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

It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the hectic run-up to Christmas. As the winter months run away with us, it can sometimes feel like you’re constantly on the back foot trying to put an ad-hoc Xmas strategy together, and that was before you had a global pandemic and a national lockdown to contend with.

So, in episode 15 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to go through a couple of points that will help you set some plans into action. We’ll look at how you can keep your customer base engaged through a cycling variety of messaging that best showcases your products; how you can identify and leverage buying habits to your promotional advantage; and we’ll discuss the importance of timing and targeting discounts to help shift sales and seasonal stock.  

Mentioned in this episode:

Capify

Though you might be feeling deflated and frustrated upon hearing the news that we’re in for a new month-long lockdown, we have the advantage of having gone through this once already and can use the benefit of that experience to get prepared for the challenges ahead.

Christmas isn’t canceled, I believe it’s all to play for - so, in this special bonus episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’ll share some practical tips to help keep you and your creative product business moving forward. By not panicking, staying positive, and going to your community for support, you’ll be able to put yourself in a strong position where you can review your sales forecast, brainstorm new sales strategies and plan out your promotions and product practicalities to help ensure you have a successful sales season this Christmas.

Mentioned in this episode:

Capify

As a creative product business, there are many ways that you can get products in front of potential customers, and it’s thanks to the ever-growing reach and growth of technology that digital marketplaces have become a major component of the shopping process.

From ‘Amazon’ to ‘Not On The High Street’ and from ‘Etsy’ to ‘eBay’, third-party marketplaces appear to offer a lot of advantages in the form of increased traffic and exposure to new audiences, often with enticingly reasonable commissions and fees, but it’s important to remember that you’re not really in the business of selling, you’re in the business of acquiring customers, and that building relationships and creating repeat business and super-fans is the path to building a resilient retail business.

So, in episode 14 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I run through the pros and cons of using these marketplaces; the considerations for you to make before committing yourself and your stock to multiple digital outlets; and the expectations on you as a business owner once you start working with a third-party platform.

As a creative product business, there are many ways that you can get products in front of potential customers, and it’s thanks to the ever-growing reach and growth of technology that digital marketplaces have become a major component of the shopping process.

From ‘Amazon’ to ‘Not On The High Street’ and from ‘Etsy’ to ‘eBay’, third-party marketplaces appear to offer a lot of advantages in the form of increased traffic and exposure to new audiences, often with enticingly reasonable commissions and fees, but it’s important to remember that you’re not really in the business of selling, you’re in the business of acquiring customers, and that building relationships and creating repeat business and super-fans is the path to building a resilient retail business.

So, in episode 14 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I run through the pros and cons of using these marketplaces; the considerations for you to make before committing yourself and your stock to multiple digital outlets; and the expectations on you as a business owner once you start working with a third-party platform.

Mentioned in this episode:

Capify

Todays episode is a little bit different -  a little bit of a rant, if you like!

Starting a business is often a minefield in terms of your self belief and it’s very easy to get seduced by a lot of the quick-fix messaging that we’re exposed to on social media. We’ve all seen them - the Facebook ads promising you a roadmap to a six-figure business, promoted content that claims to guarantee you eye-watering profits in just a few weeks or months. I’m certainly not immune to these tactics, and it’s not to say that every one of these offerings is nefarious or that they don’t offer something valuable, but on the whole these schemes or courses won’t actually deliver on what they promise.

Every business is different - they each grow and evolve at a different rate and much of that is down to you, your tenacity and the quality of of your products, so in episode 13 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’m going to run through the reasons why these buy-in blueprints and masterclasses are fundamentally flawed and how, with a little support and personal persistence, you can get to where you want to be without searching for silver bullet.

Todays episode is a little bit different -  a little bit of a rant, if you like!

Starting a business is often a minefield in terms of your self belief and it’s very easy to get seduced by a lot of the quick-fix messaging that we’re exposed to on social media. We’ve all seen them - the Facebook ads promising you a roadmap to a six-figure business, promoted content that claims to guarantee you eye-watering profits in just a few weeks or months. I’m certainly not immune to these tactics, and it’s not to say that every one of these offerings is nefarious or that they don’t offer something valuable, but on the whole these schemes or courses won’t actually deliver on what they promise.

