Walmart may have run your local family owned grocery out of town, but they did not spell the end to Mom & Pop businesses. Another type of small family business is making a notable comeback, and they’re doing it on the web.
Artisan food and craft producers managed to survive the corporate invasion of small town America through unique product differentiation and offering higher quality with a much better story attached. Which sounds better to you? Ground beef from the back top shelf at Walmart . . . or 100% grass-fed Black Angus steaks from the open pastures of southern Missouri – hand cut by 3 generations of the Menefee family?
As the big box store behemoths moved into town, their low cost production and inventory methods made it near impossible for small family businesses to compete. Any store competing solely on price didn’t stand a chance, and, as should happen in market economies, eventually went the way of the dinosaur. The small town markets were shaken up and people began demonizing the corporations for exterminating small family business as we know it. At least, up until now.
With the help of a few technology startups like Etsy.com and Foodzie.com, these small family businesses are taking the big stage through user friendly ecommerce shops that aggregate artisan products from producers all over the country – giving customers a one-stop-shop for all their specialty product desires and giving artisan producers a podium to tell their story. Whether it’s hand-made lace from Virgina or fresh maple syrup from Vermont, it’s all there.
Quality products with a story to tell have always been important and will never be fully replicated by big box store producers. I believe we will see a much greater revival of Mom & Pop style small businesses as they start aggregating on the web. This is only the beginning.
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A Revival of the Mom & Pop
Walmart may have run your local family owned grocery out of town, but they did not spell the end to Mom & Pop businesses. Another type of small family business is making a notable comeback, and they’re doing it on the web.
Artisan food and craft producers managed to survive the corporate invasion of small town America through unique product differentiation and offering higher quality with a much better story attached. Which sounds better to you? Ground beef from the back top shelf at Walmart . . . or 100% grass-fed Black Angus steaks from the open pastures of southern Missouri – hand cut by 3 generations of the Menefee family?
As the big box store behemoths moved into town, their low cost production and inventory methods made it near impossible for small family businesses to compete. Any store competing solely on price didn’t stand a chance, and, as should happen in market economies, eventually went the way of the dinosaur. The small town markets were shaken up and people began demonizing the corporations for exterminating small family business as we know it. At least, up until now.
With the help of a few technology startups like Etsy.com and Foodzie.com, these small family businesses are taking the big stage through user friendly ecommerce shops that aggregate artisan products from producers all over the country – giving customers a one-stop-shop for all their specialty product desires and giving artisan producers a podium to tell their story. Whether it’s hand-made lace from Virgina or fresh maple syrup from Vermont, it’s all there.
Quality products with a story to tell have always been important and will never be fully replicated by big box store producers. I believe we will see a much greater revival of Mom & Pop style small businesses as they start aggregating on the web. This is only the beginning.