Expand Your Craft Business

Expanding the Market for Your Craft Business Overseas

Hi Eileen,

You've put up a great website: lot's of extremely useful articles for home-based crafters. I'm a home-based crafter in Malaysia. I

I want to share what I've learned during the first year, which I felt you've left out from your article: "Minimize Cost". I'd like to share one point that will help to minimize cost and maximize profits.

When I was producing my own cards at full capacity, I realized that my income would stop at my maximum output. Even though orders poured in, I could not keep up. To increase my income, I hired crafters who had no avenue to market their crafts and marketed for them for a commission!

I also have a proposal for you, being located in Malaysia, the prices of my handmade cards are very much cheaper, which will be of an advantage for you if you can help me market them.

The exchange rate is favorable to you at USD1=Ringgit 3.80. Another plus point - the pricing on my website is the normal retail pricing. If you're going to market for me, there'll be a discount of 30% which I pay to my distributors.

Well, do let me know whether it's possible for us to work together.

Thank you for your time.

Lola Lim
Proprietor
Red Dragon Fly Card

I love hearing success stories like yours!

And you’re absolutely right: my article on minimizing costs for a craft business does not address the strategy you have adopted.

My series on The Four M’s of home-based craft businesses for profit ("Meet Your Market, "Minimize Your Costs", "Maximize Your Selling Price", "and "Market the Heck out of Your Product") is aimed at crafters working solo. I think of it as Crafting-For-Profit 101.

Your comment has really started me thinking. Perhaps it’s time for the Crafting-For-Profit 201 series. You would be the first example of expanding a craft business using employees and broader, international markets.

When you reached the maximum output you could handle alone and wanted to continue to grow your profit, you decided to enlist other crafters to help you meet the demand. As you know, helping them, helps you too.

When I reached the maximum output that I alone could produce, I decided to help other crafters (and myself) by building this website.

It’s obvious to readers how a website that actually sells products - like yours - makes a profit.

My 201 series would include how a "purely" informational site like mine with few products on sale can also turn a profit. It’s time to share the secrets!

That brings me to the second part of your letter.

I think we can work together in several ways. First, by publishing your letter I invite other craft business owners to check out your site and consider purchasing some of your darling handcrafted cards at wholesale that they can then sell alongside their own crafts or place in retail establishments as you have done throughout Malaysia.

[ Note to our other readers: Lola’s Red Dragonfly cards are available at 50 retail establishments, mainly bakeries, coffee shops and pharmacies. Doesn’t it make you think, "Gee, maybe I could do that"? ]

The second way we could help each other is if you would join an affiliate program. This is one of the Series 201 secrets of an online craft business I need to share.

One way that information-only websites like mine make money is by marketing for vendors. Whenever we send a reader to one of our merchants and that reader buys something, we receive a commission.

By joining one of the organizations that manage affiliate programs, you bring the whole world to your craft business.

Unfortunately, for a small craft businesses like yours, the costs could be prohibitive. Most of the affiliate programs are set up to represent major corporations.

You can look into one of the smaller affiliate programs. You could also set up your own affiliate program. This would entail buying affiliate manager software, which will track sales and commissions. You then could write to craft websites like mine inviting them to join. Each website would get a tracking code so that commissions are tracked properly.

You would be responsible for shipping the orders.

That leads to another option, which is to use search engine optimization tools to drive traffic to your own site.

This involves trading links, rewriting your pages to make them keyword specific, writing articles for other websites to use and buying advertising on Google, Yahoo or other pay for click networks.

The idea is to get more visitors to your site. The heavier your traffic, the more likely you will convert your visitors into paying customers for your craft business.

I would suggest you type search engine optimization into the search box. You will get tons of information. Use the information, but don't buy any products until you are sure you understand the process.

There are a lot of get rich quick schemes out there. You just need solid advice.

Finally if you are set up for it, you can consider drop shipping. A website such as mine could run articles featuring your designs. It would take the orders and be paid directly by the customer. The website would then pass the order on to you.

You would have to ship it to the customer. After deducting the markup, you would then be paid. This could all be done through PayPal.

One of the problems that will make it difficult for you to sell your crafts internationally is the shipping, customs and duty costs. You would have to adjust your prices to take these into account.

Another way to build the market for your craft business would involve selling directly to major store chains through exporters or attending craft expos where foreign buyers visit many local artisans at once. This might be the your best bet for growing your business rapidly.

Lola, thanks for sharing. You’ve helped bring our logo to life. "The Artful Crafter - Helping Crafters to Be".