Every business is different - they each grow and evolve at a different rate and much of that is down to you, your tenacity and the quality of of your products, so in episode 13 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’m going to run through the reasons why these buy-in blueprints and masterclasses are fundamentally flawed and how, with a little support and personal persistence, you can get to where you want to be without searching for silver bullet.

Mentioned in this episode:

Capify

Last year I conducted a survey where I asked about 50 small creative product businesses a wide variety of questions, ranging from how they managed their costs to what sort of turnover they were producing. One quite startling figure that arose from this research was that a whopping 75% of the business owners I surveyed did not pay themselves from their creative product business!

Paying yourself is something I’m really passionate about. Yes, it makes sense to keep money in the business to help it grow but if you’re not paying yourself from your business then how much freedom and flexibility, as a business owner, do you really have? You shouldn’t be working for your business, your business should be working for you.

In episode 12 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, we’ll look at a number of key points that will help you start paying yourself as quickly as possible. We’ll look at reviewing profit margins and the importance of understanding the fundamentals of your business costs, as well as developing a cash-flow forecast from your sales plan and taking the fear out of taking money out of the business. We’ll also discuss the importance of controlling the biggest cost in your business - your stock; and how even if it’s just buying yourself a coffee every morning that paying yourself is essential to stop your business from devouring every bit of cash available as it grows.

Last year I conducted a survey where I asked about 50 small creative product businesses a wide variety of questions, ranging from how they managed their costs to what sort of turnover they were producing. One quite startling figure that arose from this research was that a whopping 75% of the business owners I surveyed did not pay themselves from their creative product business! Paying yourself is something I’m really passionate about. Yes, it makes sense to keep money in the business to help it grow but if you’re not paying yourself from your business then how much freedom and flexibility, as a business owner, do you really have? You shouldn’t be working for your business, your business should be working for you. In episode 12 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, we’ll look at a number of key points that will help you start paying yourself as quickly as possible. We’ll look at reviewing profit margins and the importance of understanding the fundamentals of your business costs, as well as developing a cash-flow forecast from your sales plan and taking the fear out of taking money out of the business. We’ll also discuss the importance of controlling the biggest cost in your business - your stock; and how even if it’s just buying yourself a coffee every morning that paying yourself is essential to stop your business from devouring every bit of cash available as it grows.

Mentioned in this episode:

Capify

In mid-September, I ran the Resilient Retail online summit, which was all about getting ready for one of the most important sales touchstones of the year - Christmas. The summit featured 10 sessions across 2 days presented by an amazing range of industry experts with backgrounds and experience as diverse as email marketing, PR, wholesaling, and social media.

So, with the festive season not far off, it is in Episode 11 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan that I want to run through and expand on what I consider to be 9 key takeaways and common themes from these sessions, to help get your creative product business ready for Christmas 2020.

We’ll take a look at the importance of how you show up for your business, online and off, by sharing the ever-growing story about you and your products with your customers. We’ll discuss how to get prepared, for not only the festive period but pre and post-Xmas, and we’ll also talk about strategizing, doubling-down on your business plans and further identifying your ideal clients to help build loyalty at a time when your business is at it’s most visible - and that’s just for starters!

2020 has been a rough year but people are determined, more than ever, to have a good Christmas, so tune in for some great advice, from the best professionals in their fields, that you can use to help increase your sales this season.

In mid-September, I ran the Resilient Retail online summit, which was all about getting ready for one of the most important sales touchstones of the year - Christmas. The summit featured 10 sessions across 2 days presented by an amazing range of industry experts with backgrounds and experience as diverse as email marketing, PR, wholesaling, and social media. So, with the festive season not far off, it is in Episode 11 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan that I want to run through and expand on what I consider to be 9 key takeaways and common themes from these sessions, to help get your creative product business ready for Christmas 2020. We’ll take a look at the importance of how you show up for your business, online and off, by sharing the ever-growing story about you and your products with your customers. We’ll discuss how to get prepared, for not only the festive period but pre and post-Xmas, and we’ll also talk about strategizing, doubling-down on your business plans and further identifying your ideal clients to help build loyalty at a time when your business is at it’s most visible - and that’s just for starters! 2020 has been a rough year but people are determined, more than ever, to have a good Christmas, so tune in for some great advice, from the best professionals in their fields, that you can use to help increase your sales this season.

Mentioned in this episode:

Capify