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Retailer Round Table

Talking Heads

After 17 months without trade shows, seven retailers made the most of getting together at PG&H’s Retailer Round Table at Harrogate’s Home & Gift in July to reflect on the past few months since re-opening.

Life on the high street, the positives of having a transactional website and Christmas trading were some of the many topics on the table.

“We’re in a countryside location and are experiencing increased footfall and strong trading,” confirmed Helen Crawford, co-owner of destination lifestyle store Old School Beauly in Beauly. “In fact, we've had a particularly strong year due to various factors. For example, we've been very active online, shipping orders every day and growing a significant digital customer base. We're also experiencing the rise of staycationers, many of whom plan ahead as opposed to going somewhere spontaneously. They're researching our social media and website to make sure that we're open, that our loos are open and they can get something to eat. We need to give customers the confidence to shop. If we, as an industry, can tick that box, I think the future is really bright for retail. Retailer Round Tablers 2021 (in alphabetical order)

l Clare and Hannah Bishop, co-owners, Cornucopia, Worcester l Helen Crawford, co-owner, Old School Beauly, Beauly l Janet Hartree, owner, Ewe & Me and Ewe Too, Grantown on Spey l Bill Nettelfield, owner, Bill & Bert’s, Colchester l Jenni Taylor, manager, Alligator Pear, Tadworth l Maggie Thornton, owner, Alligator Pear, Tadworth l (Chair: Sue Marks)

Above: PG&H’s editor Sue Marks (centre, front) with this year’s retail round tablers. Left: Hannah Bishop. Below: Helen Crawford (left) and Clare Bishop.

“However, it is a story of two halves and those who relied on office footfall have seen sales plummet,” Helen pointed out. “It’s therefore important that the retail sector is looked at as a whole, as we all need to get through because it strengthens the entire trade. In fact, we should all be ambassadors for the recent Bill Grimsey report which recommended that the government should write off the Bounce Back Loan for independents.”

On the subject of staycationing, Janet Hartree, owner of Ewe & Me and Ewe Too in Grantown-on-Spey concurred. “It’s very much about people getting into their cars and away from their home environments. There’s no doubting that people are really happy to be out and about again.”

Clare Bishop, co-owner of Cornucopia with her daughter Hannah, confirmed that there had been a steady flow of customers since reopening. “Interestingly, we now get customers coming in early in the morning or late in the afternoon, and although we’re seeing fewer customers they’re definitely spending more,” she emphasised. “Also, people are continuing to update their homes which has inspired us to look at different products.”

As for the shop’s online business, Hannah Bishop explained: “We started out on Trouva in 2019 but have subsequently created our own website. Now we use both online and social media to engage with customers as we’re finding that they want to buy into the Cornucopia ‘look’.”

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Having started trading in 2019, Bill Nettelfield, owner of Bill & Bert’s in Colchester, has only just been able to make a year-on-year comparison, due to the lockdowns, but confirmed that the shop is trading 40% up on last year.

“Although we don’t have a website, we are very active on social media,” he explained. “Fortunately, this year, we’re benefitting from staycationers. Holidaymakers have been coming down from Scotland, Newcastle and Leeds to stay in Clacton or Mersea Island, and during their time there they are visiting Colchester, which is really helping to drive sales for us.”

On the topic of staycationing, Janet Hartree highlighted that since re-opening on April 26, the caravan site and holiday homes have been full. “However, that wasn’t reflected on the high street for a couple of weeks. Generally speaking, we found that people were reluctant to go into shops. Plus, some retailers were only open for a limited time, or closed early, or both, which rebounded on other retailers such as myself who were working hard to get customers back in store. To make it work, retailers need to work and pull together, and this is actually a golden opportunity for high streets to pull their finger out. We need to put up bunting in our town, and hang up baskets of flowers, so that we look and feel like a community. Although we have recently launched a minimal, transactional website, it can’t provide the very personal service that we can offer through the shop. That’s something that’s irreplaceable.” Helen Crawford explained that the Old School Beauly is experiencing ‘layers’ in relation to who is buying what and how. “We've got over 7,000 products on our website and lots of related social media video content, but the website - which saw sales increase by 540% during the lockdowns - is not the biggest part of our turnover. Many customers are using it not only to purchase online but also to research the products we offer. There's always going to be a customer who prefers to come into the shop and buy which is great!” said Helen.

It's been a similar story at Ewe & Me and Ewe Too. “Although we’ve only just launched our website, a lot of our customers are already telling us that they saw something that they wanted to buy on there and have come into the shop to buy it,” commented Janet Hartree.

At destination store Alligator Pear in Tadworth, manager Jenni Taylor emphasised the amount of work that has gone into improving the shop’s website and social media activity during the pandemic, which has subsequently turned into a good source of sales. “We’ve put on more product, we’ve advertised the website on social media and it’s paid off in increasing our online sales. We also run competitions and ask people to follow us and tag in a friend. However, we’ve found that customers still want to come into the store to shop with us because they like to see and touch the products. Also, given

Left: Bill Nettelfield. Below left: Janet Hartree. Below right: Maggie Thornton. Bottom: Jenni Taylor.

the varying ages of people who shop with us, not all of our customers are on social media,” Jenni pointed out. As for product sectors that are currently trending, Alligator Pear’s owner, Maggie Thornton, highlighted interiors - especially throws, cushions and faux plants - along with clothing, which was echoed by all attendees. “We also do fantastically well with Freckle Face soya wax melts,” she added.

On the clothing front, Bill Nettelfield said the sector was a huge seller for Bill & Bert’s. “We stock mid-priced brands to include Italian brand LVClothing and Lottie&Moll womenswear.”

In addition to interiors and clothing, Helen Crawford said that it’s the Old School Beauly’s own brand candles and accessories that ring up the most sales. “There’s been a thoughtful shift to provenance. Customers want to know who made the product and where it comes from. People are really starting to make that connection now.”

Sales of greeting cards too, continue to keep the tills busy. “After the lockdowns, people came in to buy bundles of them,” recalled Clare Bishop, while Maggie Thornton added that it’s often cards that pull people in who are then drawn to the store’s gifts, fashion and lifestyle products.

As for the all-important fourth quarter, for all attendees, Christmas buying kicked off at Home & Gift, with Bill Nettelfield feeling very positive about the Christmas trading period. “However, getting stock, coupled with price increases, will be the issue,” he stated. “For example, a recent invoice I received had a surcharge of 28%! I’m also concerned that continuity of stock will be an additional problem.” (See The Freight Debate on pages 24-25).

Maggie Thornton added that given the current freight and shipping issues, she and Jenni Taylor had already drawn on their department store backgrounds and pre-ordered stock early. “To not be able to get hold of stock would be the worst thing that could happen. However, of course, we realise that we’re very lucky to be in a position where we can forward order,” she added.

“Aside from the run up to Christmas, which we’re really looking forward to, we also do extremely well in the week leading up to New Year, so given that we had to close last year, I’m looking forward to our usual busy trading period,” enthused Janet Hartree.

Meanwhile, concerning for Helen Crawford at Old School Beauly was that the Scottish government was continuing to put out a negative message. “To make the next quarter successful for independent retailers we need a positive, inspiring message from the top telling people to go out there and shop on their local high street,” she stated.

Nevertheless, with the ‘shop local’ message really hitting home now, as people look to support their local high streets, and ‘shop local’ campaigns aplenty across the media, it’s fingers crossed that all things being equal, the tills will be ringing merrily on high from now until December.