"Cuteness, design, technology, luxury, kitsch" - A Q&A with Gizmine's Douglas Krone
Ever been sent by a gadget blog to the product page of some wonderful foreign tech-tchotchke, only to find it impossible to buy the damn thing? Enter Gizmine, a U.S.-operated online store that ships bizarre goods worldwide from Japan.
A sister site to Dynamism, which imports ultra-portable computers that Americans would otherwise be hard-pressed to find, it was launched a few weeks ago by Dynamism's CEO Douglas Krone.
I fired off some questions about his unusual line of business. Here are his replies.
BBG: What's the story behind Dynamism?
Krone: Dynamism became famous for supplying early-adopters around the world with the latest and greatest, direct from Japan. As the business grew, it evolved into a focus on high-end mobility--focused on a limited selection of products that is best-of-class and cutting-edge in every category. You'll find the latest gadgets from Japan, innovative 1-pound PCs from Korea, exclusive mobile phones, even the world's first consumer-focused RFID reader from a French designer. So Dynamism is a boutique-like shopping experience and coupled with a heavy emphasis on personalized customer service--our goal is that you feel like you are dealing with a luxury hotel concierge that happens to be a tech expert. It's all a great model, but we wanted something different for Gizmine.
BBG: Why Gizmine?
Krone: Shopping in Tokyo is a chaotic, sensory overload experience partly thanks to compellingly unique gadgets, cuteness, design, technology, luxury, kitsch -- and extra helpings of gadgets and cuteness. We wanted to bring a taste of that experience to shoppers all over the world. Of course, with some of the Gizmine gadgets--and again just as if you were shopping in Tokyo--there is liberal use of Japanese. Many of the digital pets purr in a foreign language, and some things are just so wacky that buyers really need to have a sense of adventure.
BBG: What challenges presented themselves as you went about developing the new online store?
Krone: The focus is totally different from Dynamism. Figuring out how to deliver that shopping-in-Shibuya rush, given our ambition to offer hundreds of products with which people might have no familiarity, was interesting. It ends up a shopping nightmare or addictive fun. Since we were trying for the latter, the site is clean and visually driven.
As you walk through the aisle of your favorite store, nobody chatters in your ear. For Gizmine, products are bliss and text is bad. Even our mouseover product descriptions don't interfere with the product view. That product view is like looking on the shelf of your favorite store, but with better search options. Maybe you only want to see blue gadgets, or maybe only blue gadgets with a skull theme.Â
BBG: People talk a lot about the recession affecting consumer electronics and luxuries: have you felt the bite?
Krone: Especially in October, there were some days that people weren't spending, but consumption seems to be steadily recovering since then. However, as they say, it is still in recovery. Even so, Christmas shopping has been pretty healthy. Perhaps it is because we are delivering things that are new and unique, with so many "no way" gadgets at stocking stuffer price points, that Gizmine is off to a great start. But, I don't think our experience can be extrapolated to the broader economy or the really big electronics makers.
BBG: What is it about these imports that casts such a spell on us?
Krone: Japan's consumers think clever technology and great design is just precious! Not just avant-garde consumers (the market we target in the world outside Japan), but the vast majority. And that means fantastic things get made and marketed, things that can't be found anywhere else. They cast a spell on us because good design is innately appealing, we love whimsy, and we appreciate the intellectual quality of dumb gadgets.
Gizmine delivers globally from Japan.
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The link to Dynamism connects to "http://gadgets.boingboing.net/2008/12/20/,%20is%20the%20perfect%20place%20for%20last-minute%20geek%20shopping."
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fixed!
To deliver the real shopping in Shibuya experience, wouldnt you want a visually over crowded, piled top to bottom with no appearant organizational scheme and recorded loop of "irashaimase" blaring at full volume with no way to disable it?
Interesting products. I would have stayed and looked at them all, except that the stupid page had a fixed width that was too wide for my EeePC's 640x400 pixel screen. I have to click on one thing, then scroll to the left to look at the name and price. I gave up after 5 products. Lousy web design job.