The dilemma occurs when your wares finally begin to sell and you haven’t priced them at a level which allows you to continue selling them at that price. You feel wonderful that people like your work and are willing to pay for it, but you don’t know whether you can raise the price to give you enough profit to continue.<\/p>\n
As an artisan, you have probably been concentrating on mastering
\nyour skill and have put more attention on getting the finished product
\nright than figuring out a pricing strategy for selling your wares. <\/p>\n
If you are making cups, for example, you have a fairly good idea of
\nwhat other artisans charge for cups showing comparable complexity and
\nskill. Before you start selling your cups, you had better figure out
\nhow to be very efficient so you can sell your cups for the going rate
\nand make a profit. If you start selling cups and the profit isn’t great
\nenough, you need to improve your efficiency and lower your costs,
\nbecause you have little chance to increase your prices.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, you may be making art objects that have no local
\nequivalent, so your pricing may be low in order to attract initial
\nbuyers. Once people discover your work, you may be able to increase
\nyour prices so that you are making enough profit to continue.<\/p>\n
In the first example, the cups are almost a commodity. Unless your
\ncups are dramatically different and better than everyone else’s cups,
\nyou have to meet the prices asked for other cups in the local
\nmarketplace.<\/p>\n
When you make products that are unique, you have a little more
\nflexibility in determining the selling price because there is less for
\nthe buyer to compare your product with. On the other hand, the sales
\nvolume of these unique pieces is often far lower than the sales volume
\nof more prosaic pieces used for everyday purposes like cups, bowls,
\npitchers, etc.<\/p>\n
One strategy used by successful crafts people is to customize
\neveryday items, so that the item fills a recognizable need, but each
\npiece is unique. One woman I knew did beautiful hand-painted T-shirts.
\nShe did a marvelous business until she tried to improve her
\nprofitability by switching to silk-screened designs.<\/p>\n
Some potters customize their work by carving or incising their
\npieces before glazing. Others press lace or textured materials into the
\nclay to create unique patterns for every piece. The successful ones
\nkeep changing their techniques to stay ahead of the inevitable copycat
\nartisans who recognize a good thing when they see it.<\/p>\n
Another successful technique is to raise the price on the items that
\nare flying off the shelf until they are high enough to provide a
\nhealthy profit, meanwhile turning out lower priced items that people
\nwill buy when they cannot afford the price of the premium product.<\/p>\n
There is another solution to the Artisan’s Dilemma and that is to
\nchange to a different marketplace. I will attempt to address that in a
\nfuture post.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The dilemma occurs when your wares finally begin to sell and you haven’t priced them at a level which allows you to continue selling them at that price. You feel wonderful that people like your work and are willing to pay for it, but you don’t know whether you can raise the price to give you enough profit to continue.<\/p>\n