I am excited to share with you another great venue for handcrafters to showcase their wonderful creations: Sourcing Handmade.
Tracy Czech, owner of Sourcing Handmade, has over ten years combined corporate experience in the marketing and wholesale business before turning her talents to her new venture.
We talked with Tracy about her site and what it means to handcrafters:
Tracy, you have a very unique website for professional crafters and producers. Can you tell us a bit about it and how it works?
At Sourcing Handmade, we act as matchmakers between handmade artisans and boutique owners who are willing to sell handmade products in their stores. We conduct quarterly marketing campaigns targeted to boutique owners throughout the U.S. We believe that by pooling together the resources of ourselves and our handmade clientele, we can access a greater amount of boutiques than any one vendor could do alone (i.e. the theory “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”). We support small business and handmade, and want to help turn the national focus away from mass manufactured products from overseas, and towards quality, handmade products.
How did you come up with the idea for Sourcing Handmade?
I met many handmade artisans on and off-line who wanted to get their products sold in independent boutiques, but did not know where to start. Understanding that one may excel at his craft, but may not necessarily have the marketing background required to to grow his business, I realized there was a need for a service to help handmade artisans market themselves. This helps reduce their stress, and allows them to focus on the creative side of the business.
What will Sourcing Handmade offer handcrafters that some of the similar sites on the web do not?
We offer a personalized experience, and work hand-in-hand with our handmade vendors. As the owner, I am very accessible to answer questions. We also provide assistance to our handmade vendors after they have been matched to a boutique. If they don’t succeed, we don’t succeed.
What must a producer do to get their products listed?
We offer handmade vendors 5 different packages, which can be seen on our Handmade Vendors page. After selecting the package which best fits his needs, the vendor fills out an online form, emails us his product images and descriptions, then sends us a sample. We do the rest. We edit descriptions for consistency and SEO, we upload the products, we publish a product review on our blog, and we post to our various social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest).
Do you have anything else to add?
We believe this world is full of talented, crafty individuals. We believe they need more visibility. We believe too many products are imported, most from a single country. Let’s give “the little guy” a chance, provide a means for him to display his work nationally, access boutiques, and grow his business…all the while helping independent boutique owners lower costs by bringing unique products to them, reducing their need to spend lots of money traveling to trade shows or searching for products online.
Best to you Tracy! We wish you and your new endeavor much success!
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