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OVER THE COUNTER
Tis The
Seas on Independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson, co-owner of JP Pozzi in Scotland, explores how different retailers are greeting Christmas. I am quickly coming to the conclusion that there is no single blueprint for success in retail, and with this the case it’s never been more important to meet and hear from people who will help you to think differently. It is also important we constantly evolve and challenge ourselves, and part of that process is to look at what is going on within our industry and around us. We have to ‘Drink the Kool-Aid’ as the Americans say. What does that really mean though? Well, in a lot of ways small indie retailing used to be quite straightforward: You bought or rented a store in a good location, filled it with decent, preferably unusual, stock, provided a
friendly, efficient knowledgeable service, made some money, then sold up and walked away. There you have it, easy and simple in less than 30 words. At that time ‘a takeaway’ tended to be a mathematical problem and houses tended to have one phone that rang occasionally but was not attached to you like an umbilical cord. Communication was either by voice, letter or card and, oh, people actually shopped by venturing out onto the high street and into stores. God I sound old! Yes, the times have changed and they are never going back. 22
PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
This whole being in business thing is a constantly moving puzzle that is like what was once the Christmas number one toy the Rubiks Cube. Sort one side, get one panel right and you mess up another. So what do we do with the ‘puzzle’ now that Christmas is coming? Traditionally, we as retailers have three sections of Christmas and I want to look at them all here albeit briefly. We have Christmas decorations, Christmas gifts and Christmas cards and paper product. This time of year retail is traditionally our ‘harvest’, or at least it should be and we need it to be. This is where we hopefully can make some money to see us through the leaner months, and it is often the case that the feeling of the store being busy lifts our spirits for the months ahead. As retailers we are in that funny period where Christmas hasn’t really started yet, but we feel all consumed by it. We have perfected all our festive displays and wrestled with what margin we need and the margin we think we can ultimately get on our Christmas lines.
In the past week I have visited our Scottish capital, Edinburgh, calling in on as many card and gift retailers and garden centres en route. This was to satisfy my curiosity, to see what others were doing and to look to see if their Christmas strategy and mine are similar or different. Now, there are of course certain factors that are different, everything from the type of consumer to the size and location of the store. It used to be that we only had to worry about having the right product. Now we have to have something other than that to draw the casual customer. Whether it is parking, food or a million other scenarios, a simple shop might just not be enough anymore. We have to worry, not only about our other competition, both local and multinational, but also about the internet and of course the rising marketplace of social media. So here it goes... brutal honesty... I don’t think that indie retailers can really make their fortune from Christmasspecific product anymore. Within our business we have changed our buying Above: A Christmas design from Rosie Made A Thing. Above left: Just like a Rubiks Cube, being in business can be a constantly moving puzzle. Left: A wonderful festive display in David’s store.