fabulousyarn - 2:52 pm on Jul 23, 2010 (gmt 0)

If you have the capital, selling direct (ie, making and selling both) is great! (I have some custom yarns that I do that with.) But I have to say that I'm with webdevfv here ... I am currently in a very interesting discussion with shopatron - there position is that they allow manufacturers to expand customers opportunity to purchase. I believe they are stealing retail by convincing manufacturers that they need to have a place to BUY on their BRANDED website. And now they will be competing with me for eyeballs on affiliate networks - so they can collect a fee for doing so. I don't think Volvo does that. Or coca cola. In any case, I have been dialoging with their CEO - and their positions are incorrect, they are just trying to support their model - which is making money off of the idea that if a user gets to a brand website and can't buy, the sale is lost. Not true at all - a good retailer list and the sale will be made if someone wants to buy a particular item - I get at least 40% of my sales thru branded manufacturer website. If you are a manufacturere and you want to sell direct, set up the systems to do it, and I'll decide whether or not I want to work with you anymore. I think that is fair enough. Is it work it for a manufacturer to lose a large percent of their clients to take on the business themselves? They'll have to make that decision, of course.