With retailers in lockdown, GiftsandHome.net hosted an online ‘round table’, bringing together a group of independent gift retailers from up and down the country who shared their resilience and resourcefulness in adapting their businesses in the current situation.
The retailer conference took place on Tuesday (April 7), hosted by Progressive Gifts & Home/GiftsandHome.net’s editor Sue Marks. The ‘round tablers’ were (in alphabetical order): Aga Gabrysiak and Richard Marsden, co-owners of Highworth Emporium, Highworth; Jo and Mike Webber, co-owners of Jo Amor in Tiverton, Jo Williams, owner of Joco in Nuneaton and Zoe Anderson, owner of W.A. Green in London’s Shoreditch.
At Joco, Jo Williams confirmed that she had temporarily closed the company’s eBay shop and will be focusing her attention on building up online sales. “All staff have been furloughed including myself,” she explained, “but next week I’m going to unfurlough myself and look at going back to do social media sales, especially Facebook ‘lives’, to see if it’s worth my going back to work. If it’s not I will re-furlough myself again.”
Zoe Alexander commented that online was continuing to do well for W.A. Green. “All the staff have been furloughed so I’m continuing to fulfil orders with my daughter who is living with me at the moment. Our view is that if UPS is picking up then we will ship. Additionally, one of the first things that we did was to do next day delivery for our disabled customers.” Zoe added that the lockdown has taught her an enormous amount about her local customer base, “not least that customers who used to come in for regular items are now shopping with us online.”
However, for now, the company’s marketing activities are on pause. “Nationally, I don’t think it’s a good time to communicate with people. It has to be in a sensitive and appropriate way because the way we communicate with our customer base now is going to be remembered. It needs to be thought through and considered. I don’t want people to unsubscribe. I’ve also completely dialled back on Instagram.”
Jo Webber of Jo Amor pointed out that since the lockdown she and Mike have set up an ecommerce platform with Shopify. “It’s taught us loads in the past three weeks,” she emphasised. “However, we are doing it very gently because this is not only new to us, but also, because we want to represent online the same ethics that we employ with our shop, which is to take a very local, personal approach. We have also set up video chats with customers, where we go around the shop using our phones, with customers telling us what they want. We then post or drop items off locally.”
More of a concern is on the clothing side of the business which is a big part of the offer. “From our point of view this is our biggest issue because it has such a short shelf life,” pointed out Mike Webber.
At Highworth Emporium, Aga Gabrysiak and Richard Marsden are also currently putting their efforts into developing their website. “Our Amazon and eBay shops are still trading, but in the first few days after the lockdown, online went very, very quiet. After that however, people started buying gifts and cards again. We did offer a delivery service but pulled back on that and are now using the post office.”
In terms of building loyalty with customers, Zoe Alexander highlighted that one of the initiatives that has been very successful for W.A. Green is the online launch of Perk Up packs. “I’ve taken some of our best selling products and looked at what people were tending to buy to go with them, then taking 20% off the overall basket. Anyone purchasing the Perk Up pack also gets a 15% friends and family discount for life. We wrap each pack in beautiful wrapping paper, and it’s our way of saying we really appreciate your support and that you are doing something lovely by sending the pack to someone. It’s driven a lot of sales for us.” Jo Williams too, has been offering gift vouchers, with a 20% off incentive for purchasers.
As for Easter, traditionally a big occasion for Highworth Emporium, Aga Gabrysiak explained that she had taken photographs of Easter products and prices and shared them on Facebook. “We have had lots of people ordering online, and when I put together small sets of two or three products, the spend went up,” she confirmed. “For the wider community, we are giving chocolates to a local school which is still open for the children of key workers.”
Added Jo Webber: “We’ve had people buying our Easter bunnies, and as we can respond to orders quickly, we’re expecting more activity this week. I’m also continuing with my Jo-A-Story online bedtime stories for little ones, where we’re currently focusing on rabbit books.”
On the supplier front, Zoe Alexander emphasised that she has been delighted with the support that she’s received. “I’m hoping to run giveaway competitions on social media, to include a key worker giveaway, with suppliers offering to be sponsors. Other suppliers have been offering zero payment terms, and even my American suppliers, where pro forma is the norm, have been offering payment terms of 30 days.” Added Jo Williams: “we’ve found that some of our suppliers have cancelled our direct debits, although we do have the option of making payment.”
However, as Aga Gabrysiak pointed out, some suppliers have closed their doors for now, while others are only accepting pro forma orders, but all participants agreed that it is a circle, with retailers needing to support their suppliers in order for everyone to survive. As Jo Webber put it: “it’s about team work, and we’re working with our suppliers to get through this. We’re all in a chain.”
As for government support, participants confirmed that grants were starting to come through or had been received, with the 12 month business rates holiday and staff furloughing helping everyone to feel well supported during lockdown.
‘Round tablers’ also agreed that when the current government restrictions have been lifted, and life has returned to normal, they would all be celebrating by holding a party! However, Mike Webber suggested that realistically, it was likely to be a gradual return to normality. “I think we might possibly start trading by the end of the summer, but my feeling is that it will be very controlled,” with Richard Marsden concurring.
As Jo Webber put it: “It will be so good to have everyone back in the shop, having people around you and enjoying everyday chit chat again. I can’t wait to get that fantastic vibe back!”
Top: Top row: GiftsandHome.net/Max Publishing’s Sue Marks and Rob Willis; second row: Jo Williams (left) and Zoe Alexander; third row: Jo and Mike Webber (left) and Richard Marsden and Aga Gabrysiak.
