Doll Thoughts

This year's salesroom was very different from last year's. No Junky Spot, no Denver Doll, no JPOP Wigs, and of course no Dolls and Friends. There were 25 vendors of various items. PamSD  (Dollovely) was there with quite a few of her BJD fashions. I brought a couple home with me, but otherwise didn't buy much.

The entries for the costume contests were quite impressive. Leo will has put up photos as he has time. (The GoGaDoll Photoset has been updated.)

I find myself wondering about the future of BJD conventions. With the economy being bad, they've got to be a risky proposition. Innocente Seraphim (www.innocenteseraphim.com) is coming up in August in Bellevue, WA. Last I heard, they were lacking  exhibitors. That is not a good sign.

The opening ceremony was tonight. The crowd was definitely more sparse than last year's. I'm sure the economic downturn is to blame. When the going gets tough, there are fewer discretionary dollars to be spent on "luxuries" such as dolls and their accessories.  Sadly, there are also fewer major retailers here. Going to a convention as a retailer is an expensive proposition even in good times.

Those in attendance were an enthusiastic group. I saw many wonderful BJDs. The creativity and talent of BJD collectors always amazes me, even after all these years.

Many dolls were worthy of being called out here specifically, but because I am basically lazy I'm only going to mention a few.

There was a green-skinned alien doll. He's much better in person than in the photograph and reminded me of the old TV show "V".

Robin Foley had two dolls costumed as Marie Antoinette and  King Louis XV1. As with everything Robin creates, the costumes were beautifully made and intricately detailed. I'm looking forward to seeing what goodies she has for sale tomorrow.

One of the best male African-American dolls I've ever seen  was there. I'm not sure which sculpt was used, but his face was really, really well done.

If you would like to see more photos from tonight, look here.

Being around all the people and BJDs tonight made me sad to be out of the business. I truly miss the camaraderie, enthusiasm and energy found in the BJD world.

How do you know what the right stuff is? That is often a challenge and can be similar to throwing darts at a target while blindfolded. It's something I never became completely proficient with. That's ok, neither has anybody else in the doll business, as far as I can tell.

However, if you only get in stuff that you personally like, as a store owner that is a big mistake. You're assuming that everyone else likes what you like, and that's just not true. I did stock stuff I didn't personally like. I just had to respect that my customers had different taste than I, and found something positive to say about those things anyway.

 Another mistake: not paying attention to what sells out regularly, and what doesn't. Eventually you end up with a lot of stuff sitting around that nobody wants, including you. A local doll store now out of business really excelled at this. Instead of getting one or two of something, the owner would get multiples, then have the leftovers sitting around for years, literally. Even though we tried to be careful, we even had stuff sitting around at the end that nobody wanted.

And another mistake we made: not getting in the stuff that (seemingly) everybody wants. When Beanie Babies first became big hits, we didn't immediately jump on the bandwagon and stock them. In some ways, I wish we had. While they were a gigantic pain in the rear to deal with for a couple different reasons, they also brought in a fair amount of money when we did get around to selling them. We lost business because we didn't carry them from day one or even day two. Still, better late than never, in this case. Fortunately we saw the writing on the wall when their popularity decreased and didn't continue to order massive quantities of them after their heyday had passed.

A mistake I see a lot of retailers making: either carrying merchandise that is far from their stated purpose/target market or carrying so much different merchandise that the customer gets overwhelmed. Remember the Cherished Teddies and Mary's Moo-Moos figurines? When we tried carrying them, they didn't sell well. Nobody came into our store expecting to find them. The more we tried to sell merchandise not related to dolls or plush animals, the worse it sold. There's a local store that is absolutely beautiful visually. I meander through it a couple times a year just to see all the pretty displays. But I never buy anything there because I can't figure out what it is the owner is trying to sell. It's like the owner couldn't decide what to sell, so he or she threw in some of just about everything. There's home decor to expensive dolls to greeting cards to edible treats to pretty lingerie and other fashions for women...the list goes on and on, including stuff for men.  I never know what they will have in stock, so I don't go there looking for anything I actually need to buy. I honestly do not know how they stay in business. I'm only glad I'm not the one worrying about it.

