The demise of America’s iconic gayborhoods is big news. As the LA Times recently put it, the LGBT community has either been “priced out” by the rising rents of gentrification or has “evolved out” due to the rising tide of equality.
The less reported collateral damage is the disappearance of gay friendly, small businesses in those very neighborhoods. Much is being made of the endangered gay bar, but it’s not just gay watering holes that are being Dodo-ed out of existence. Gay friendly retailers of all kinds – clothing stores, interiors boutiques, gift shops, eye wear stores, etc. – who had thrived for decades in West Hollywood, the West Village, Chelsea, Boys Town, South Beach, the Castro, etc., are being rent-hiked and gentrified into oblivions as well.
The X factor for gayborhood small businesses, however, is ecommerce. Online shopping has shaken the entire foundation of retail. Even the mighty chain retailers – Macy’s, Kohls, Sears, Kmart, American Apparel, the list goes on and on – are in great danger of being put out to pasture by ecommerce, and the ever present ecommerce elephant in the room, Amazon. Even the country’s mega malls have tumbleweeds moving through them.
So the fact is that even without gentrification gayborhood businesses would be in trouble because iphones and apps have altered the way gays and lesbians live, socialize, and shop just as it has altered the way everybody else does.
But gentrification doesn’t have to spell the end for many of the country’s gayborhood local businesses. The fact is that many long-running gayborhood local businesses who are holding on by a thread can have a second life on line.
Many who have gone under in recent years could have done so as well.
Chelsea’s world renowned men’s boutique Camouflage is a great example. The 38 year old 8th avenue retailer lost its lease due to a dramatic rent increase in 2014. The owner told Vanishing New York that even when Chelsea went the way of Google offices, strollers and tourism and the street traffic into the store all but disappeared Camouflage’s global reputation as a “destination” store kept him in business – sans website, email, advertising, PR or social media.
Chelsea’s world renowned men’s boutique Camouflage – which lost its lease in 2014 due to a dramatic rent increase -- is a prime example of a small, gayborhood business that, if it had had basic ecommerce tools, could have had a second life online.
Totally unprepared with basic ecommerce tools to at least have the option of staying in business online when the rent-hike Grim Reaper came calling, Camouflage disappeared.
Like with the recently closed The Starting Line 2 blocks up and dozens and dozens of similar small businesses in gentrified gayborhoods around the country, Camouflage was a prime candidate for transitioning to ecommerce. Not only did it have a decades-old brand foundation that would have worked online as well, like so many other small, gay friendly businesses it had a global clientele due Chelsea’s place as an international gay destination. In addition, like so many other similar retailers in gayborhoods around the country, Camouflage could have expanded their demographic reach online way beyond their original gayborhood base.
Transitioning successfully to online retail after a successful store front life is daunting. To help simplify it, here are the basics for a gayborhood business to have a successful second life online:
With your Ecommerce site, start small, then scale: Your objective at first with your Ecommerce site is simple: to let people find and buy your products. Thus, your first Ecommerce site should have four basic capabilities: to upload and manage products; take orders and receive payment; manage shipping and inventory; and offer promotions and discounts…especially for holiday shopping. Try Shopify or Magento – both are the most popular ecommerce platforms today for small and mid-sized businesses. Once your online business gains traction and takes off, you can add more advanced features as your customers ask for them.
SEO makes your store known globally, not just in your gayborhood: In most successful online businesses, organic search visitors – ie. search outcomes that were not the result of paid-for placements -- account for at least 30%-50% of total online sales. This is where many gayborhood businesses are at an advantage – gays and lesbians from all over the world who would have traveled to a destination gayborhood like the Castro or South Beach can now find you online. If your brand has been around for a while you can quickly gain top rankings for brand-specific searches. Product information searches done by those who are looking for your type of products will discover you for the first time, which is your opportunity to expand your customer base beyond the LGBT community. Success with both hinges on your site’s content being optimized for those keywords, including both product description and elements such as product ratings, reviews, inventory, number of items and pricing. You may need expert help to implement it right.
Social media is how you can stay in touch with your loyal gayborhood base: Social media – especially Facebook -- gives your long standing customers a way to reach out to you, and new customers a way to introduce themselves. Many customers also will inquire about products first via Facebook so social media helps close sales. Social media also gives customers a chance to share their experiences and help you gain referral business. Chelsea’s Nasty Pig Facebook page – with its 75K following and active customer communication – is a great example of how social media can help keep a gayborhood business in business, and, in Nasty Pig’s case, even hold on to their storefront.
Chelsea’s Nasty Pig Facebook page – with its 75K following and active customer communication – is a great example of how social media can help keep a gayborhood business in business, and, in Nasty Pig’s case, even hold on to their storefront.
Email marketing is how you advertise directly to your gayborhood-and-beyond customer base: For most long running gayborhood businesses the store fronts themselves advertised directly their customers. With ecommerce the way to do this is through email marketing – it allows you to reach out directly to your loyal customers with newsletters about new products, sales, and the like. Email marketing is among the most important revenue sources for any E-retailer.
De gay ghetto-ize your demographic with your online advertising: Many gayborhood businesses would traditionally put a big budget together for gay magazines and newspapers. Today, gay-specific online advertising – such as on apps like Grindr – can be very powerful when it comes to targeting gay-specific consumers. But when it comes to driving the most sales online today, the best channels to go with are Google Adwords and Facebook ads. Google Shopping ads has been proven to drive online sales effectively at low cost-per-customer. Facebook has been increasingly effective in terms of driving online orders thanks to its deep understanding of users and superior targeting capability.
Amazon is your friend: Most retailers and brands sell both on Amazon and on their own site. It is true that selling on your own site gives you full control of your customer base, which you lose some of when you also sell on Amazon. However, Amazon is a great way to attract new customers and drive sales. The men’s underwear brand 2(x)ist – once sold almost exclusively in gay shops around the country – reaches a much broader demographic today on Amazon.
The men’s underwear brand 2(x)ist – once sold almost exclusively in gay shops around the country – reaches a much broader demographic today on Amazon.
At the end of the day, ecommerce doesn’t have anything with do with sexual orientation or gentrification – it is about sales, which, in today’s online shopping reality can bring you more business than any gayborhood ever could.