A new year brings some exciting changes to the Cottage!
For the entirety of the 6 years I've been in business, my products have been Made to Order, which means when an order is placed in my shop, I make the product and then ship it out.
This year I will be shifting to a Ready to Ship model, which means every product available on my website will be already made and ready to be shipped.
Reason for the change in a nutshell: relieve the pressure to freely create again.
1. I'm expecting my first child. My husband and I are expecting a baby girl in late May. New babies of course bring changes to your life, and I plan to continue to work from home once the baby comes. This Ready to Ship model will allow me to be more efficient yet flexible with my time, allowing me to work more or less depending on what our home life needs. This business supports, not runs my home life.
2. Support my Type A personality. Every single order still excites me like it was my first. But then my Type A personality kicks in, and I feel tremendous pressure with orders hanging over my head with a shipping deadline. This is obviously exacerbated during busy times like spring and fall launches with many orders at once (thank you!). Now with the Ready to Ship model, I can relax while creating without such a tight deadline and have peace of mind that when the orders come in, the product is ready to go.
3. Highly-designed, small batch products. Keeping products consistently available beyond just one season was always challenge and has been even more of a challenge due to COVID. A particular flower or greenery would no longer be available from my wholesalers and subsequently the product couldn't no longer be available. My problem was in my thinking that I could have collections that could be available for years when that is no where near the case. These designs are truly small batched, designed products, and the new release schedule reflects that. Once they are sold out, they are sold out.
When the business works well for me as the creator, this allows me to bring even more stunning products and excellent service to you.
And for this I am so looking forward to the growth these much needed shifts will bring.
So what does this new Ready to Ship model look like and how will it work?
The image above gives a breakdown of when products will be released this year through the summer and when the shop will be on a break.
Launch = Months that are a Launch will include brand new designs.
Restock = Months that are a Restock will be replenishing designs previously released.
The week of the Launch/Restock, I will have all the products listed on the website as "Coming Soon" for you to browse, so you can be ready when the products are released! Once the products are available for preview, I will email those on my list (you can join here so you don't miss anything).
While I plan on having enough inventory so it's not stressfully competitive to shop, I do expect most items to sell out in a season, so don't delay if you see something you really like!
Thanks so much for being here and for your continued support with these updates to the shop! I hope to continue serving you with the best faux floral design for years to come, and this will help me do just that! If you have any questions about these updates, feel free to send me an email here.
Stephanie