When sales of all the stuff that had sold so well (for example, the Alexander Dolls, the Corolles, the plush animals, Gene, Tyler) kept going down in the early 2000s, I mistakenly thought it was just a phase. Surely things would pick up again and sales of all the usual stuff would improve. My store manager, who had been in retail for many more years than I, advised just waiting it out.

But as time went by and things didn't improve despite our efforts, I grew more and more anxious, wondering how the shop would survive.

By late 2004 or so several other doll stores located in Washington had gone out of business. I began research online, looking at websites of other doll stores. Many had all the same stuff marked down that we did, and it didn't look like sales were great for them either. Like us, many had lots of old inventory still available. This is not a great way to stay in business.

Obviously , all the usual stuff was never going to sell as it once had. The next question was, what was going to be the next big thing that would sell?

Back to the internet I went. After many hours of surfing and reading, I realized BJDs and everything that went with them were going to be the next big thing. I began educating myself about them and contacting Korean BJD companies. By late spring of 2005 we'd gotten the first BJDs in stock, along with wigs and other accessories from Grace of JPOP. I have to thank Grace for helping educate my staff and I about the whole BJD phenomenon.

I'd almost waited too long. My complacency almost cost me the shop. Since then I've realized that the doll market is ever changing, that what sold today may not sell next week, next month or next year. The internet has changed everything. Ebay, online forums, and many websites selling dolls and accessories have caused trends to come and go faster than ever before. The business owners who don't keep up with the changes are doomed to fail. I've seen this happen many times now, both locally and nationally.

Keeping up isn't easy. It takes time and effort, but is absolutely necessary. Trying to predict what will successfully sell is like throwing tiny darts at an even tinier, moving target; it's very easy to miss. But you have to keep trying.

Let's face it, starting up a doll or other business can be horrifically and prohibitively expensive.

Costs add up quickly. The business license and other legalities (including, for example, setting up a corporation) are just the beginning. For  a brick and mortar store, you've got rent to consider, and also fixtures like display cases, counters and props, and little details like carpeting and inventory.. Then there are promotional costs like business cards and other advertising.

Even with just a web business, you've still got ISP costs, advertising costs and also of course the inventory costs. If you can't be your own webmaster, you've got those costs too.

Inventory costs can be huge. You've got to have enough selection to attract business and keep people interested, which means getting in new inventory on a regular basis.

If you don't have enough startup money to stay in business for a few months until you can grow a customer base, you've got trouble.

We were incredibly fortunate when we started up Dolls and Friends. Leo had worked at Microsoft for enough years, and we had enough stock options, to make opening the store possible.  Of course the joke was that "Uncle Bill" had given us the money. We probably opened the store with $50,000 sunk into inventory alone, and that was in 1994. Now, I think it would be even more expensive. Our other big advantage is that Leo could do all the accounting/inventory software and was also the webmaster. Like me, he wore a lot of hats for Dolls and Friends over the years and worked cheap too.

Most people aren't lucky enough to have an "Uncle Bill" or a Leo. I consider myself blessed to have had both, and honestly sympathize with everyone who would like to have their own retail business but just can't figure out a way to make it happen.

Part One: The Business Plan

Over the years I had Dolls and Friends, I saw a lot of other doll stores come and go. I can think of at least 6 other doll businesses that failed locally. By locally, I mean just in western Washington. Nationwide there are far more.

There are many, many reasons why businesses may fail or never get off the ground.

I think one of the major reasons some businesses fail is because the owners do not create a business plan. Granted, business plans are a pain in the butt to create. They take a fair amount of work and time, and more than a little brainpower. They force you to think about what you are trying to accomplish in a logical, rational way. At least, the good ones do. 

