Interview with Urban Products

Finish this sentence: Your customers love your business because...

We are innovative and we CARE.

What does a day in your 'new normal' life look like?

Hard! Always looking for the positive.

Something we might not know but will be glad we found out about you/your business:

I am passionate about supporting independent retail.

Retail Right Now:

How has COVID-19 impacted your business?

It was like being pushed out of a plane with no parachute. Like many, our sales plummeted in mid-March and for April and May, they were down over 70%. June is usually terrible, but was surprisingly much more positive and July has also tracked better than expected, we have been pleasantly surprised by the recent positive uplift.

How have you had to innovate your customer experience?

Our primary focus is always on customer satisfaction. We have been working with our customers to navigate through this – from discounts, extended payment terms, helping to curate smaller high turnover orders. We aim to listen to their needs and work with them to find solutions. With no trade fairs this season, we have spent a lot of time re-invigorating our website and producing an amazing lookbook, we hope it transports our customers into our virtual trade fair stand.

How are you managing your team at this time?

Although our sales plummeted, we have never been busier. It was important to me and my wonderful team that we did not waste this downtime, but we used it to develop wonderful new products and amazing new sales tools. I am delighted to announce we have over 300 new products to offer for this season, an amazing new interactive website, improvements to our iPad sales system for our sales team and our most exciting new sales tool – our virtual trade fair, for those that cannot make it to a fair this season.

What feedback have you got from your customers on how it is to be in retail right now?

The feedback is both heartbreaking and very encouraging. Some of our long-term customers are finding things still really tough especially in Victoria and we have sadly seen some close their doors, many others have had a quicker recovery, although full recovery is likely to be years away.

Your Thoughts On:

Where the retail industry will land:

It will land on shaky legs. Most retailers fell over (or were pushed!), many are getting back up and trying to shake off the last few months. It will take a while but those who make it through will recover. They will do things differently many are already adapting. Resilience: I have been amazed by my conversations with our customers. Many are focusing on the positives and that gives me hope and confidence that our industry is resilient and robust. It has taken a beating, but we will prevail.

The secrets to getting a customer to return

for more: Urban focuses on customer service, caring about their unique situations, we don’t sell direct to consumers, we ensure exclusivity of our products, we are always evolving and providing great new Australia designed products at affordable prices.

Looking Forward:

Do you have any new products to promote?

Although for obvious reasons we were unable to travel overseas this season to source new products, we are delighted to launch over 300 new products for the Spring Summer 2020 season, with 100s more in development.

What are you best sellers?

To put it simply... planters and anything Crazy Plant Lady! We have some really exciting new designs that are already selling beyond our expectations.

Share your thoughts on how we pull through the next 6-12 months together:

All though it has been extremely tough over the last few months we will get through this and we need the industry to stick together and support each other. Reed Gift Fairs needs to support wholesalers, wholesalers need to support retailers and vice versa as it is a circle, it is critical that we work together to ensure Australian retail

survives. I think we all need to be cautious during this time but not scared. There is opportunity out there and we all need to adapt to the ever-changing environment. Urban encourages our customers to give us feedback on what they love or don’t like and what they want to see more of. If they are struggling, we encourage to talk to us so we can work together to ensure they are supported. A big focus of our new website it for Urban to be able to make it easy for stores by providing highquality images so they can use them their own websites, social media and marketing material.

What do the next 6 months look like for Urban Products?

I like to live in a positive forward focused mind set, Urban’s next 6 months will see us move in to a newer larger warehouse, with great spaces for our teams to focus on 2021 and beyond. Based on preliminary sale of our new release I feel confident that Urban will have a good 6 months and we are delighted to be working hard on our 2021 collections to keep it fresh for our customers.

The Essentials:

How can buyers order from you?

www.urbanproducts.com.au

Should they expect any delays?

No delays expected