Meylah Releases Findings on Why Artisans Have Difficulty Selling Online

Study finds artisans want to sell online but time, tools, and expertise are still big hurdles. End Quote

To give artisans the tools they need to sell their products anytime, anyplace...easily!

Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA (1888PressRelease) April 13, 2011 - Meylah, a leading provider of ecommerce solutions for artisans, today announced the results of a recent study conducted to understand attitudes and behaviors of individuals working within the creative arts. The study polled artisans from a wide variety of disciplines, including: fine artists, photographers, jewelers, clothing designers, and glass, metal, and woodworking artists.

Key findings indicate that over 75% of the artisans surveyed are serious about their business and are involved either on a full-time or part-time basis, but less than half are currently selling their creative goods online. Of those who are not currently selling online, over 90% indicated they would like to bring their business online. When asked why they are not selling online, artisans pointed to three major hurdles:

• Online Business Takes Too Much Time - The time it takes for an artisan to manage a blog, list their products in a marketplace and promote their business through social media in order to make sales takes significant time away from creating their work. One respondent mentioned, "By the time I finish promoting my business online, I feel like I have no time left to devote to actually creating my jewelry."
• Online Solutions Are Not Easy To Use -The overwhelming majority said the challenges of selling online include finding the right tools, marketing their business, converting website and booth visitors to customers, and the amount of time required to actually make an impact. Another respondent said, "Taking my business online is confusing and I just don't know where to start."
• Websites Are Too Expensive - 50% of artisans surveyed spend less than $250 per year in marketing their business. One artisan stated, "I spend over $200 each year on my website and it doesn't even allow me to sell through it, I know I'm losing sales because of this…it's so frustrating."

Meylah has a community of artisans who have successfully launched their own ecommerce websites and have grown their businesses substantially. With a Meylah website, artisans can sell their products (even digital products), blog about their work, engage with their customers and manage their business all in one place. "All artisans need the right tools to create: painters need brushes, musicians need instruments, and photographers need their cameras." says Ram Dutt, CEO and Co-Founder of Meylah. "That's why we built Meylah's ecommerce websites and marketplace, to give artisans the tools they need to sell their products anytime, anyplace...easily!"

About Meylah
Based in Seattle, WA, Meylah provides artisans with their own ecommerce website and powerful tools so they can sell their products anytime, anyplace…easily. Meylah's platform delivers marketing, sales, integrated business efficiency solutions and new revenue opportunities for artisans all in one place. The Meylah team has published three free eBooks and over 500 blog posts sharing information on blogging, brand building, sales, and marketing for the online creative community.

Visit us at http://www.Meylah.com and follow us on http://twitter.com/Meylah or http://facebook.com/MeylahFan to learn more about how we can help you manage your business.

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