Limited edition - how do you think we could do it better?

For all that it feels very much like we are a well kept secret a lot of the time, it seems that we have some devoted and dedicated die hard supporters out there that buy *everything* we have as soon as we release it For this - thank you.

We recently received a tweet from Hattie saying that she was frustrated by our seconds sale - it was over and done before she even read the email about it. She was right - it went live at midnight, the email announcing it went at 6am, and we were pretty much sold out by 10am. We've had other people tweet that there was nothing in their size. We always launch everything - even seconds - in all sizes to try to make something available for everyone, but clearly it's not working any more. It's a nice problem for us to have - but a frustrating one for you.

We don't want to frustrate anyone and - I think it's fair to say - we aren't like bigger shops that are impersonal and just do what they are doing. We want to do what we do with you, not sort of *at* you.

Now. As well as limited sales like seconds, we also sometimes make very, very, very limited edition Pants.

We are dedicated upcyclers. Our fabric supplier often has very very small quantities of fabrics that (almost) no-one will buy as there isn't enough to make more than a few items. I say almost as I love these. I love getting a roll of 50 metres of 16cm lace and knowing we can make 30 pairs of incredibly limited edition Aimee shorts.

But that leaves us in a quandry. If we have only a very short run of something, how can we offer those for sale in a way that gives people equal opportunity to get hold of them?

We did think about using the very very limited things for our Year of Pants members but there are more members now than many of our very limited runs can stretch to.

  • Ought we worry at all about it - should we let whoever gets to their email first win the race? We email globally and we send our newsletters on a Friday at 6am as that's when our systems show we get most engagement. But that necessarily means that some people won't see it
  • Should our seconds be more expensive/off putting so that fewer people clamour for them? What does that mean for our aim to try to make them available at a price that's more affordable for people who are perhaps unemployed etc? Especially given that we want that to happen BUT we don't (and couldn't) means test at point of purchase so perhaps we're not achieving that anyway?
  • Should we promote the day and time of special offers beforehand so you dedicated souls can be ready at your computer?
  • Should we limit seconds/very limited edition to one purchase per person? ( I think this has to be a yes to be honest - and we can do this)
  • Should we run a draw for the very limited edition ones - perhaps RT/share a FB post/ to enter a draw and then the first (say) 30 people picked get to buy? Does that exclude people who don't use social media? Is that ok/not ok?
  • Should we offer something like a golden ticket where, if we have a very limited run, we pick five of our Year of Pants members at random, as well as running the RT to be in a draw?
  • What other ideas do you have?

Do please tell us what you think - we want to do this in a way that is as fair as we can make it, fun for you and that supports our work by helping us earn that wages money! We exist to make jobs and we want to make more so we need to find ways of working that make YOU happy and get LOTS of your friends interested too!

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Comment on this post (4 comments)

  • Caroline says...

    “

    Morning, I follow closely what you do and read newsletters via my e mail or sometimes in Twitter via a link, like this one today. Ref your special offers….I would most likely respond to point 3…promote a day and time beforehand a bit better and combine with oprtion 4….limit to one each person on those special offers
    It’s not unheard of to limit special buys . Increasing prices of specials takes it away from being a bargain, a deal. First come first serve seems a bit flippant…like “You don’t care as long as they sell”. I feel the draw might be exclusive in its nature…I don’t necessarily re tweet or post photos and I don’t use Facebook at all. Last idea golden ticket……I already feel I’d never get the chance of one of those, so you’d loose my interest in the very promotion.
    I hope this helps….sorry if answers are brief but I’m sure you’ll get what I mean.
    Regards
    Caroline

    August 06, 2015

  • Sara says...

    “

    … this is such a hard one to call as it is virtually impossible to be ‘fair’ to everyone as each of us will have our own idea of what fair is …

    … my thoughts as a (I think) committed WMYP person since discovering you … I have pretty much every pair that I have been able to get since then … I didn’t opt for just a couple when you did a big launch of multiple new ones a few months back but only because the I really wasn’t keen on the fabric and I had got to the point I was spending way too much money and my knicker drawer was overflowing …. I also missed out on one limited edition and didn’t do the seconds sale this time (as I thought I probably had most of the ones that would be included) …

    …. the e-mail/launch time thing is pot luck as it also depends on where in the world you are ….
    …. yes I agree - limited edition should be limited to one pair per person - I have seen WMYP on e-bay where I think someone has got in early and bought multiple pairs …
    …. perhaps you should restrict the seconds sale in the same way i.e. each person can only have one pack ….
    …. it does seem fairer that the very limited edition should be offered to the committed and regular WMYP customers first ….
    … if doing the draw I’d say it made more sense to only include people who opted in e.g. there are some pants I wouldn’t want even in limited edition (I can’t get on with Hannahs or Henrietta and much as I love them I have decided not to get any more) and if you randomly drew YOP people then there is a possibility that I might not want them … would they then go back into the draw? … seems a bit messy and long winded …
    … perhaps you could do something around a ‘private collection’ area of website only available to signed in/regular customers …
    … extending the restricting list for sale/draw (and this probably fits in a too hard category) … perhaps you could target the list e.g. if you have customers who always buy Aimees they get included for an Aimee limited edition … or even by colour - customers who always buy blues ..
    … whatever you do you need to make sure that it works and that it isn’t too hard and doesn’t make too much hassle for you guys - missing out on a limited edition or sale because you’re too late/unlucky is one thing - everything going horribly wrong and thinking you have been lucky then finding out you’ve not been is (for me) much worse …

    … it’s going to be really hard for you to come up with something that does seem fair to everyone - I wish you luck - and if anyone can do it you guys will

    August 05, 2015

  • Liz says...

    “

    I like the idea off a draw, but the way you suggested it would, I think, still limit it to those who see the post first. Perhaps have a 24/48-hour period where people can enter, then close and pick however many per size at random. Drawback (no pun intended) might be that entrants would need to provide size, which some people might not want to do on social media. Perhaps by email would work, especially if you could use something like pantsdraw12@ pantsdraw14@ etc. as email addresses, so entries are automatically sorted by size instead of someone having to sort through them.

    I think the seconds price is good, but of course that is a factor in them going quickly. I don’t know if people bulk purchase at that price, but if they do, would it be worth imiting to one set per customer, so more people have the opportunity to buy some? If it’s practical, the same could go for sales of limited editions.

    August 05, 2015

  • sharon says...

    “

    yes, it’s a conundrum indeed. I quite like the idea of limiting to one purchase per person. would it also be possible to change the timing of the emails so that people in other parts of the world might get a chance to see the emails first? I often find that sales or promotions outside of Australia will often start in the middle of the night our time. I think it’s great that you involve your customers in the decision making process. another great reason to belong to the WMYP family :)

    August 05, 2015

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