The upcoming TNNA trade show in Columbus, Ohio has some really interesting things going on. First of all, fans of Mary Engelbreit designs will be thrilled to hear Painted Pony has licensed some of her art for painted canvases. Mary Engelbreit needlepoint designs will be available again starting Fall 2015.
Secondly, Amazon.com has signed up to attend the show as a retailer. This means like your local shop, they'll be browsing the designer booths and trying to arrange orders. The brick and mortar stores are worried about this new online competitor although I personally think that ordering hand painted canvases from Amazon instead of a real shop is a greater danger to us stitchers than the shops' bottom line.
If Amazon runs our local needlepoint shops out of business by undercutting them on price, we won't have classes, stitch guides, help kitting threads, anyone to match dye lots for us when we run out of thread, assistance with color changes, places to see designs and threads in person while chatting to other stitchers, or any of the other one thousand and one things the shops do for us now. It will destroy needlepoint as an art form.
Think about that the next time you start shopping for online bargains. You get what you pay for, after all.
Written by Jane/Chilly Hollow
Blogging at http://chillyhollownp.blogspot.com
and at http://chstitchguides.blogspot.com
© Copyright May 21, 2015 Jane M. Wood. All rights reserved.
Thursday, May 28, 2015
Columbus Show Gossip (May 2015)
Labels:
Amazon,
brick and mortar,
Mary Engelbreit,
Painted Pony,
TNNA,
TNNA May 2015
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5 comments:
Having attended this show several times in the past, I can tell you that yarn and knitting supplies make up perhaps 60-65% of what's there. Needlepoint and counted thread make up the rest, with that weighted more in favor of needlepoint. Honestly, I think they'd be going for the knitting/crocheting things and products that are already kitted up. Those fit their business model a bit better than needlepoint. Even counted thread fits better than needlepoint. I'll be interested in seeing what starts turning up on Amazon. I'm lucky to have several needlework shops to shop in locally, unlike many who have to travel a great distance to reach one. I don't think I've ever looked for anything other than books on Amazon, by the way, when it comes to needlework.
I'll be there this weekend. Maybe we can play "Where's Amazon?" Do you think they'll make it easier for us by wearing stocking hats and striped scarves?
I agree with you, SL. Selling needlepoint, whether painted or charted, seems to need a degree of customer service Amazon can't provide. As to finding the Amazon rep(s), just look for the people the shop owners are glaring at. The only thing I've ever looked for in the thread arts category on Amazon is light/magnifiers. They have a ton of them. Naturally not the brand I was shopping for, though.
Or books.
I look for the extra services that they won't be able to provide.....thread colors, etc. I bet this won't be a large part of their sales!
I wouldn't think so. But you never know. It'll be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of this.
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