News — antipodean

If you have an email address, television or phone then you can't have missed the craziness that is Black Friday. In previous years I have offered a small site-wide discount - it has been great to give my customers a chance to shop on sale, and also admittedly fun for me to hear my phone ping away all day!

This year I have been thinking a little differently about this approach - for a few reasons. I thought it might be worth sharing in case anyone was interested.

1. Real prices: my margins have always been tight. I work super hard to keep prices as close as possible to the Australian retail prices, absorbing as much of the freight, customs duty and import VAT as I possibly can. Now that Antipodream is also VAT registered, there simply isn't the margin left for sales. The good news is that customers can be sure that through buying from Antipodream they are getting the best deal possible every day of the year - and much cheaper than buying direct from Australia or New Zealand after shipping and taxes.

2. Sustainability: conscious consumerism is something most of us have reflected on this year. 'Buy once, buy well' has always been a personal mantra, so it is natural that this has flown through to my approach to Antipodream. I don't want the business to succeed if it means flogging stuff to people that they don't need or won't truly love. So sales for the sake of sales doesn't feel right. I take a slow approach to curating each collection - and I'll be taking a slow approach to selling them too. 

3. Supporting small business: Black Friday tends to work for big businesses, helping retailers that sell lots of the same stuff move product quicker than their competitors. For small indie businesses and creatives, who work hard all year to bring their customers unique, interesting pieces, a huge sale in their peak period doesn't really make any sense. So by choosing not to feed it this year, hopefully I am doing my little bit to help it become all a bit passe. There has been so much love for #shopsmall in 2019, maybe in 2020 this will totally surpass the Black Friday craze and become something we can get excited about.

For those who were hoping for a sale, I will continue to have an annual sale in the new year of odds and ends and discontinued pieces, to help clear out the warehouse and make sure I don't carry stock forever and a day.

Thanks again for all of your support, and don't be afraid to add your thoughts, comments or questions below.

Big love, Kate x