Tumblr being bad for businesses
One thing Iāve observed over the years of being in this delightful wasteland of memes and anger (TLOMAA) is the neat microcosmic presentation of the effect a financially weak and business-unsavvy civilian population with a huge soundboard has on business, and how people think.
Iāve always known, or had the idea, but still..
If you extract the urge most of its users have to buy almost anything if itās fandom-branded, most people on here, understandably, do not and cannot afford to support small artist, clothing, or luxury (anything not a necessity) businesses.
However, these are the same people who complain about capitalism, yet often in a way that leads me to believe that they donāt know what it is about capitalism they donāt like, and what literally will not and cannot be changed or blamed unless you want to obliterate the concept of money- or at least reset the global trade market and the US economy.
You see, people on tumblr are quick to try and dismantle an upcoming businessā popularity and consumer base if they think the product is too expensive.
A population of young people rightfully scrupulous of spending what they have, yet bearing totally unrealistic expectations is such a bad mix!
I hate watching this Nubian Skin drama. I hope what Iām seeing is disproportionately presented to me through a selection bias- what Iām seeing is inarguably augmented by the fact that I follow thelingerieaddict . However, this is still a trend. Anyway, in regards to the Nubian Skin dramaā¦ You know how the lingerie industry standard ofĀ ānudeā is just beige? And how while it certainly doesnāt match most light skinned people, it matches little to no dark skinned people? You know how the fashion industry as a whole seemingly ignores the reality that a lot of people have brown skin?
And you know how POC on tumblr are always sayingĀ āwe need to support black businessesā? Iāll get to that one in a second.
Enter Nubian Skin LingerieĀ is a brand made and run by WOC. It is new. It is small. It is non-corporate. Ade Hassan started it up from the ground, and unlike huge brands like Hanes or Victorias Secret, she doesnāt (and canāt) ship her designs to a factory in another country to have her stuff made on the cheap. Nor is she stocked by every Target and Wal-Mart, or even every shopping mall. She doesnāt have that power, yet.
Starting a company is always expensive.Ā Buying materials, getting the time to make your product (I mean you donāt have time for a regular job anymore so you have to invest and then hope it pays off!), finding and paying people to help you, making something high quality enough that people will buy, marketing it so people know it exists, trying to get other stores to carry it.. all of this takes time (which is money) and money.
But let me take a moment to explain the process of undercutting.
UndercuttingĀ is the business practice of under-pricing a product so your competition seems too expensive.Ā This has become a standard business practice. Letās say I make soda out of a small neighborhood factory. My soda is $6 for a 4-pack. This is what I need to charge to still make a profit and cover production costs and rent. Letās say my competitor, who doesnāt like the homegrown popularity of my brand, and who knows someone in beverage distribution, originally sold their soda for almost the same price. So, to wipe me out, they donāt decide to make a new flavor, they donāt focus on buying commercialsā¦they just drop the price of the soda. Initially, theyāll be eating the cost, but they can afford that more than I can. And after their deal goes through, theyāll be supported by a wider distribution range because of their new industry ties. Meanwhile, when people go to the soda aisle, they will see my $6 soda and their $4 soda and make their choice based on cost.Ā
Even though my soda is priced to cover the necessaryĀ production costs and leave me with a little bit of profit, undercuttingĀ has now made me look too expensive.
Undercutting is exclusively only something businesses who favor profit far over quality can do- because if youāre concerned with the quality of your materials, the pay of your employees, and the ethics of your methods, it will cost you too damn much.
This concept applies everywhere in almost every industry. Undercutting is why people look at the $55 bras Nubian Skin makes and goĀ āthatās too expensiveā.Ā A lot of people are used to the prices of horrible companies like H&M that have huuuuge made-in-china factory capability, major distribution, and millions in profit. That, and aaalll of the Chinese resellers you can imagine. Let me digress:
I see this habit that people have here, when someone goesĀ āHey look at this new small brand that came up! This person sells x-useful-or-neat-thing for $x and you can buy it here!ā People inevitably will sayĀ āCool!ā andĀ āTake all my money!ā but eventually people start tagging onto the promo post likeĀ āwhy? this is so expensive! You can buy something like it here and here at Wal-Mart or from this (exclusively stocked via AlieExpress) storeā so now this advertisement for a new startup company has been parasitized by people making it look unreasonably and frivolously expensive.
Iāve said it before, but I need to say it again, you also need to be aware that a lot of popular blogs that turn around and offer links toĀ ācheapā clothing are promoing stores that ship directly from China, often use photos stolen from other companies to present the concept of a quality item (just like x company but way cheaper!), and incentivize these people through affiliate programs. For a website that finds artists being ripped off completely heinous, I donāt see much of a qualm about businesses doing it. Take BlackmilkĀ for instance.
Ā I know Iāve spoken on this in the past, but long story short, the business practices listed above are a problem for this company, especially when not only are people ripping off their product/photos, but Iāve seen people on tumblr actually accusing them of fraud, literally sayingĀ āThey are selling leggings you can get from china at five times the price!ā
Iāve even seen creepyyeha accused of this, even when itās entirely not true, and the fact thatĀ ācheaper versionsā of any of her pieces exist is not because she bought and resold them, but because someone stole her designs and remade them with cheaper materials and labor.
So what is my point here?Ā Let me summarize. You see people rightfully complain about capitalism, but I donāt think you guys get how it works. Capitalism isnāt when everything is expensive and no one can afford it- that doesnāt even make sense how would anyone make money? No, part of capitalism is big bottom-line-based businesses choking out smaller honest companies. And how do they do that? By being cheaper. On all accounts.Ā Cheaper materials, cheaper production costs, lower pay for employees, etc. So when you guys spit in the face of new, small, honest businesses withĀ āthis is too expensive!ā even though you have NO CLUE what actual start up and production costs are (because your idea of price is defined by what dishonest, unsustainable, huge corporation, big box companies have sold you) you are doing one of the most capitalist things possible. You are undervaluing labor, buying into the cost over quality mentality, and supporting the idea that smaller companies areĀ ātoo expensiveā and should not be supported.
This is not an attack on people who canāt afford otherwise (a populace with restricted income ((to a point)) is super fab for capitalism, in this way), this is an attack on those who attack smaller companies with their ignorance.
You want corporations to stop running everything? Then stop helping them crush their competition.
You want innovation? Companies that fill niches? Then support them. It costs money.
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