In my opinion, the Threadless business plan is all about the online community. If Threadless decides that it wants to begin selling its shirts to large retailers, it is going to have to justify and clear this with its online community first. While selling to large retailers could heavily increase the revenue potential of Threadless, it could do so at the expense of its community. My guess is that a lot of the users of the website derive value from having access to shirts that are not available at normal retail stores. Selling to retail outlets would remove this value. Furthermore, Threadless shirts at retail stores would have to compete with other larger brands, such as Nike, Champion, Lee, etc. These are extremely large operations which are able to compete largely on brand and price. Threadless is not known in the retail sector, so it might end up having to sell its retail shirts for a cheaper price than what it does on the website. This could cause a lot of the non-designers to forego purchasing on the website and turn their attention to retail outlets.
In the end, I would not simply tell Threadless to drop the idea of selling to large retailers. I think the company needs to communicate with the online community and receive feedback if it decides to make this move. After all, Threadless understands that all of its decisions in the past directly affected its online community, and attempted to reach out as much as possible to get the community's input. It should do the same thing in this case. If the online community is largely against the idea, then it may not be wise for Threadless to move forward. Without the support of the community and designers, Threadless would lose the value of the website.
If the online community supports the selling of shirts to retailers, I would suggest that Threadless limit the shirts that the retailers have access to. This would ensure that some designs are strickly available via the website, and would also reduce the need to Threadless to greatly increase the capacity of its production facility. It should also move forward cautiously with this venture, first testing the waters to see if the shirts actually sell in the retail sector. If they do not sell, Threadless could simply forego the selling of shirts to retail outlets and focus back on the online community. This is a tricky, yet welcomed decision that Threadless is faced with. It needs to consider the interests of all stakeholders before making a final decision on how to move forward.
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While I initially disagreed that Threadless should sell their shirts to an online retailer, after reading your post I agree that they should take this decision to its major stakeholders before making the decision. It looks like they get pretty large use out of their blog, so this may be the perfect way to find out what its online community thinks. After all, it's the online community that make Threadless the success it is now, so why change the way decisions are made now?
ReplyDeleteIf they do decide to go forth with selling shirts, I think they should give each designer an individual say so in whether they wish to have their designs sold. However, only winning designs should be sold-- otherwise those who did not win the competition end up having their designs exposed anyway but on a much larger scale, and this could cause potential issues with providing "prize money".
I too agree that the online community is Threadless's source of success and should therefore be the company's number one focus in any business decision it makes. Losing their following of faithful designers and t-shirts wearers due to its decision to sell to retailers would be financially devastating.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it is important to remember too that what makes Threadless attractive to its community members is the exclusivity that it offers. The t-shirts that the company sells are unique and cannot be found in stores. This is what drives people to want to post their design ideas. By selling to retail stores, Threadless members will lose this level of uniqueness and individuality.
I like this suggestion to allow retailers to sell only a limited selection of t-shirts. That way, you're still providing the exclusivity of the online community, but still reaching more people. They may also consider being very selective with the retail shops they chose in order to maintain the exclusivity.
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