Retail Column
The year that was
About T is for Table
With 2021 drawing to a close, retailer and regular columnist Michele Trzuskowski looks back on the year – but is it fondly?
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s we begin to make plans for a new year, you can’t help but look back on the year that’s coming to an end. As a retailer, I’m glad to wrap up this second year of Covidinfluenced buying and selling, and replace it with a hopefully more even keeled future. I’m not saying that the minute the clock flips to the new year we won’t still be struggling with supply issues or other flu and Covid variants, but I do feel with the changes we’ve made adapting to Covid, there are many promising opportunities ahead. Just like in our homes, this past year has offered us time to clean up our unproductive ways, procedures, and product. It has also forced us to be better planners in how we modify our buying strategies and in-stock positioning. It’s virtually, and literally, forced us into the digital marketplace. Customer engagement First, the most obvious pattern we saw was how customers shopped. Many went strictly online, while for others, we became a very important piece of their experience. Although our online business took a significant jump over previous years, we also became concierge experts with more one-on-one interaction with individual customers looking to shop. We used social media platforms such as Facetime, or video conferencing through Instagram or Zoom to literally walk them through the store to identify items they were looking for that weren’t as easily found online. It was a different way of romancing the product versus the very one-
dimensional process of going to a website. Additionally, we continued curbside pickup and provided free delivery within a 30-mile radius. I think as opposed to the bigger box retailers and mega online companies, it’s made the customer relationship that much more personal, and they quickly realised that shopping “small” or “locally” was important. It brought home to many consumers that if they wanted a small boutique around the corner, they had to do their part to support it. The
As a retailer, I’m glad to wrap up this second year of Covidinfluenced buying and selling challenge for us as a tabletop store was how to stay relevant since buyers weren’t throwing parties or entertaining – especially since we were classified as non-essential. The aforementioned customer engagement really helped – but the challenge will be maintaining that in the future. Technology We utilised, and will continue to use, technology to strengthen our presence in the marketplace. This last year brought a definite shift towards the digital world. As a smaller business, we looked at the effectiveness of our website – what worked, what didn’t. The challenge here is not all our products are on our website since they are either impulse buys or unique product trends that we want to be in and out of within a particular buying season. For us that meant engaging
Did you know?
Michele says she and her team faced three major changes this past year; customer engagement, technology, adaptability. 22 TABLEWARE INTERNATIONAL
much more online through eblasts or posting on social media platforms. What worked is establishing a pattern of posts our patrons would look forward to seeing. For example, every Tuesday we would post a “Tuesday Trend” featuring a new tablescape idea identifying all the components it took to create it. Then on every Friday we would post our “Friday Faves” which highlighted a particular vendor or product category. These were simple posts that allowed customers to click on and be sent right to our website for
purchase if so desired. Another avenue that worked was holding virtual trunk shows. A key selling technique for small businesses like mine is holding trunk shows and featuring product segments or an artist. We couldn’t do that with Covid, so we did the next best thing. We offered virtual trunk-shows. It generated excitement and purchases, for the first time, customers were in the artist’s personal space or a vendor’s in-house showroom. It made them feel special since it was so personal. Michael Wainwright, for example, demonstrated to customers how he made an actual bowl taking questions from the online audience. With Vietri, customers were allowed a preview of the upcoming fall/winter collection in April, even before retailers would have seen it at the gift shows. All these avenues through the digital space helped us to remain relevant to our customer base while adding new customers who wanted to participate. As a note, after almost two years, we are finally hosting my first in-house trunk show next week!
T is for Table is a luxury independent boutique, with a focus on tabletop, in West Palm Beach, Florida. Open more than 20 years, it offers an experiential and inspirational space dedicated to helping customers tell stories, create traditions and celebrate life. The boutique offers everything from fine pottery, china, glass, serveware and table accessories, to home décor, jewellery and body products, and delivers a custom service with its custom engraving, home visits and gift registries. www.tisfortable.com
Adaptability The key to all the changes Covid presented and the ongoing change for the future is the ability to adapt. Technology moves at lightning speed which forces all other avenues within retailing to change just as quickly. In addition, we’ve learned that crises like Covid can lead to unexpected events almost two years later. I’m speaking to the supply chain issues we are all facing as we approach the busiest time of the year and the most profitable. For us, there are pros and cons to this change. In some cases, like inventory, we can change on a dime. For technology changes, however, which require more financial investment and understanding, it takes longer. As smaller footprints, we are closer to our customers in terms of seeing what trends they are following as we are talking to them personally. We can consolidate and make alterations quicker based on those trends that we can get in and out of, testing and evaluating inventory for growth opportunities. I think we all agree that the retail landscape is forever changed, and although more shoppers are going online – including seniors – there are still consumers who rely on the brick-and-mortar experience. If we continue to engage our customer while investing in the digital platform, we all stand a chance for a bright future in 2022.