For those of you unfamiliar with business plans, they generally required you to identify and analyze your competition, your market, your finances, promotional strategies, best physical locations, and inventory costs, among other things.

Our first landlord required us to do a business plan before we could sign a lease. We grudgingly did it, then put it in a drawer never to be looked at again.   But looking back, I wish we had reviewed that business plan at least yearly and updated it. I think it would have helped us identify new trends and changes we should have made sooner than we usually did. In the long run, it could have helped us see our weaknesses and strengths, and market directions sooner. The doll market changed hugely over our 14 years in business and updating our business plan regularly could have helped us deal with those changes and spend our money more wisely. We would have been forced to deal with Dolls and Friends more seriously as a business and less as a hobby. In the long run, that could have led to an even better reputation and more success.

Ah, well. That is all water under the bridge now. If I ever began another business (highly unlikely at this point!), I would do things differently. It's not too late for those of you who are thinking about starting a business to learn from my mistakes.  If your potential landlord-or financing source-requires a business plan, thank him or her and get it done. Even if it's not required, do one anyway. You and your business will benefit from it. If you're already in business, it might be worth doing or updating your business plan. The only cost is time, and there is much potential worth to be had.

It seems like there are more new BJD companies all the time. Pluto Doll and Dragon Doll are just two of the newest mentioned on Den of Angels; surely there are even more being formed even now.

With the economic downturn spreading far beyond the U.S., there are fewer dollars being spent on non-essentials such as dolls. How will the new companies-or even older more established companies-survive?

The answer to that is, not all will. Sad as that may be, I think it's actually a good thing for the BJD buyer. Why? Because it will serve to weed out the companies that are only marginal as far as quality, customer service, design, and price. If you have only a certain dollar amount to spend on a doll, are you going to spend it at a company with a reputation for being slow, having poor communication, or even too new to have any reputation at all? I think most folks right now are too leery to risk potentially losing their money buying from such companies.

My advice to new (and established) BJD companies: use this time as the opportunity it is to outshine your competition and possibly speed their demise. Offer stellar customer service by rapidly responding to questions and concerns. Ship only good quality product, and do that as soon as possible after purchase. Make production as rapid, effecient and cost-effective as possible. Replace defective parts as soon as requested by the buyer.  Be competitive in pricing. (Right now there's a fair amount of difference in the value of the dollar vs. the Korean won, but many companies are loathe to lower their prices to more accurately reflect that.) Approach American and other retailers about carrying your products-the more people actually see the dolls for themselves, the better off you'll be. Be friendly in tone with your customers and retailers and lose the arrogant attitude so many companies seem to have. Consider participating in BJD conventions in the US and elsewhere. Think "outside the box" in promoting your business and in your doll sculpts.

Do these things, and you stand a chance of weathering the current economic storm and even coming out ahead of your competition and in your customers' hearts.

It's always fun to see new dolls when they are introduced. Certainly as a doll store owner, seeing the new dolls in person for the first time was always a thrill. That was part of what made owning a doll store fun.

The not fun part was having to deal with the cancelled pre-orders or layaways that inevitably occurred when new dolls were introduced.

We all change our minds sometimes. Being a collector myself, I tried to be sensitive to that when folks wanted to cancel their pre-orders for the new Elfdoll, for example, to pre-order the newest Elfdoll. Some folks would change their minds more than once if something newer still showed up. Eventually we had to put a stop to those "repeat offenders" by limiting the number of times their orders could be changed without a restocking fee. Each time an order was cancelled or changed, time had to be spent undoing the transaction and doing a new one, and of course it made keeping inventory straight and knowing order quantities difficult, to say the least.

The other part of the "dolly bandwagon" is perhaps more familiar to you. There are folks who jump on the latest doll trend repeatedly, no matter what the new doll is or if they even like it. If everybody else is getting a Mini-Fee, for example, then they are also determined to do so. Call it a dolly version of keeping up with the neighbors. It's a way of attaining or maintaining status, or fitting in with the rest of the crowd. We saw this with the Unoas, then the Narae, then the Pukis, and now the Mini-Fees.

