When is a middleman not a middleman?
After paying a small fortune for a designer sofa from a ‘chic European middleman brand’, the founder of Made.com set out to connect buyers with designers – and take a hatchet to existing pricing models.
Customers start by voting on the furniture designs that they’d like to see made. The most popular designs become part of the Made collection and are then sold via the site for a limited period.
Every piece for sale features a countdown clock showing when the item will go into production – increasing the ‘limited edition’ appeal and, more practically, ensuring Made only produce pieces that have already been pre-sold and paid for.
Making each piece to order takes about 4 weeks with shipping adding another 4 weeks or more. Real time tracking lets buyers know exactly what’s happening at every stage of the process. And it’s certainly a longer process than nipping down to your local IKEA – but this undoubtedly adds to the authenticity and designer appeal of Made.
Of course, Made are still middlemen in the process.
What’s different is that by opening up everything – from deciding what gets made, to promoting the designers, to detailing where pieces are manufactured – the site offers a level of transparency that makes them almost invisible in the process.
So when is a middleman not a middleman?
When they shift the focus to the products and originators – not their own brand. Which, oddly, might just be the best way to build a brand in the process.
Site: www.made.com
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