A fledgling trader has launched a Black Friday campaign of her own - underlining all that goes into providing a craft-based independent business.
Gemma Winter’s heart-felt plea on social media gives a real insight into what sits behind the huge Christmas shopping rush when you’re not a big brand, and what local businesses offer for your pounds.
It comes after she opened her first retail premises on the day Lockdown Two was announced.
The craftpreneur, behind It Started With a Stitch in Grimsby’s Abbeygate, said: “As a maker and a retailer I’ve thought long and hard about what to offer for Black Friday.
“So here’s the deal… 20 plus years experience goes into each and every piece of work that I make and sell and what you receive is something that is entirely made by hand, by me.
“You can order items to be made just for you, and you get to speak to the person who’ll be making it. Not just an online form to fill in and hope for the best, a real conversation with a real person.
“If you order through my Etsy, ShopAppy, MamaTribe or Folksy shop you’ll have the items sent to you anywhere in the 海角视频 via first class Royal Mail with no additional charges. You can even have the item sent straight to the person you’re buying for and I’ll even write you a cute note to be included! Gift wrapped? Just ask.
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“If you want to buy things from my shop you get me as your personal shopper, I will send photos, measurements and answer questions, pretty much 24/7. I will speak to the makers and help you sort out customisation and made to order gifts. I’ll put you in touch with the businesses who can best help you buy the perfect present.
“I do all of this with love and sparkle and I’ll not charge you a penny extra. Happy Friday!”
Gemma, who has already caught Dragon Theo Paphitis’ eye with her social marketing savviness, explained the move.
“There is a massive stigma around creatives not charging enough for what they do, it is often held up that people are not paid enough for something handmade, that has taken hours.
“I worked for a big retailer, and there was so much pressure put on this one day. The amount of stock that would be brought in, purely to be sold to get people in on that one day. You’d see the queues, the fights, it incites panic.
“As a small business you don’t have a massive budget, you don’t have money to throw at it - as soon as you do, you might as well be giving things away. We don’t have the mark-up to start with.
“Sometimes people feel bad for talking about it, we need to get away from that. People need to understand what goes into it - it is not automated and often it is just one person.
“The CEO of Amazon isn’t packing that box while juggling orders and enquiries!”