|
|
|
Why we do this?
We have had at least two of our customers have become competitors in business. In all fairness, they believe they are competitors, but they are not. Let me explain. Many of you out there may be frustrated like we were at the prices of Scottish apparel. And most peoples first reaction is, “I could sell this stuff for less”. Could you? Actually people feel this way of most items. A typical scenario is, you have built a computer for yourself, and then one for a friend. You say to yourself, this was cheaper than IBM or Dell, I could go into business and sell computers cheaper than they do. Let me start at the beginning and if you read this it will save you a great deal of grief. My history was one of management at what was at the time , the worlds largest corporation, General Motors. My wife Cheryl was a manager for a chain of retail stores. I started my first business when I was twenty-one. Sold that business at the age of twenty-seven. Went back to work for GM. Many years later, like you I started my interest in my heritage. Then , like you, my adventure to buy a kilt. This was before the Internet and there were limited ways to buy your kilt and accessories. There were the big catalogs, two of them with very high prices. If you were lucky enough to live next to a large city, possibly a Scottish Shop, also high prices. The Highland Games, the vendors included the large vendors and many that were working out of the back of their truck putting up a tent for the event and then down the road to the next games. They were the only option to the high prices and not much of an option. Poor service, if any at all. I took the time to visit every shop on the west coast of the U.S. I met some wonderful people that loved what they did. My research was to establish the size a community needed to be to support a Scottish Shop. We were from Portland Oregon and the home of a shop owned by John and Gail Lewis. Two very nice people that had a genuine interest in what they did. They were there for more than just money. Their prices were high , but in retrospect reasonable. Some of you may not realize this but the average price for an 8 yard kilt in 1995 was nearly $700.00. That is the same kilt we sell today for $495.00. Back then the Scottish Shops were at lest making money. We opened our shop on December 6th 1996 in Salem , Oregon our adopted home town. It was 275 square feet. Some rich people have closets larger than our entire retail shop. We started on the premise that it would be a hobby, remember this was before the Internet and Salem, Oregon had a population of 120,000 and a very small Scottish Society. We knew that shops in Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco could survive because the size of the city. Little did I know. Al Gore invents the Internet and things really changed. For some reason I saw the Internet as an excellent marketing tool for the future. For an old guy I have always appreciated new technology, even if I don't understand it. And I did not understand the Internet, I just knew we needed to be there. Our first web site was .tartanandthistle.com . The name of our store back then was The Tartan & Thistle Scottish Shop. Most people make the mistake of tying themselves to their web site by using only their company name. But it was soon evident to me that I was tired of typing the entire web address every time I wanted to see my web site. I went looking for a new web domain name that was shorter. I found our current domain www.kilts.com . Your going to have to buy me dinner and a drink to get that story. As the Internet took off so did we. It became a hobby out of control. Fortunately our combined business experience paid off and we were able to maintain a growing company. Now it did not grow like Amazon our Google, far from it. We simply grew a little every year. For those of you thinking about getting into the kilt sales business, the rest of the story is all up hill. The Internet has been a boon for the consumer. It has also been the best example of the old saying “ buyer beware” that I have ever seen next to Ebay. We started selling kilts at $495.00 in 1996. Since then the cost of that same kilt has nearly doubled. Because of the Internet, we are still selling that kilt for $495.00. Almost every shop I visited on my trip has either gone out of business our changed owners. Seattle has gone through four Scottish Shops since we opened. When we first went into business we kidded about possible names like “Kilts R' US” or Kilt Mart. It saddens me that there are actually businesses out there with those names today trying to sell kilts. Either no imagination or no appreciation for the heritage that we are so proud of. They are apparently not as proud. If you are still thinking about going into this business, do it because you love it and our culture. There is plenty of cheap product out there, there is no need to add to it. By the way those two customers turned competitors, have no web sites and sell other product than we do. So we do not consider them competitors. If you want to make money, try something else.
|
|
To Place orders e-mail orders@kilts.com
or Toll free US and Canada call 1-800-992-KILT (5458)
Send comments about this sites technical issues to webmaster@kilts.com
with questions or comments.
|
