Business
‘Time Is of the Essence’: Severed Ties on Cherry Street Launches E-Commerce Channel
|
A New Canaan business for 40 years, Severed Ties Antiques & Quality Consignments on Cherry Street carries some 10,000 individual items at any given time—many of those on-site, and otherwise fetch-able by truck for customers who want to “touch, see and feel” what they’re buying, according to owner Ginger Craft. Yet for Craft, that once essential shopping experience—touching, seeing and feeling a purchase—has taken a backseat for a new generation of consumers, for whom convenience and speed are higher priorities. Weeks ago, just three years after launching a website of any kind, Craft opened up an ecommerce channel on Severed Ties—which now sells its high-end products directly through the website (packaging included). “The young kids’ time is of the essence, so you don’t see as much walk-through traffic,” Craft said on a recent afternoon as a pair of first-time customers entered her brightly lit shop, a colorful and busy collection of furniture, jewelry, antiques, rugs, china, crystal, art, silver and accessories. “So we are trying to make it as convenient as possible.”
Opening up an online portion to her store also has allowed Craft to boost the reach of her inventory (“We’re trying to increase the volume by going online”), appealing to a wider range of buyer and by creating an Internet channel, meeting prospective customers where they are.