small label, large effort, massive impact

I was listening to a podcast the other day which mentioned an interesting tidbit - one of the reasons Starbucks has failed to thrive in Australia is because we seem to have a cultural drive to support small enterprise. When faced with two companies offering the same services at a similar price, the majority of us choose the smaller independent option. I thought about this as I was driving and I have to agree. Amongst my friends we all gravitate towards businesses we see as small and personal, and once we develop a relationship with that company we keep going back!

So that got me thinking about the opposite. Why do we avoid bigger companies when given the option? The first few words that sprang to mind were "faceless", "corporation" and "machine". Despite all the smiling and down-to-earth marketing efforts of big companies, I still feel that most of them (Starbucks included) could be described by the words I just listed. I mean, have you ever felt a deep and undying loyality to Bunnings (that excludes the community groups selling snags!) or Woolies or Kmart?

What on EARTH does all this have to do with small fashion labels? Well, we usually don't have thousands of $$$ of revenue coming in, and it's usually just us doing absolutely everything - so when you contemplate the impact of one $300 sale at Kmart compared to one $300 sale in a small business, it's IMMENSE. $300 spent at Kmart is atomised into tiny pieces - 0.1c the person who served you, 10c to the marketing costs, 30c to building overheads, 40c to investors, 50c to the CEO etc etc. But $300 spent at a small business? I invite you to think where those $$$ might go and in what proportions, and I can assure you that some of it goes towards good quality coffee for the maker!!!! 😆

So i'm here to remind you to keep supporting that wee hardware shop crammed full of stuff that's been open for 40 years. Keep buying from that fabric store that's run by the sisters who inherited it from their aunt 20 years ago. Keep drinking coffee from the cafe that's run by four mates who had some money and a dream 5 years ago. Because I can tell you - it makes a HUGE difference to us xoxox

meg.