Circle Craft is a unique Artist Cooperative in BC, Canada dedicated to providing opportunities for craftspeople to connect with the community. MarketSpace was introduced to Circle Craft while they were working on their website development. Formed in 1972, Circle Craft has grown to become a major force in the marketing and promotion of quality craft utilizing a ‘direct from the artist’ approach.
What Circle Craft realized they needed was a way to not just sell at their legendary Christmas market in Vancouver but a way to sell all year on-line and to provide some added value to their vendors. Circle Craft is self-sustaining and is supported by commission on sales and participation fees.
Budgets were tight and staff availability was low for Circle Craft but they knew that reaching an online sales audience was key to their success and the success of their vendors. Paul and Rossanne of Circle Craft sat down with MarketSpace to look at their options. In no time Paul and Rossanne were convinced that MarketSpace was what Circle Craft needed to reach their online sales targets.
What was it that convinced Circle Craft so quickly? MarketSpace is set up so that the vendors themselves set up an on-line store with easy to use tools from MarketSpace. Even the low-tech crafty community that make up Circle Craft found setting up a store easy. For the ones that were still having trouble, MarketSpace was able to step in for a few hours and get everyone up and running.
Paul and Rossanne were also able to brand their Multi-vendor e-commerce page just like their own website thereby keeping their brand consistent while taking advantage of the powerful tools that MarketSpace can offer.
When all said and done Circle Craft is one of MarketSpace's biggest success stories; their financial layout to take their vendors on-line was minimal, the vendors that took the plunge have seen an increase in sales and perhaps most importantly, Circle Craft continues to be one of the most successful organizations of its kind in North America.
