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I’m listening to William Gibson talking to Cory Doctorow about innovation, the cost of retail space, and the limiting opportunities that exist for micro-brands to reach street-level audiences in our ever more expensive cities.

Their point is of course valid. I know only too well how the cost of retail space can force bankruptcy on an otherwise healthy business. But I’m surprised that neither Gibson or Doctorow brought up the nearly zero cost involved with setting up a storefront online.

Yes, I can already hear you saying “but online is no match for street level retail when it comes to selling local micro-brands”. But frankly, that’s outdated thinking. Instead, I’d ask “why are you still thinking of geographic markets when you could be thinking of social markets?”

I’m working on a couple of fashion related projects at the moment (three of them actually), and as such have been immersed in the world of online style for a couple of months. During this period, my mind has been blown time and again by sites like stylehive.com, notcot.org, etsy.com and others. These sites allow the tiniest of micro-brands to flourish. The pyramidical model of social networks allows these micro-brands to reach markets far faster and for far lest cost than by setting up a retail storefront. If, as a micro-brand owner, you can get a social influencer to buy and recommend your product, you have instant legitimacy within a wider market.

So it isn’t true that skyrocketing retail costs are killing the micro-brand. It is true that the skill set needed to succeed at small level retail has changed dramatically. But that’s a story for another post.

Posted by Peter F on August 23 2007.
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