Over The Counter

Teenage Kicks

Being 14 is a difficult age. You are still not technically an adult, yet you are still able to be left alone and trusted. You will be blossoming and developing your own unique identity, gaining independence, and likely exploring (or thinking about) romantic relationships. Unbelievably PG Live celebrates its 14th birthday this year meaning it is embracing all the joys of puberty!

I think I can remember being 14 years old, making the most of the opportunities those youthful years allowed! And I have no doubt that PG Live will be flexing its agile muscles in a similar vein next month.

PG Live’s proud parents, the owners of this very mag, are forever steadfast about the show highlighting new product, supporting newbies and of course progressing our already vibrant industry.

I am gutted that I will be missing the show, only the second time since its inception and in both instances I have had an excellent excuse - while the first time was due to the ash cloud from Iceland, this year is for an altogether happier reason, it coincides with the arrival of my first born.

So why is PG Live not just another trade show? Why is it that it is important to retailer, publisher, agent and overseas distributor alike?

Quite simply when it was established all those years ago the focus was to create a show that brought the whole of our industry together under one roof where product, good practice and the passion many of us have for these special bits of paper could shine.

Now you may of course call me biased, but I really think PG Live has achieved this and more. Many felt that last year’s July show would be the most important as it was the first time it had been held in two years due to the lockdowns and Covid, but for me this year’s is equally as important especially as, with travel restrictions having eased it will see the overseas visitors returning to add that extra global glow.

We all need a good distraction, especially if it will help our businesses and our psyche. What do I mean by that? Well quite owning/running your own business, whether retailer or small publisher has never been more challenging.

Costs for us all are spiralling like noone could have foreseen and this will literally pressurise every company large and small. Paper costs have rocketed, print costs have

soared and what profit we are all being left with is shrinking. We seem to be heading towards a recession and we need to prepare ourselves for this.

So, the first thing not to do is panic and have a knee jerk reaction. We really do need to try and keep calm and get out there to see and talk to people and a trade event, like PG Live is the perfect place for that to happen.

The biggest challenges I hear daily in all bricks and mortar businesses are footfall and staff.

In recently released figures footfall in Scotland showed a 6.3% improvement in April over March in 2022 yet footfall was still down 14.8% on 2019 levels. Shopping centre footfall was even more worrying with 20% decrease in April figures but importantly it was slightly better than the 32% decrease in March.

“April saw a more promising set of figures for visits to stores in Scotland” proclaimed the SRC (Scottish Retail Consortium) director. I’ll take that.

He also indicated that retail sales, shop vacancy rates and footfall all pointed in a more favourable direction but admitted that these were all things that would need to sustain as the strong economic headwinds would affect both consumer and business optimism. Basically, it is slightly better, but of course we don’t really know what is going to happen in the future.

Above left: A great compilation album including the title track by the Undertones as well as other indie bands. Above: Don’t curl up in a ball like a hedgehog, prickly challenges need to be faced. Below: David Robertson at PG Live 2021 with Lorraine Bradley of Rush Design.

So, what do we do? Curl up into a ball a bit like the hedgehog and try to protect ourselves and our incomes? We could cut out costs so a visit to PG Live could be under question. We could take the view that the cost of travelling to London with an overnight stay is not worth it and we can get all that ‘stuff’ from our agent or by staying at home.

But that would be missing the point. By being at the show you get to see the product in the flesh. You get to interact with the people who in many cases designed it and cherish it and then you get to feel more invested in the product you are selling. And that passion will then also be passed on to your staff and customers. It is really satisfying to have that card that someone is looking for and them to be pleased that you were able to get them the exact thing they wanted either visually or in words.

I recently came across some articles from Sensormatic, a company that specialises in using data to inform best practice.

Andy Sumpter, one of its retail consultants commented about the SRC data, saying that “as shoppers feel the pinch of the rising cost of living their disposable incomes, conversions and basket size risk being reduced”.

With this the case we need to think about our own product selection and their value for money. We also need to consider adapting our selection to give our customers a choice at the price point they expect. And this is another reason why going to PG Live is essential. We need to work even harder for our share of our customers’ spend and to cultivate loyalty.

Now small indie retail is all about that, but loyalty is a funny thing. The 102 year old Scottish born retailer RS McColl fell into administration last month before being acquired by Morrisons sparking a fresh flurry of ‘death of the High Street’ comments.

What hit home for me was a lady interviewed on Channel 4 who said: “I never really go in there [McColl’s] or support it but it has always been there and I like to see it on the high street.” The public want us retailers to be here, but don’t always show it by putting their money where their mouth is. For me there is a hardcore of course who always have and always will, but other people need to wake up and use what they have on their doorsteps or it may be lost.

So, from a PG Live perspective, it is on your ‘doorstep’ so I urge you to support it. Go along and even if your spend is small look at the product. See where the direction

of travel is and learn from the many experienced card people who are there in every aisle.

Enjoy boosting the footfall at PG Live on June 7-8. Meanwhile, I will hopefully be welcoming a new born, and a card buyer and sender of the future, if I have my way!

Above: David urges all retailers to visit PG Live this June. Right: David is looking forward to boosting his own family’s footfall with the imminent arrival of his first child.

To contact David email: jppozzi@btconnect.com

People matters

The rule book about the shops being busy on a Friday/Saturday seems to have been thrown out as now it seems any day of the week could be the best trading day as it all depends on who crosses the door, the interaction with the staff member and then what money are spent. With all the changes, the desire we all have to get our opening hours back to the normal working day is proving harder to achieve which of course creates an issue on staffing. Being in retail these last few years has been difficult for shop staff who have had to deal with stressed customers, extra cleaning requirements and constantly changing routines. The accepted way most retail businesses look at staffing is working on sales per hour (SPH) ie the greater the sales the greater the number of staff required. The arguments against the old model are that it saves on cost to the detriment of profitability; customers and their needs are not in the equation at all; SPH is often inaccurate as it doesn’t reflect the traffic in stores or the conversion rate of people to actual sales, plus SPH leads directly to staff reconsidering their positions. Some 48% of retail workers have considered resigning in the last 12 months, citing constant uncertainty and change as the reasons why. When taken altogether this becomes a retail death spiral of poor customer experience, poor store performance and poor employee retention. Now this all makes sense but in the real retail world keeping things tight is essential. It is also clear that many small retailers view their staff as an extended family and that’s what makes many decisions hard. We noticed that our busiest time in our Elgin store was ‘lunch hour’ so we encouraged our staff to have an early or late lunch to ensure we have the maximum of three members of staff on for the two crucial trading hours. It can be as simple as that and when discussed it openly with staff it makes total sense to them too. We also feel that reducing any store to being manned by a single member of staff makes it difficult for that individual who’s working, so where possible we avoid that. While trying to run everything with a ‘skeleton crew’ approach may work to cut a core cost it will result in the customer not receiving the experience you many want them to have nor the sales you envisaged either. Footfall is something we can’t control but making sure that every person who does come in spends and enjoys the experience, is.