A Web Site I'd Like to See

Others of us have foreign policy concerns, such as my sinophobia. Filipino residents might like to help the economy of the land of their heritage. Mexicans might like to buy items made south of the border, Thais from Thailand, Indians from India, etc.

As a result, I believe all catalogers should aid the decision-making process by listing the country of origin of every SKU in their catalogs or Web sites. Accordingly, I've bought one-year ownership of the following URLs from Network Solutions:

www.SKUorigin.com; www.MerchandiseOrigin.com; www.ItemOrign.com

How the Site Would Work

• All catalogers that are proud of their companies—and not ashamed to reveal where they get their merchandise—would be invited to participate.
• The only ground rule: Every SKU in every catalog must list the country of origin.
• Catalogs would be listed on the Web site alphabetically and by Category
• Catalogs that offer American-made merchandise exclusively would have an additional section of their own.
• Catalogs offering merchandise from one country would appear in their own country listings (Peruvian Connection, Thomas Pink, Hermès, Ferragamo, etc.).
• Each category of merchandise (e.g., women's sweaters, men's casual trousers) would have its own section with hyperlinks to the original catalog.
• Each country of origin would have its own listing of merchandise by category with hyperlinks to the original catalog.
• Cost to the cataloger to be determined—either:
  • a yearly flat fee
    and/or
  • a small fee per SKU
    and/or
  • a small percentage of each sale generated through the Web site.
    and
  • paid advertising

Benefits of this Web site:

• A service to concerned consumers in terms of product origin
• Is an e-department store, giving the customer many choices at one venue
• Helps the crippled and disfigured U.S. economy by making it easy to buy American
• Offers merchants a new venue for their catalogs
• Will be profitable
  • for the participating catalogers
  • for the creators and managers of the Web site

Anybody out there interested in taking this on? 

 

P.S. Dinner with Russell Perkins, proprietor of the InfoCommerce Group, added an entirely new dimension to this story—how to research "imported" merchandise.

"All foreign merchandise has an RN number on the label," Perkins told me. "You'll find out a lot of stuff about a particular item.

I checked the reverse on the label of my L.L. Bean chino trousers and found "RN 71341."

I googled RN 71341 and discovered Bean to be mixed up in a human rights brouhaha over the possibility that these trousers were actually made in Jordan at a factory alleged to be involved in "human trafficking and involuntary servitude." The allegations include: "confiscation of passports, illegal work hours, illegal wage rates, nonpayment of wages, and slave labor conditions as well as other equally unacceptable conditions."