spent mid 5 figures annually with Ivy tuitions coming due, missed market investing opportunities due to spending on consumption or simply realizing they are not using the tech services purchased sufficiently to justify the annual billing when doing personal family budgeting in the businesses from whence personally experienced.  One man's ceiling is another's floor when it comes to customer finances

Ok, you got me. I laughed out loud when I read Point C. Nobody likes point C.

You could ask the same Point C about shoes and handbags, they all do the same thing you know.

I said buy local not sell local - I'm not sure where you get your numbers from but theres over 300M people in the US so even if you sell to a small percentage of that its still a big number.  I have nothing against buying from non-US or Canadian businesses but I think that we should buy locally first.  The same goes for everyone else in every other country.  While most of my shaving products are either Canadian or American sourced, I do have several products from the UK, France, Germany, Japan and Italy.  

Oh, and keto , sorry, you can't do that here.

There are 7.9 billion people as of 2020, so 330 million Americans are 4% of that. I was just indicating that if everybody bought only from local, domestic businesses then I, being British, should not consider buying anything from you. And if you provide a great service and sell great products I think that would be an injustice to you, and I would be missing out too. I just bought a fantastic razor from a guy in Turkey and I want to continue supporting his business rather than buying a British product that isn’t as good. Murat deserves my business more and he seems to be a good guy, so why should I take the food out of his mouth when I want him to keep making great stuff? Maybe I view things differently because I always lived and worked in different countries.

Anyway, I do understand your point. Probably the reality is that most customers will take advantage of a lower price if they can and, while they may sympathise with the ideas of buying locally or supporting smaller businesses, they will still take the cost saving first. It’s a nice thing to wish for but I’m not sure it helps a business to wish customers acted differently if they, in fact, won’t.

My point about China may not be relevant to your business, but just a general observation that there is a lot of complaining in many countries about too many low cost Chinese imports, but few businesses outside China bother to make a website in Chinese or try to market their products there. There are masses of affluent Chinese customers who want to buy the best international goods. There are always queues outside Geneva jewellers because the Chinese want to buy a Rolex where it is made. Bentley sells more cars in China than it does in America or Europe now. It can go both ways and, frankly, it can’t be much fun for Chinese workers to have their employment being entirely dependent on their wages being low. It is better to have a demand-led economy than a supply-led economy.

It was always, wasn’t it, the American way to find solutions to make money in whatever conditions they face, rather than accepting being victims of circumstance? That’s what I always felt made American business thrive. I know conditions are tough for many businesses and I don’t think it’s going to get easier. I think in business the answers are usually to make better products, give better service, do something to encourage and reward customer loyalty, market the business better and find ways to bring in new customers. Old-fashioned thinking, but I don’t think this ever changes.

I'm not suggesting that we should all restrict all of our buying to local artisans and suppliers but rather that we should make a serious and sincere effort to support them and we should consider factors beyond just price.  Also, while in theory the market is 7.9B people, practically speaking its much. much smaller than that.  Its not even useful to say that half the population shaves their faces, subtract for the hirsute among us and those who haven't reached puberty etc etc and even then the vast majority of men who shave on a regular basis world wide will use cartridges and canned shaving foam bought at the local grocery store or pharmacy.  I also agree that you shouldn't restrict yourself to local, albeit inferior products.  I perhaps didn't stress enough the idea of fair competition and level playing fields - I think that a British and a Canadian artisan should have roughly similar labour and other input costs so they should be able to compete fairly on all aspects of a product.  Manufacturers with very low labour costs have an insurmountable advantage.  

One other thing, if a local artisan's quality isn't where it should be I'm not buying it.  I have no time for somebody trumpeting "buy Local" if they aren't interested in being the best they can be.  Its like fair trade coffee - pay more for your coffee than the global coffee trade is prepared to pay so that more of the money can find its way into the hands of a poor farmer.  BS - the best way to have more money find its way into your hands is by making the best product.  In the coffee growing business why should an inferior grower be rewarded and why should a diligent farmer work hard and invest in his operation to ensure the best product if he doesn't have to but can instead whine about fair trade as a driver for a better price.  Fair trade interferes with the proper operation of the market - the inferior farmer should go out of business, sell his land to the superior farmer and go to work for him to learn how its done and maybe try again later.  Being rewarded for factors other than quality will only ensure more low quality product.

Many interesting points, Marko. I still think that if customers are not making a serious and sincere effort to support local businesses now, then they will not do so in future unless you give them more reason to. Some sort of personal connection, or a loyalty reward programme, maybe. “I see you live nearby - I’ve got new products coming in and I want to invite you to an exclusive preview to try the products and get a discount or have a chance to buy before they go on general sale”. Or “You have placed 5 orders with me in the last two years so I want to offer you 10% off for your future orders to show appreciation for supporting my business”. Or just send them a Christmas card.

