retail
BABY B
Left to right: Scarlett: Saturday sales consultant Karen: Founder/Owner Lorna: Full time sale consultant
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New nursery store
opened their doors! This month Nursery Today questions Karen Bridle, owner of Baby B independent nursery store based in Widley, Hampshire to find out more about the bold decision to launch their first store during the Pandemic. Firstly, can you tell us a little We really pride about your store - what was ourselves on our the inspiration behind in-store opening your doors?
customer service here at Baby B. We love demonstrating our product range and offering independent With Nursery being such an advice with a no emotive industry how pressure sale important is customer service to your business and ethos. I have always wanted to own my own baby store as I love this marketplace and with such a need on the south coast for a new baby store, since the loss of our local mothercare the timing felt perfect! So, when I was offered premises situated close to the Hampshire - West Sussex border and with nearby motorway access and its own-store parking, I jumped at the chance to make my dream a reality and opened my independent baby store in June 2020.
how do you manage consumer expectations?
We really pride ourselves on our in-store customer service here at Baby B. We love demonstrating our product range and offering independent advice with a no pressure sale ethos. We deal with all aspects of the sale to help 12
nursery today
exceed our customers expectations. From car seat fitting (IOSH trained staff ), payment plans and after sales service as well as adding new lines and in-store promotions so there’s always something new in-store to see. We do love a chat with our customers in-store, but it is so much more than just a chat, we want to make sure they understand about car seat safety & physically check to see if a travel system will fit in their boot! We also sell within the bath, feeding, nursery and play categories, so there’s lots to see and lots to talk about! Every customer is different and it’s so important to listen to their lifestyle and needs during their visit to make sure you can help them in their choice. It’s no good showing a big travel system to someone who lives in a top floor flat with no lift or a city stroller to someone who lives in the sticks and walks everywhere!
Do you find your customers have done research online prior to visiting the store? Lots of customers do online research before visiting store and it’s amazing how quickly
they can change their minds about products once they can see them in the flesh. There’s nothing like trying and seeing baby products in person rather than just online.
Has the recent disruption to business with regard the pandemic - did this have any diverse effect on your business? We have probably been closed more than open during the recent lockdown! We had to adapt quickly and launched our website and increased our social media presence. We stayed in store for click & collect and even bought a van for local deliveries which helped keep our regular customers, as well as new ones, coming back and shopping local. The good news is that we made it through this first unexpectedly tough year. We are here to stay!
Since first opening what has been your largest challenge (apart from the effects of the pandemic)? The biggest challenge we face is customer
