The Blankie BeBe Has Launched!

I have finally been able to get my new design finished and launched.  I wanted to wait until I could have several colors available.  I purchased three different colors of ultra-soft plush material when I was in the US.  I really like this design with their sweet faces and their ultra plush blankie part.

Get your own Blankie BeBe here.

It has been several years since I launched a new design and this time I wanted to think about it very thoughtfully.  As you know I have been trying for some time to get my BeBes into retail stores.  So far it has not been very successful.  I have one store that used to carry my dolls that is interested but recently I was reading a lot about Etsy wholesale and I realized there are some things I need to polish up before I'm ready for stores.  However, I also feel like I need to just do it and stop waiting for everything to be perfect, so here's a list of what I want to complete first.

1.  Pricing

It's not new to me that wholesale pricing is generally 50% or more of the retail price.  I have always been pretty comfortable with my pricing as I feel even though I might not make much on my Bundle BeBe design, I will make up for it by selling a OOAK doll.  However when thinking about Etsy wholesale, and looking around at their information, I started feeling a little insecure about my pricing.  I'm not sure I can compete.  Either I need to raise my prices or not offer every design at wholesale.  That is why the Blankie BeBe has been priced at $35.  I feel comfortable with this price at wholesale and retail.

The other dilemma I am feeling on my pricing is that for the amount of work I do on my dolls I am barely earning anything.  I balance my books every month and when I look at the "net profit" column I feel discouraged nearly every month.  I keep feeling like I'm just not selling enough, and that might be the case, but in general I'm always working, and dolls are going out.  I'm not ready to raise the prices on my dolls across the board yet though, so I'm going to give it some more time, and continue advertising to see if my amount of sales increase.

2.  Photos

Gahhhhhhhhhhhh!!  Why do I struggle so badly with photos!?  I don't know maybe if you look at my photos you think they aren't so bad.  And I know they aren't HORRible.  I just can't find the right balance.  Sometimes I think the photo is perfect.  Other times I see the background darker, grey-ish, tinted, etc.  I don't understand how when I set up photos and the lighting/background are exactly the same, how the photos can come out so differently.  Then my camera battery died right in the middle.  So I will probably be trying other scenarios and re-doing the pictures in the next few days.  I want them to be perfect before contacting retailers.

3.  Packaging

When I was in New York I paid special attention to any stores I saw carrying less mainstream toys just to see how they do their packaging.  I have always put these tags on my dolls:

I thought at the time they would be a cute way to show other designs I make but now I think they aren't quite advertising my brand blatantly enough.  It might be hard to find the name of my dolls with these tags.  Therefore I am going to design some new ones to be attached to any dolls that might be going to shops.

I also need to think more carefully about the packaging of the entire doll.  I cannot afford to buy personalized boxes right now, and normally I send my dolls in little cellophane bags when I ship them, but I don't know if it's appropriate for stores.  I had a nightmare last night that my dolls were in a store and all these kids were drooling on them and the store wouldn't cover the damage.  You know you're losing it when you are dreaming about packaging your product, ha ha.

The reason I am saying all of this is because Etsy wholesale stresses heavily that your entire branding, packaging and look of your product should be cohesive and professional.  I am a little too scared to apply before I have a few of these things worked out.

Overall I'm very excited to release this design.  I hope it's a fast hit!