The Resilient Retail Game Plan - retail insights, retail trends and best practices

When it comes to retail it’s never too early to start talking about Christmas! In fact, if you’ve left it this long without considering the big day you might even be too late to take advantage of some of the best ways to prepare your business for the dependably lucrative Q4 sales period. The more work you can do now to get you and your business ready for the festive season, the smoother it’ll all go - you don’t want to be scrambling for stock and pleading for PR in November and December, you want to be selling your products and delighting your customers. In today’s episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I share seven ways you can use this summer to better prepare for Christmas 2023. We’ll begin by looking back at 2022, identifying patterns and peaks and producing a sales plan. We’ll talk about setting out your hero products ahead of time and getting savvy with your stock levels. We’ll also discuss taking part in seasonal events, pitching products to gift guides and managing your staffing situation during the busiest selling season. How ready are you for Christmas 2023? Take our quiz and get valuable feedback: resilientretailclub.com/christmasquiz

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A lot of small product business founders have likely experienced that same exciting moment of thinking or feeling that what may have started as a hobby or a side hustle is starting to turn into something more! Taking your ideas, personal projects, or businesses to the next level does take a lot of work and requires a good degree of self-belief - what it requires is getting serious about your intentions. In today’s episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to the founder of sensory sensation, science-led, baby essentials brand, Etta Loves. With a career in Media, Jen didn’t have much background in buying or production, but inspired by her first daughter and with support from her NCT friends, Jen has built her business from one great idea, by taking herself and her vision seriously, into a hugely successful multinational company. In this podcast, we discuss the challenges of operating overseas, managing cashflow issues and how setbacks can help shape your business. We also talk about growing your brand awareness, cultivating sustained and gradual growth and how important it is to nurture connections and take chances. Check out Jen’s beautiful products at: ettaloves.com / us.ettaloves.com / eu.ettaloves.com And connect with her and the brand at: instagram.com/@ettaloves

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Whether you’re someone who’s just started a creative product business and are chasing that first sale or whether you’re an experienced founder trying to leverage even greater growth for your long-running and established brand, something we all share in common is that we all want to experience success, in its many shapes and forms. From social media to shop windows, the popularity and success of a product or brand can sometimes seemingly explode out of nowhere, but it’s not often the case that these businesses are overnight successes. In episode 151 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Sallie King of small-space furniture brand, Urbansize. From humble beginnings selling single units on Etsy to being stocked in Urban Outfitters and Not On The High Street, Sallie shares how she gradually built up her business from a single idea and product into the successful brand it is today. In today's podcast we discuss the challenges of stock management and warehousing, creating growth without investment and the virtue of patience. We also talk about the long-term cost, and even personal, benefits of outsourcing and how we might better delegate and share the load of our businesses with our teams. Check out Sallie’s beautiful products at: www.urbansize.co.uk And connect with her at: https://www.instagram.com/urbansize_home ANNOUNCEMENT Launching July 10th, I’m offering a brand new, 6-month programme combining award-winning business mentoring with the magic of masterminding, for ambitious small business owners. Book a discovery chat at: https://www.resilientretailclub.com/retail-business-mentoring

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“How do I run a promotion that doesn’t damage my brand?” is a question I get asked all the time. It’s a valid concern, evidenced no better than by what my friend and fashion brand consultant Elizabeth Stiles calls “The Gap Trap” - where the constant over-promoting and discounting of stock at the famous clothing retailer culminated in the admittedly flagging brand having to shut up shop in the UK. The important thing to remember is that promotions should look like they’re designed for and are beneficial to your customers, but really, first and foremost, they need to work for you! One of the best questions to ask yourself when you’re considering running a promotion is:  “What is your end goal?” In today’s episode of The Resilient Retail Game plan we’ll discuss the types of promotions, discounts and campaigns available to small businesses, their effectiveness and when best to employ them. We’ll discuss the powerful but short-term impact of blanket promotions, using specific targeted promotions to clear stock and how this differs from a ‘stock clearance’ sale. We’ll also talk about plotting your promotions against your sales calendar, promotional options such as free shipping and how promotions, at their core, are a great way to have new conversations with your customer. PROMO: If you join the Resilient Retail Club before June 18th you’ll get your first month at 1/2 price! You’ll also be just in time to join our brand new, very exciting 30-day sales challenge. Exclusively for members the challenge will include daily audio prompts, access to a private members-only podcast, goal setting, some truly special guest talks and group co-working sessions. Join now at: resilientretailclub.com/membership

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As you’ve undoubtedly heard me say before, the best sales strategy is a great product strategy. Everything works better for you and your business when your audience and customers are excited about your product - they’ll buy more, they’ll tend to convert at a better rate on your website and they’ll tell more people about your brand. So if you are feeling stuck, or find yourself in a bit of a rut it’s always best to bring it back to the product and to ask yourself - is it the best it can be in order to attract customers? Big retail businesses are constantly reviewing their current product lines and trialling new ideas to figure out what the customer wants, so in episode 149 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’m going to share with you my tips to help small business owners like yourself to create products your customers really want. In this podcast we’ll discuss communicating with your customers, figuring out who they are, what they’re going through and how that informs what they want and need. We’ll think about asking what our customers DON’T want and how it can help us make choices that better align with the desires of our customers. We'll also discuss how we buy based on emotions and why it’s almost more important to sell your audience on the ‘transformation’ a product promises than the item itself. PROMO: If you join the Resilient Retail Club before June 18th you’ll get your first month at 1/2 price! You’ll also be just in time to join our brand new, very exciting 30-day sales challenge. Exclusively for members the challenge will include daily audio prompts, access to a private members-only podcast, goal setting, some extraordinary guest talks and group co-working sessions. Join now at: resilientretailclub.com/membership

