When you buy handmade items, you’re not just buying a product. You’re getting a piece of someone’s story and creativity.
This perspective is key to the success of The Handmade Showroom. Marlo Miyashiro, co-owner and managing director of the Seattle-based retail gallery, emphasizes the value of each product and the stories behind them.
Transactions with large retailers are often impersonal and lack the soulful connection that comes with handmade goods. Miyashiro, on the other hand, advocates for a strategy rooted in authenticity and customer engagement. In a recent episode of The Power Up Podcast, Miyashiro shares her tips for cultivating meaningful connections between customers and the products they purchase. The result is a positive experience for artists and shoppers that goes far beyond the transaction.
What Is A Retail Gallery?
A retail gallery is a unique format that allows customers to purchase one-of-a-kind items crafted by artists. Unlike conventional brick-and-mortar stores, a retail gallery is designed to resemble an art gallery, creating an atmosphere that enhances the shopping experience.
Customers can browse a curated selection of artisanal goods. This blend of artistic ambiance and traditional brick-and-mortar retail creates a space where shopping becomes an immersive and aesthetic experience.
Types Of Products You Might Find In A Retail Gallery
Independently made and produced
For customers looking for something special, a retail gallery is where they’ll find it. These spaces feature items you won’t find in your typical store. The artists who craft these items bring their unique talents and originality to every piece, offering customers high-quality items that stand out from mass-produced goods.
Locally made and produced
Supporting local talent is a large piece of retail galleries. Pottery from the studio down the street — you’ll find that in a retail gallery. Handcrafted soaps sold at the local craft fair — also in a retail gallery. Selling local products benefits the artists in your community while celebrating the creativity and culture that makes your town special.
Small batch
A machine on a conveyor belt doesn’t churn out hundreds of thousands of these items every day. The small-batch items found in retail galleries are crafted in limited quantities and come with an element of exclusivity and uniqueness. Whether a hand-poured candle or a limited-edition print, small-batch items give customers a chance to own something truly special.
Benefits Of Working With Artists And Selling Unique Products
Expanded range of products
Collaborating with artists allows you to offer a more diverse standout assortment of products. This way, you attract a wider audience and give customers a variety of choices. This improves the shopping experience, as customers have a greater chance of finding something that resonates with their individual style and aesthetic preferences.
Local community support
When working with local artists, you strengthen your product offerings and create strong ties in the community. The opportunities for collaboration, knowledge-sharing, and collective growth benefit both you and the artists you work with. Customers are also more likely to patronize businesses if they actively contribute to the local community. The sense of community involvement and support you show resonates with customers and creates a sense of loyalty and connection to your brand.
Access to a wider customer base
Local artists often have their own following and networks, which you’ll tap into to attract new customers to your small business. By featuring the work of other artists, you gain access to their existing customer base. And as you launch new products, you solidify relationships with more sellers, who have networks of their own to bring to your shop. These collaborative partnerships open doors to diverse demographics and interest groups you wouldn’t have previously reached, improving your brand visibility, and ultimately, your bottom line.
Enhanced customer experience
Offering unique products creates a memorable shopping experience for customers. The variety of one-of-a-kind items and the opportunity to engage with artists’ stories enrich the shopping journey. You’ll form a deeper connection between customers and the products they purchase. This personalized approach builds customer loyalty among shoppers who value experiences that go beyond transactions.
Tap into niche markets for increased profits
Selling unique products allows you to enter markets that mainstream retailers can’t reach. By catering to specific interests, hobbies, or aesthetic preferences, you’ll attract segments of customers willing to pay premium prices for specialized products. This targeted approach reduces competition and increases your profitability.
Challenges Of Working With Artists And Selling Unique Products
Logistics and inventory management
Managing vendors and the inventory from different artists sometimes felt like handling multiple puzzles at once. However, keeping track of sales for each artist is crucial. It’s how you’ll know how many products are in stock and when to request more goods from your artist partners.
Educating customers
Luxury labels aren’t usually associated with artisanal items. Those accustomed to purchasing mass-produced products from large chain stores may take longer to realize the craftsmanship and quality that contribute to the value of handmade products. Connecting with and selling to these customers requires more effort. You’ll need to explain the significance of these types of products and the attention to detail it takes to make them.
Price sensitivity
Don’t be surprised if a customer sees the price of a handmade item and scrunches their face. It’s a normal reaction from shoppers who are new to the world of artisanal products. It’s not easy to find the right balance between selling these products and keeping prices closer to the big-box prices customers are used to paying. Pricing artisanal items too high alienates potential buyers looking for a good deal, while pricing them too low undermines the items’ value.
Market competition
Even though you’re selling carefully crafted artisanal products, today’s convenience-oriented market means customers also have an abundance of readily available options. In some cases, they order an item and receive it the next day. Standing out in this crowded market, saturated with mass-produced goods and trendy products that arrive quickly, is difficult. Unique products also don’t always align with mainstream trends, making it harder to attract customers who prioritize popular styles or brands.
How To Successfully Work With Artists
Explore wholesale vs. consignment
When working with independent artists to sell their items, you’ll need to explore the options of wholesale and consignment agreements. It’s a good idea to let artists choose how they want to work with you.
For example, the majority of Miyashiro’s partnerships through her showroom are wholesale. However, she maintains flexibility by offering the option of consignment to about 10 percent of the artists she collaborates with. This approach allows artists to select the arrangement that aligns with their preferences and business requirements.
