Dear John, I could sympathize with your situation, regarding falling sales in the current economic climate - but agree with the other people who have already replied, in that 'diversification' is a good option.
The problem with 'high cost/low volume' production, is that if you start to lose orders then your business is seriously affected - but by changing to 'low cost/high volume', obviously losing some orders should not have as serious an effect on your 'bottom line' profit. As a retired teacher, I know that the greatest 'customer-base' for sundials is certainly Schools (most people think this is gardens, or possibly as interesting features created in public locations). However, it does help that sundials are included in the UK schools curriculum - Science key stages 1 & 2 (year 3), unit 3F, section 8. I do not know if something similar applies, to the United States, but if it does then you could perhaps be able to have a profitable 'niche' market - as long as your selling prices are not too high, but you might need to use alternative materials (instead of stone). The other advantage of selling into the 'Educational Sector' (as I know from my personal experience), is that teachers will be talking to other schools - so are really doing your 'advertising' for you, since "word-of-mouth" is the best promotional method you can get. If you want to remain in the 'sundial' business, then you may need to offer popular low-cost items - like Len Honey (Greenwitch), or Doug Hunt (Modern Sunclocks) - to both Schools and garden markets, so that you have the best coverage of potential paying customers. Also try to find 'Agents or Distributors' (and possibly any mail- order outlets), who might be happy to promote your product range. Regards, Bill Irvine. P.S. As somebody mentioned, make sure your website is viewable on mobile phones and similar hand-held devices (and not just by desk- based computers) - because more people are using 'mobile surfing', compared with the days when people needed a computer for browsing. -- --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
