Well this one has been brewing for a while! 20 odd years ago (when I started Kate's Clothing) online shopping was a fresh landscape, fertile and ready for those of us with the skills and drive to make the most of it. Roll forward to today and it's a very different picture. With the rise of the likes of Amazon, Shein and now Temu, it's become a lot, lot tougher for the little guys like me to carve a path. Add the huge increase in fraud, friendly or otherwise, and the pressure is really on!
There's only so much I can do about the aforementioned, I can however, address another thing that's happened in the last 2 decades. The brands I stock also have similar pressures and one of the ways they've addressed that is to sell direct to you the consumer. To be honest, a few of them have become a bit too good at it for my liking. The awesome Killstar (quite rightly) now dominates the gothic domain with their constant influx of stunning designs and brutal discounts. Little old me can't keep up. When the the brands do a big retail discount, I get a large influx of returns as people send back items they've just bought from me and buy them for less direct. Putting the extra admin aside (and the admin load for returns is no small matter) it still makes it really difficult for me to manage my stock levels. Consequently I end up short on some sizes and styles and all my efforts and advertising costs just result in customers heading directly to the brands website, where there's more stock. So, reluctantly, I've decided to make the tough choice to focus on the brands that aren't quite so excellent at selling direct (no offense other brands). I can add some real value to them and offer you guys something more unique and hard to find.
So sadly, it's time for me to say goodbye to Killstar, Hell Bunny and Collectif. I'm so grateful to them for their support over the years, they've all been lovely to work with.
Right now though, what this means for you, is some bargains are to be had while I work to clear the stock I have, so please make the most of the price reductions and help me to adapt to the new plan.
As always, thanks so much for your support!
Kate
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