Being Digital without Tech Savvy

Are you on TikTok?  

The demographics are against you answering "yes".  

 - If so, you are likely aware of the persistent trend of "story time".  Enough said.

 - If not, then what follows is relatively brief personal narrative that is a somewhere between a fable and a war story, with a lesson learned or outcome demonstrated...

Story Time

A scrub tech in Columbus Ohio is frequently called the "Vera Bradley" of surgical and chemo caps around the world. What started as a request from a co-worker to make her a cap to replicate one she'd gotten elsewhere, has resulted in the sale of almost 11,000 *orders* in less than 5 years.  

She is the epitome of the digital age, and is anything but tech savvy. What she is, however, is relentlessly focused on the experience of every single one of her customers. Every. Single. One.  AND she also makes every cut, iron, and stitch of every piece of every hat.  

• VIDEO - here is a 2 minute video that introduces Oksana Sewing Design and her digital approach. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iTrJy91ZFiM

Oksana is very aware of her competitors, many are very large and long established in the marketplace. Her hats are competitively priced, slightly above market median.  All of her known competitors are also active on Etsy. She's going toe-to-toe with everyone in the world. She's also selling to everyone in the world, with international shipments nearly daily, including delivery via diplomatic pouches a few times.

So, how did she get here? After making the first hat she realized she could do better.  

She created multiple designs that account for different needs and preferences, based on more than 20 years of daily life in the OR (operating room).

She uses her creativity and love of colors & textures combined in interesting ways (hence the common comparison with Vera Bradley, look for yourself). And as anyone who knows someone who sews knows, whether quilts or clothes, there many fabrics she can use from around the world. This was the artistic outlet that she needed. It enabled her to express herself, and the discovery resulted in a prolific abundance of styles, colors, and themes.

She brings beauty, color, and life into an otherwise drab and sterile environment for those who spend most of their time in scrubs. Every hat enables a person to express themselves and bring their own style into an otherwise very drab and alternatingly deeply personal and impersonal surgical environment.

Her practical nature recognized an opportunity to fulfill an existing need expressed locally, but realized globally.  

But that doesn't SOUND very digital, does it?  In fact, it is.  

Until the dawn of the digital commerce age, led by Amazon, this is how businesses operated:

1) We used to manufacture a limited offering, with the expectation of selling large volumes of those items.

e.g. Henry Ford - "Any color you want, so long as it's black."

2) We made what we thought they wanted (sometimes) and they got what we made (all the time)

e.g. Henry Ford - "If I asked them what they wanted, they would have said 'faster horses'."

3) There was no transparency into the availability, order acceptance/fulfillment, or interaction.

e.g. The Sears Car was ordered by mail, and delivered unassembled in a crate by train.  The recipient had to build the car upon receipt to drive it home from the train station.

For most of us, Amazon forever changed our expectations for getting what we want. Order from a catalog via the mail? We whip out our phones faster than The Waco Kid, and have every available option with full visibility into the fulfillment process. Right? I want pages of options with reviews, and to know when I will have it.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

She realized that her core values were her artistic expression and dedication to customer experience. 

She evaluated and experimented with different ways of reaching out to the surgical community around the world. Pinterest showed promise, but was soon outpaced with Instagram. She showed the world, and they responded. Feedback, requests, and orders soon started to come in from everywhere.

She uses Facebook, to communicate directly with her customers. People ask about different colors, styles, fabrics, etc. - customizing their cap to their own tastes and interests. She routinely posts newly arrived fabrics, specials and new designs.

And of course, Etsy is her platform for revenue collection, logistics, fulfillment, and customer feedback. Her average feedback of 5 (of 5 stars) is no accident. She has gotten only a few reviews (out of thousands) that weren't 5 stars. (Obviously,for those that are better at math than me or it wouldn't be an average of 5). 

Those few times, she cried. every. single. time.

The moral of the story is that she figured out how to engage each and every individual in a personal way at scale.

She reduced the friction by using technology to create and deliver value in every single customer interface. She brought her own unique style and craftsmanship into the hands of anyone who's interested in a way that is nearly effortless for them.

She could not have done it without the technology.  

She didn't have to buy any of the technology.

As the technology evolves, she evolves right along with it.

No, she's not on TikTok. Yet.