I dabble as a hobby since retirement a few years back and have no intention of trying to create a business, preferring to provide the odd minor bit of work for friends on a bottle of single malt basis. But I did spend a career in business after training as an accountant and started to think about some of the issues which need to be addressed if we want to turn woodworking into a more generally profitable career choice.
The first point which has already been made is that we are selling to the premium end of the market - people mostly unconstrained by cost. To illustrate - Ikea may sell a dining table and six chairs for £300-800, John Lewis for £1200-2500, and designer hand made probably needs to sell for £3000-6000 to make a profit.
The reasons Ikea can sell so cheaply are fairly clear - higher volumes give more buying power for materials, enable extensive automated production processes, ensure product design minimises production costs. Packaging, shipping, selling and marketing costs per unit are all reduced.
So what can be done to address the higher end of the market for which cost is not the main barrier to improve perceptions of craftsmanship and desirability.
- create a trade body with common trade mark, craftsman only membership - proven skills only
- create standard contractual relationships - T&Cs, standards, complaints processes
- organise shared stand at ideal home and other exhibitions
- provide material (advertorials) for home and design media promoting members skills (focus on ...... this month)
- promote skills and heritage - from Chippendale and Sheraton to contemporary high quality design
- stress renewable nature of materials not chop down rainforest scarcity
- training courses and advice for members covering finance, employment law, pricing, design software etc etc
- enable local equipment and facility sharing
- consider customer sharing to allow manufacturers to specialise somewhat
This is probably but a small part of what needs to be done. But if we don't change there is no reason to expect the market and customer to change. We will simply carry on as now bemoaning the fact that skilled woodworkers are under appreciated and that the public put cost first in the buying decision.
To compete at the top end of the John Lewis market we need to make sure potential customers appreciate and value what is provided - even if it is just the branding and status of a product from the wood workers trade body
We also need to ensure that those who have the talent for design and craftsmanship have the business tools to succeed.
This will all cost money - but only those engaged in the business can judge whether it would be a price worth paying to change their futures.
