"Curated" Goods

How many e-commerce sites "curating" the same American made goods can run alongside each other on the web? The number of online stores selling the same beard oils, candles, waxed canvas tool rolls, jewelry, athleisure clothing, etc. that all look the same is quickly growing out of control. The branding of the sites are the same, typically geometric and/or minimalist logos with simple black and white layout. What's more is the goods (and the branding of the goods) from site-to-site are all the same. These are the new wave of the current boutique e-commerce and maker movements.

What's interesting is that the sole value proposition of these sites is "curating" the goods for consumers. That's right, they've done you the "favor" by meticulously searching and compiling the very best brands in American made or handicraft and put them in one place for shoppers to peruse. 

The unfortunate reality is that most, if not all the shops, are almost completely the same, and they lent much to the initial frustration that conceived the founding of Overboeck. Though few of these sites have histories or reasons for their beginnings, what's worse is the unashamed false "service" provided of "curation". 

Historically, merchants would travel around geographic regions finding goods to bring back to another region to sell and trade. There was scarcity associated with the goods; spices or rugs or furs of another place where buyers would likely never venture. Today's merchants do not have the same burden, and pretending that "curating" is a viable service is a lie in the case of the majority of these online merchants.

If you can swap entire inventories and catalogs with other online stores, chances are you aren't actually curating anything, you're just a copy. It's time for e-commerce stores to live up to their claims and actually go out and find brands that don't have web presences and tell their stories, bring them to new audiences, and actually showcase their value, instead of just capitalizing on the tastes and laziness of lumbersexual millenial online shoppers.