As an aside, I think the “fair trade” phenomenon is about creating additional perceived value in a product, which can justify a higher price for some customers. Customers (not all) might feel the coffee they are buying is worth more because it makes them feel good to support the poor workers who make it. They do not get that added benefit from other coffee, which may be physically identical. Other customers will just value the coffee purely by how it tastes.

I think this is really the same as the “buy local” argument, but supporting the world’s poor instead of local business people. If I have limited money, can you give me factual reasons why I should pay a premium to a local shaving supplier instead of paying a premium for a coffee brand that gives it to a poor worker in Kenya? It just comes down to which one I want to help more, doesn’t it?

Also I think the “hand-made” concept is a similar idea at heart - another intangible added value. Many customers are willing to pay more for a hand-made rather than mass-produced product, even though mass production usually means higher quality, more consistency, and lower price due to more efficient production. The added value for the customer buying “hand-made” might be that the variations in the product are not defects to them but rather they make it more unique and personal; or they feel good to support an artisan and their skills; or they (falsely?) attribute a higher quality to something that is made by a skilled human rather than a machine. Looking at it the other way, though, they are paying a premium for inefficient production and maybe lower quality.

I suspect the answer in each case is down to individual customer choice and personal values, as well as some influence from the marketing. The marketing is the part that businesses can control.

Marko,

In all fairness and despite my affection for you, to proclaim trade is fair when an international conglomerate bribes governments for subsidies, tax breaks and special regulatory abatements, let alone when a foreign government literally has substantial ownership of 'private sector businesses' in its country then actively pursues mercantilistic trade policies whilst strictly limiting capital flows is not reflecting that the poor local producer is deficient in character nor business acumen.  Rather, it suggests that the market has been perverted in favour of the politically connected incumbents and preying upon consumers and competitors alike.

Both these subjects were covered extensively by Adam Smith and David Ricardo, upon whose work the entire premise of neoliberal international free market trade is built (with help from the Chicago School of Austrian economists focused solely on their interaction with the NAZI government to the disregard of all else).

Your post forced my hand to respond but had to clarify the facts

“Also, while in theory the market is 7.9B people, practically speaking its much. much smaller than that.  Its not even useful to say that half the population shaves their faces, subtract for the hirsute among us and those who haven't reached puberty etc etc and even then the vast majority of men who shave on a regular basis world wide will use cartridges and canned shaving foam bought at the local grocery store or pharmacy.”

Marko, just on the numbers, you are right that the global wet shaving market is much less than 7.9Bn people. But by the same token the American market is also much less than 330M people, for the same reasons. Bottom line is that America will still be 4% of the global customer base*. Presumably by spend the percentage is higher, but still the US is by far the minority of cash spent on shaving. The US economy is comparable but a little larger than Europe’s. Asia’s economy is of course much bigger than either Europe or America.

*Actually I’m pretty sure that DE shaving is much more common in some countries than it is in America, so Americans likely represent less than 4% of the global customer base. For example, in India, about four times the population of America, I understand cartridge razors haven’t really taken off and DE shaving is still common.

Marko,

In all fairness and despite my affection for you, to proclaim trade is fair when an international conglomerate bribes governments for subsidies, tax breaks and special regulatory abatements, let alone when a foreign government literally has substantial ownership of 'private sector businesses' in its country then actively pursues mercantilistic trade policies whilst strictly limiting capital flows is not reflecting that the poor local producer is deficient in character nor business acumen.  Rather, it suggests that the market has been perverted in favour of the politically connected incumbents and preying upon consumers and competitors alike.

Both these subjects were covered extensively by Adam Smith and David Ricardo, upon whose work the entire premise of neoliberal international free market trade is built (with help from the Chicago School of Austrian economists focused solely on their interaction with the NAZI government to the disregard of all else).

Your post forced my hand to respond but had to clarify the facts

sounds like more of a reason to free the market, in my opinion!

anyways, businesses in this space will continue to come and go, whether they're not keeping on par with competitors or they simply want to move on to another venture...

Point was the free market only exists in the nations sacrificing their ability to generate sustainable wealth. The countries actually generating sustainable and growing wealth are not practicing free market policies, only taking advantage of those nations that do so

Point was the free market only exists in the nations sacrificing their ability to generate sustainable wealth. The countries actually generating sustainable and growing wealth are not practicing free market policies, only taking advantage of those nations that do so

'sustainable wealth' happens when people are allowed to trade freely. this is getting off topic though and a bit political so we can continue in PM if you'd like.

The website is down, I'm afraid that's our answer.

That's extremely upsetting. CRSW was one of my top artisan soapmaker (They are still pretty good and I still use them on a regular rotation).

Now where can I get another tub of Jardin D'Orange, Limementhol and Citrusi Paradise