Keep consistent communication
Openly and consistently communicating with artists is crucial for a successful partnership. Regular updates on sales, inventory levels, and promotional activities help artists feel valued and engaged in the retail process. Clear communication also makes sure everyone is on the same page about expectations, pricing, and any changes in the partnership agreement.
Since opening her showroom retail store, Miyashiro has implemented a seamless inventory management system that involves regularly communicating with artists about their inventory levels. This transparent reporting helps artists know exactly how much inventory is in the showroom at any given time, increasing their confidence in working with Miyashiro.
Promote creativity
Artists’ creativity sets their work apart and makes it special to customers. Encourage artists to tap into their creativity while, at the same time, staying connected with what your target audience wants.
Give artists guidance on market trends, customer preferences, and product specifications while allowing them the freedom to express their artistic vision. By balancing artistic innovation and market demand, you’ll curate a selection of products that resonate with your audience and showcase artists’ talent.
Properly showcase artists’ work
Show artists you’re dedicated to selling their products. This involves thoughtful retail merchandising through attractive displays and informative signage that brings the artists’ creative processes to life.
At The Handmade Showroom, Miyashiro does just that. The store’s product displays feature signs with the names and locations of artists. This way, customers get an introduction to the person behind each product. The showroom’s employees are also thoroughly informed about each artist’s creation. They’ll share fun facts about items with customers to give them more ways to connect with the products.
How To Successfully Sell Unique Products
Train your staff
Make sure your staff is well-trained to provide exceptional customer service. Staff members should understand the story behind each product, its unique features, and how it best serves a customer’s needs. This knowledge empowers employees to offer personalized recommendations and create memorable shopping experiences for every customer.
For example, Miyashiro goes beyond making sure employees know where to direct customers if they’re looking for children’s toys or bath soaps. She ensures her staff is well-versed in the store’s various product categories. She’s also compiled a thick binder that lists all the artists’ websites and profiles. Employees reference this to better understand artists and their products. This knowledge translates into better education and experience for customers.
Understand your target audience
To run just about any successful business, you need to understand the people you want to sell to. Selling unique products, however, requires an even deeper understanding of your target audience. Because unique products often cater to specific tastes or preferences, it’s essential to have a thorough grasp of what resonates with your audience.
Tell an engaging story
One of the best approaches to selling unique products is creating a captivating narrative around each item. Customers are much more likely to purchase products they feel emotionally connected to than ones that only show a label and a price tag. Explain the process that goes into creating each item. Highlight the inspiration, craftsmanship, and journey of the products. This forms an emotional connection with customers.
About The Handmade Showroom
The Handmade Showroom started in 2015 as a weekend pop-up artist shop. It was born from Marlo Miyashiro’s vision to showcase the best in handmade arts while fostering connection and authenticity. Over time, it’s evolved into a thriving retail gallery featuring unique items designed and produced by independent artists.
An eye for quality
Miyashiro attributes much of her business’s growth to the cohesive standard she upholds across all items. In the early 2000s, Miyashiro sold her own jewelry on Etsy. For a decade, she worked with small creators and led Seattle’s Etsy seller’s team, a group designed to support and encourage collaboration among local sellers.
When it comes to picking products to sell in her showroom store, Miyashiro doesn’t look to follow traditional wholesale trends. She uses her experience to carefully select products for the showroom, making sure they meet her high standards and customers’ preferences.
“Our artists are following their own creative path…so we look at what they have to offer and where we can fit particular products from their line into our categories,” she said. “So it’s less looking for the trendy things, and it’s more looking for something that people will connect with and want to take home.”
The customer connection
Miyashiro and her team encourage meaningful connections between customers, the products, and the artists who create them. Employees greet everyone with a warm smile and share the gallery’s mission to help them better understand what makes the showroom so special.
“We want to share our artists’ stories with our customers and, in fact, that’s probably one of the biggest differentiators on how we run our retail store in general… it’s really a meaningful exchange,” Miyashiro said.
This emphasis on storytelling and connection creates a unique shopping experience and gives customers a deeper appreciation for the products they purchase.
“We’re here to share information, not only about the techniques but about the artists themselves…and that allows the customer to be a little closer to the artists and the work that they’ve produced,” she said.
Information over transactions
Miyashiro believes sales are a by-product of making customers feel at home and informed about the products they’re interested in. This is why, when bringing new employees onto her team, she emphasizes the importance of connection and communication over just making sales. One of the main points she drives is the value of sharing information and details about the artists behind the products.
“We call our employees ‘helpers’ instead of ‘employees’ because that is their main job — to help and be helpful and share information,” Miyashiro said. “Everything after that, the sale, just happens naturally.”
It all comes down to informing employees about the artists and their processes so they share this information with customers.
“It’s…more about sharing information and having a conversation rather than selling, ” Miyashiro said. The intention is really to support the artist and to kind of lift the artists up and make them the forefront of everything that we’re doing.”
This approach has led to The Handmade Showroom featuring handmade items from more than 250 artists across the U.S. and abroad. The shop’s success has been evident in its expansion efforts. In 2019, Miyashiro opened another store, Bezel and Kiln, which is now integrated into the showroom. The newer shop centers the same ideas and concepts as the showroom but features fine housewares, jewelry, and accessories, also from independent artists.
An Intentional Way Of Crafting Success
No matter what types of products you’re selling, the key to success is forming connections. The more connections you form between customers, your products, and the people behind the items you’re selling, the stronger your business will be. Create a team that values collaboration and authenticity, and you’ll be on your way to building a thriving community around your brand. To learn more about ways to foster productive relationships with sellers, check out this episode of The Power Up, “Creative Centric Product Assortment Strategy.”
