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BizTalk, presents articles tailored for woodworkers, delves into essential topics encompassing the art of running a successful woodworking business.
13 Ways to save money on your woodworking materials
As a woodworker, you are often looking for ways to stretch your dollar and getting more things done in your workshop. As a business person, reduced costs means larger profits that will hopefully lead to growing your business.
Regardless of what your goals are as a woodworker, we all want to do more for less.
The costs of woodworking materials seem to be constantly increasing. To stay ahead of the game, we have to look at the furniture industry for clues as to how they keep their costs down. Although we always aim to produce a quality piece, there is no harm in considering some of the options we've outlined below without necessarily affecting the quality of your build.
So, lets take a look at different ways that you can reduce your costs and be more productive in the workshop.
Pricing - A Guide To Establishing A Price For Your Crafts
Whether you are a hobbyist woodworker or a seasoned professional, setting the price for an item you have completed or plan to fabricate can sometimes seem like a form of black magic. Some of you may have seen formulas that base your price solely on the cost of materials multiplied by a certain factor. This may work for some of you, but for most of us, doing a more elaborate calculation may uncover opportunities to be more competitive and possibly even make more money. This is not to say that with more experience you can't develop your own formula that will greatly simplify the pricing process and get you to where you want to be. But with a more detailed analysis, you will at least understand everything that goes into the making of your masterpiece.
Product Planning - Gathering Product Intelligence
What's out there?
As part of your product planning strategy, learn about how competitive research can help you define a product offering that can distinguish your craft from what the market currently has to offer. #woodworking #competition #research #craftNow that you have selected the product that you would like to make and sell, it is usually a good idea to next research the internet to see what is already out there. The internet offers a wealth of information that you can collect to assist you in defining a successful product offering and associated selling strategy.
Many crafters might skip this step of gathering product intelligence, but it can really help you better understand the market and it's opportunities.
It's always a good idea to determine how your planned craft measures up to what prospective buyers encounter during their initial internet searches.
Pricing - The Human Psyche
Many books have been written on the art of product pricing, but one element of pricing that is difficult to quantify is the level at which a product price can influence certain human perceptions and behaviors.
How much actual or perceived quality, value and uptick in social standing can a price have on a buyer, is something that can often be observed but not necessarily measured.