Unfortunately I think this will be part of a growing trend, we are well past market saturation and I know a couple of the larger retailers are going to be reducing the number of lines they carry based on sales numbers - it will be up to the retailers themselves to say what and when though. What this will mean for people like ourselves is that we will see a number of disappearances unless these artisans choose to retail themselves through their own websites, whether they do or not is time dependent - producing the goods then taking orders and shipping them is incredibly time consuming particularly when most orders are low numbers orders from end users.
For artisan producers with a good product the issue is not 'reach' but rather being stocked by the retailers that matter and in fact over-reach in trying to have your product stocked by too many retailers often presents more of a problem than under-reach. If you have a good product it will sell, the issue being it has to look good as well as perform good - look and feel are synergistic and intertwined in the broader market, particularly beyond the shave forums/enthusiast crowd which accounts for only a fractional percentage of retail sales overall - Sorry to burst bubbles here, but the more I speak to my US partner the more this has hit home
After I was picked up by Maggards I received 4 other offers from retailers in the US which I made a decision to decline, as it is I am just keeping up with the volumes required for the US market in relation to the soap lines, with my splash about to launch in the US the logistics of working with more than one US retail outlet would become overwhelming and in many cases would dilute demand from my primary outlet Maggards which I am happy to say, is an absolute pleasure to work with.
I have made the same decision on the Australian front too, I will only work with people I know and respect - there is a relationship beyond me being the supplier and they the retailer in this case TSW being the ideal fit as a showcase for AP Reserve given the specialist nature of Con's business and his commitment to commercial and most importantly emerging Artisan lines from around the world. Again I have been approached by 2 other Australian retailers, but again I respectfully declined - do one outlet well, cultivate a beneficial relationship with someone you respect and whose business you value rather than try to be all things to all people.
People are going to have differing opinions on what I have written here, and that's fine, I am simply speaking as someone who is actually doing it and who has gone through, and is going through the wet-shaving business as an artisan producer and who is more relevantly navigating exponential growth of a product in the international market place.
