kristijoy

I think also that 'styles' are changing. The younger set of quilters is buying 'modern' fabrics from trendy designers. I would be curious to see stats on where the quilting fabric dollars are style wise. Is it modern? Have reproductions dropped off? Batiks? If more dollars are going a certain way and the people with those dollars expect their advertising to happen in a certain way that is 'new' (like Facebook, Instagram) then as a business you really have to continue to re-invent yourself.

klswift

I buy fabric online if I can find a huge sale or I need a very unique fabric. But, usually the online sites can not offer the best pricing and you have to include shipping charges. When you make items for sale, you need to be very careful with the cost or you will not make a profit. When I need a specialty fabric, I will pair it with very basic fabric (solids or calico prints) that I have found at huge savings to balance the cost.

Pagzz

I think there is lots of good advice here. I want to add one thing that may not apply to your friend. I recently went on a shop hop where I actually visited all 11 stores. One shop that I hadn't been to in years had really deteriorated. Only one room had fabric and it was limited rather than full. Literally two bolts per shelf on shelves that would hold 10 - 15 (like they used to hold). The second large room was garage sale style stuff for sewing - machines and fabric bundles. I was buying a fat quarter from each shop and checking them out. It was a very limited amount of fat quarters also. I asked the lady if they were going out of business and she said, "no, we just can't compete with online".

That shop was depressing and I think their attitude was self-fulfilling. I went to 10 other shops that seemed to be doing well with plenty of fabrics and new ideas. One of the incentives for completing the shop hop was getting a coupon for 25 % off a fabric cut at each store on another visit. I am not going back to the depressing shop even with a coupon.

Sewnoma

I'm buying a lot less fabric lately too. Nothing to do with the economy or any other outside force, it's just that my stash is pretty well fleshed out at this point, and I'm also planning to move sometime next year so I'm trying to de-clutter and "de-stuff" my house as much as possible.

Now most of my fabric purchases happen in physical stores when I'm on vacation, as we like to do roadtrips and I plan it so we stop at as many quilt shops along the way as possible! But even so, I often buy very little in the shops, sometimes just one of the RXR license plates, if they have them.

For the friend in question - I second the suggestion of getting some search optimization work done and some analytics added to the store website. Exposure is critical for online shops! And if she doesn't already do a regular monthly newsletter she should consider starting that up. A few shops I buy from, I tend to forget about them until I see the newsletter pop up in my inbox. Coupons are great, but even just information about new lines of fabric coming into the store with some colorful photos can motivate me to go look at the site. Especially if the writing is funny and/or personable in the body of the email. A local sewing shop sends emails that are a little like blog posts and I really enjoy reading them. You can really feel the enthusiasm of the writer as she's talking about the newest fabrics or gadgets the store has stocked, and that makes me want to go over there and share in the fun.

Macybaby, it's interesting to me that for you, PayPal is nearly a necessity. I'm the opposite - I've had a bad experience with PayPal, so if I'm buying online and the only option is PayPal, I will ditch the purchase. That happens on Etsy a lot and it's too bad...several times I have ditched purchases there. I want to buy the things, but I want to have nothing to do with PayPal even more!

So I guess the lesson there is, have as many payment options for your customers as you can reasonably sustain, because everybody is different! (And some of us hold grudges for a very long time! )

cathyvv

True, if your savings are in bonds or CDs. But money well invested in the stock market tells a different story. Of course, the stock market is more volatile, which means more risk.

My DH and I were born with dominant "thrifty" genes, so we lived on one income and saved 80+ % of the other. That helped immensely.

Buying fabric - I am sincerely trying to cut back on purchases online and in stores, and have started donating to my quilt guilds for charity quilts. Even so, I do buy fabric.

petthefabric

There are stages in life. 20's getting established and starting a family; very little disposable income. At what age did you spend the most on fabric? For me it was 50's. What was important in that decade? Also teen's is a fast paced buy stage but probably not on fabric. Now that BB's are in the "spend less" time of life, it's natural their fabric purchases are down. What can be done to market to the 50's crowd, and get them involved in quilting?

mojo11

I rarely shop on line. So much of the fabric is boring or just plain ugly to me. I would rather shop in a local quilt shop where I can touch and feel the fabric and see the true colors. I can also take a bolt around the store to see what goes with it. I hate paying shipping as fabric is heavy. I don't really like using my cc on line either. My opinion.

maminstl

When I shop, it is usually on line - I'm always on the lookout for good fabric resources. I don't mind paying shipping - especially when it's a flat rate. I figure that into the cost of the fabric and determine then if it is still a good deal. I rarely go to the brick and mortar stores - prices are just too high for me, sales are minimal. I don't need to feel the fabric - I know the manufacturers well enough to make assumptions. Can you share the website? I would definitely go take a look.

SusieQOH

The most I ever pay for shipping online is 5.00- that's a bargain to me. And lots of times the shipping is free. I won't pay a lot for it but 5.00 for me is totally worth it.
I've never been hacked either by CC or Paypal. (knock on wood!) I know it does happen.

joe'smom

Same here, seeing that PayPal logo is a big plus.

I also like sites that are easy and quick to use, where it doesn't take forever waiting for the page to come up, and where you can search by color (ex., if you put 'purple' in the search box, everything in the purple family comes up, not just the fabrics with 'purple' in the name).