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| [crystal vase*] |
When I visited my family in Paris at the age of 16 in the mid-1970s, I
was amazed when I discovered Rue de Paradis (10th arrondissement, near Rue du Faubourg
Saint-Denis). In a small geographical area of a few streets were a hundred crystal and porcelain
stores, if not more, as well as workshops producing these goods. I enjoyed my
purchase of a crystal vase for my grandmother (see picture) but found it
amazing that the stores had chosen to locate themselves in such extreme proximity
and create such intense price competition. Many years later, as a freelancer, I
now view the choice as far more sensible and maybe even a model for entrepreneurs
in the future.
Despite or possiblly due to its concentration of one trade, the European
urban tradition of concentrating similar businesses in one area provides
economic efficiency, increases sales, and creates solidarity. Since customers
can quickly and easily identify and price competing products, the producers,
wholesalers and retailers must hone their target market and create a competitive
advantage. As conditions change, they can easily identify the trends and adjust
their approach. It is easy to track both the price and product preferences of
buyers. As purchasers know that they can find the best choice and prices in
this one location, they are sure that they can maximize their budget and time. Thus, it takes relatively little effort to decide where to go. That means the vast
majority of customers of these luxury goods in Paris choose to visit that location,
increasing the potential market. Therefore, while the supply, the competition,
is much higher, the number of customers, the demand, is also significantly
greater, ensuring a livelihood for most businesses. On a human level, I saw how
the craftspeople, salespeople and managers from all the establishments had
their coffee or lunches at the various cafes and created a community
that kept them up to date and provided them a with a feeling of belonging. They
may have been competitive over buyers but also were all part of the same
industry. Overall, this concentration benefited the businesses, customers and
the workers.
Much has changed since then, notably due to the Internet, the pace of
life and connectivity of the market. The new model for selling goods and
services is freelancing from one’s home. The entrepreneur sits at the computer
and, with a click of several buttons, sends goods from one location to another
or produces and delivers a service such as translation or accounting documents.
Providers do not even have to get dressed, let alone talk to their colleagues.
They are free to work any hours and are not obligated to answer to any boss
except the customer, of course. Even more importantly, they set the rate for
their work without having to look over their shoulder to see what others are
doing. The new model, whether in wholesale, retail or the service industry, is
essentially an island.
While clearly fitting the personality of many people, this solo business
structure creates serious challenges in terms of marketing, pricing and social
connections. For most freelancers, reaching customers and getting them to
finalize the purchase are the most difficult tasks. Even the largest
corporations struggle with those goals. As for pricing, it is shockingly
difficult to actually know how much a specific item or good will cost. It is
true that the nominal price is posted front and center but often the potential
purchaser only discovers the shipping costs and taxes when it comes time to
pay. That means customers only have the patience to visit two or three sites,
often the most well-known, leaving the less obvious sites in the cold. Even
worse, customers find shopping for services, which tend not to be of
standardized quality, to be extremely confusing. As usual, the conglomerated
international agencies, including in translation, tend to dominate the first
page of the search results. Yet, in the long term, the most difficult aspect of
going solo is being solo. Without a communal coffee machine or café, there is
no natural way to meet colleagues and talk. Freelancers feel little sense of comradery
with their colleagues because they rarely, if ever, see them. They are on an
island and usually unaware of vital information, including competitor prices and
market changes. In many countries, the law does even allow them to state their
rates to a colleague. Ignorance is not bliss over the long term. Going solo means
going alone and is not always a successful strategy or a sustainable approach.
The vacillating physcial concentration levels in business models are not a
modern phenomenon. In medieval European markets, the farmers selling their
foodstuff would push their carts throughout the city in search of customers
while the sellers of writing tools, stationery, which was a luxury at the time,
would remain in one location, stationary, knowing that the customers knew where
they plied their trade and would come to them. The Internet has, to a certain
extent, brought us back to those olden days as customers surf the Web in search
of the best deal often based on how active and optimized a site is. With the number of consumers that order everything online, including food and even
cars, as well as the volume of sales increasing especially since the
start of the Corona period, merchants of all types cannot afford to sit still.
As I try to look into my crystal ball, not one purchased on Rue de
Paradis, I would hope that it would be possible to create some Internet market
for both goods and non-standard services that would combine the advantages of
both extremes. On the one hand, it is nice to wear or not wear any clothes when
working and avoid commuting as well as suffer no boss. On the other hand, it
would create great satisfaction to experience the sense of belonging to a
community on a daily basis and gain access to updated information on the
current market. Both the purchaser and provider would undoubtedly profit in the
long term. For freelancers, paradise would be a compromise somewhere in the middle of the street.
* Picture captions help the blind fully access the Internet.
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