Feel free to break away from the crowd and get a doll just because you like it. Avoid it if you don't. And please keep the sanity of your favorite doll store owner in mind when pondering which dolls to order, just as a matter of courtesy. I'm sure they'll appreciate it.

More Chinese companies are now making BJDs, and other Asian BJD companies are having some or all of their products made in China. How important is it where a doll is made?

I'm sure that for the purist collectors, only BJDs made in Japan or Korea will do. There's nothing wrong with that. Japan is after all where BJDs began. It could be reasonably argued that dolls made in Japan or Korea are higher in quality than those made in China.

For those collectors driven by necessity, by price, dolls made in China are often more affordable. Certainly the quality of Chinese-produced dolls has improved, at least for some of the companies out there. Of course there has been a learning curve  to be endured by both company and consumer while each company (hopefully) learns from its mistakes. Some companies are better than others at listening to feedback and correcting problems.  

My position is, the Japanese and Korean companies should be upfront about whether they are having dolls or doll parts produced in China. Let the customer decide whether to buy them or not based on having the correct information.

Case in point: CustomHouse. They have admitted to the Bisou line being produced in China. But considering the price of the Ange line specifically, the recent half price sale they had, and the fact that ALL of the resin felt and looked the same, at least while we were selling their BJDs, I have to conclude that all of their dolls are most likely made in China. Why not just come out and admit it publicly? If they have, and I missed it, please let me know.

Another case in point: SoulDoll. As far as I know, they haven't admitted to their dolls being made in China, but a reliable source says they are. You'd think their prices would be lower though.

I think companies won't admit their dolls are being made in China because they're afraid of losing customers and they're afraid customers will think their prices are too high.

But, I could be wrong. In any case, I just wish companies were more open and honest about their dolls.

And speaking of high prices, I freely admit to owning two of the Tonner BJDs. Nobody made me buy them. But why were they so bloody expensive, considering their origins in China?? $550 for a 16" fashion doll is no bargain compared to what Dollmore or Ficon charges. I have to wonder how many people didn't buy them just because of the price.

Leo and I are of the opinion that international companies who seriously want to compete in the American marketplace should have employees who are competent in both writing and speaking English.

Case in point: Asian BJD companies. I can't even begin to tell you how many problems we had over the years with miscommunication. Sometimes I would have to ask the same question several times in several ways before I'd get an answer. Or I would order a doll to be done in a particular way, and it would show up completely opposite. Worse yet, I'd send an email and get no answer at all. Misunderstandings were commonplace. I realize English is not an easy language to learn, but one would think that having employees competent in it would result in more business for these companies overall.  BJD companies are ultimately in business to make money. 

What really cracks me up about poor English use is the names that the companies come up with for some of their dolls. "Ruru", which makes no sense here as a name, was actually meant to be "Lulu". Oops, Elfdoll's bad. Those darn Rs and Ls are just too similar in Korean. We warned Elfdoll that "Special K." would not be a great name for a doll, being both the name of a cereal and street drug. Oh, well. The most recent example of poor name choice is Dollmore's "Cold Heartbroken" Adam and Eve. They started out as "Cold Heartburn" Adam and Eve. I'm not sure the name change was an improvement. Somehow I doubt if either name really conveys what Dollmore meant them to.

The solution would be simply: why not run potential names by a competent English speaker and then actually listen to what they have to say? I'd volunteer for the job. Naming dolls something traditionally Korean is one thing; naming them after a cereal or street drug makes both the company and the doll harder to take seriously.

In our experience, Asian BJD companies are generally very arrogant. Comments we made about doll names, business practices, customer desires or things that might improve business went largely ignored. I'd be really surprised if this changed in the near future, but one can always hope. Seemingly it would be to their advantage, and ultimately ours.