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Artificial intelligence certainly is a hot topic at the moment! There’s a lot of heady discourse flying back and forth in the news, as well as concerns about its use (or misuse) in specific contexts. Still, I think it’s worth remembering that AI, in the form of algorithmic and machine learning applications like Google Maps, has existed and been in use for a long time. It’s the advent of platforms like Chat GPT, which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, that have really begun to shake things up and for creative product businesses, offer opportunities that could be quite transformative.

In today's episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, we’ll be discussing a number of ways that you can use artificial intelligence in your business to fill gaps in your knowledge and save yourself one of the most important commodities of all - time! From customer service responses to product descriptions, we’ll look at how you can leverage AI to cut down on time-consuming copywriting. We’ll delve into generating blog posts, newsletters and even targeted ads. I’ll run some examples to demonstrate the idea generative capabilities of AI and we’ll also talk about the importance of maintaining your tone of voice and an eye for detail when working with this sort of technology.

Episode Links:

https://resilientretailclub--marketingwithmenekse.thrivecart.com/the-marketing-magic-dashboards/

Chat.openai.com

Bing.com

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It’s a fact of running a small product business that some days are better than others. When you spend so much time and put so much passion into creating or curating your line of products, it can feel deeply demoralising when your sales numbers suddenly drop or fail to materialise for that item you had such high hopes for. This is often when the ‘cycle of doom’ starts to spin and whir and where in some extreme cases people end up shutting up shop due to low confidence and inaction. That’s why I want to spend episode 147 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, giving you a little pep talk and to share with you seven vital ways to help you avoid giving up on your business during those slow sales days. In today’s podcast, we’ll talk about looking at the bigger picture and not focusing on the daily, we’ll revisit cultivating a 'CROP' mindset and discuss looking for the ‘green shoots’ in your business, as well as talking about the importance of not forgetting our existing customers in the drive for increased sales. We’ll also discuss implementing low-risk, low-cost shake-ups in an effort to help refresh your business, seeking out complimentary, non-competitive collaborations and finding the right support to help you push on through and innovate. Remember to use the code: 10podcast to get £10 off your first month when joining The Resilient Retail Club.

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It probably holds true that many small product business owners dream of the day that they can hand their notice in at work and dedicate themselves to their own businesses full-time. It’s an audacious goal and certainly isn’t going to happen overnight (in most cases!) but it’s completely possible as my guest today demonstrates.

In episode 146 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to children’s decor and gift designer and founder of Hannah Joy Designs, Hannah Burn. Having always wanted to run her own business, Hannah decided to create her own fun and colourful brand after she fell out of love with her career and needed something new to get excited about, all with the purpose of “creating a life that she loves through creativity”. 

Starting with a little know-how and a lot of determination, five and half years on Hannah’s fully transitioned from running a side hustle to running her business full-time. In today’s podcast, we talk about her amazing journey. Throughout this episode we talk about the need to test out products, the importance of failure in discovering what does and doesn’t work and how sometimes the hardest decisions are the best ones. We also discuss “gold medal syndrome”, the realities of sustaining success and how the Resilient Retail Club has made a difference in the growth of Hannah’s business.

Check out Hannah’s beautiful products at:

https://hannahjoydesigns.co.uk/

And connect with her at:

https://www.instagram.com/hannahjoy_designs/ https://www.facebook.com/HannahJoyDesigns/ https://www.pinterest.co.uk/hannahjoydesigns/

LIMITED TIME OFFER: Use the code: BIRTHDAY23 for £60 off annual membership to the Resilient Retail Club (promotion ending 10 pm on May 19th 2023)

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Celebrations are in order! May is not only the month of my birthday but it also marks the third anniversary of The Resilient Retail Club. When I started the business back in 2020, I never set out to create a membership, but instead planned to offer courses, starting with my ‘Grow Your Sales’ course back when I used to operate as ‘Future Retail’. But with the challenges presented by COVID and the subsequent lockdowns, I pivoted from offering courses to creating a community where people could come get the support they needed - and, as they say, the rest is history. It’s been an absolute joy and privilege to work with so many small businesses and such wonderful people since starting my business, so in today’s podcast, I want to share my top ten highlights from the last three years of running the Resilient Retail Club. I’ll be talking about the strength of our community, sharing our weekly and quarterly wins and the reward of running a business that does good. We’ll also talk about the importance of celebrating each other, the delights of meeting in person and how the club helped shape my new book: ‘Tame Your Tiger’. Don’t forget - use the code: 10podcast to get £10 off your first month when joining The Resilient Retail Club. Want weekly updates and news you can use? Subscribe to the Weekly Sales Review emails at: https://www.resilientretailclub.com/sign-up/

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