20-21_GF.qxp_Grid 04/04/2023 15:10 Page 2
OVER THE
COUNTER
BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.
Since the turn of the year, life feels like it has been on fast forward. I do feel that I have been trying to be all things to all people and quite simply it is not possible. Like many others reading this, I constantly feel I have zero time and it is only because those around me are so supportive that I have managed to keep all the plates spinning, including embarking on a total revamp of our card displays.
Attractiveness
Principle Right now I feel I am trying to be all things to all people, a phrase that comes from 1st Corinthians 9:22 and relates to the apostle Paul. Paul was an interesting chap! He wrote 13 of the 27 books of the New Testament and in his spare time ran a tent making business which was successful and provided him with an independent wealth. Paul was Jewish and yet his largest customer was believed to be the Roman army which is of course an interesting aside of putting business before any barriers. Paul also was instrumental in spreading the word of God and did so with no accusations of ‘you are being paid to say that’. In small business it is difficult to not get hung up on being all things to all people. You will be bookkeeper, buyer, joiner, marketing genius, social media photographer and wear every hat, but there is a strong argument that quite simply by trying to do this you are actually doing both yourself and your business a disservice. In terms of our retail stores all of us would claim to know our customers. When you are one or two stores indeed you may even buy product with someone in mind. I know that we do! We curate our cards and gifts believing that we do so by taking our area, customers, personal taste and many other factors into account. Over the years I have said to many publishers: “I love your product but sadly it 20 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Left: Apostle Paul was something of a wheeler dealer! Below: David, is juggling a multi-faceted business as well as his family duties, with baby Hudson very much at the heart of the latter.
just won’t sell for me”. On more than one occasion I have bought product because I love it, but it just has not worked for our shops. That dilemma of commercial realism v being a little off the wall is a frustration. This leads me to the greeting card selection in my stores and why we stock the brands and types of cards that we do. We are currently embarking on a complete refresh of all three card controls in our shops, with new companies being introduced, others being moved out and a renewed focus on the actual cards, their price and design styles. This overhaul started around a month ago and it has certainly been an interesting
process to go through to say the least. Firstly, we realise that we have far too much stock as we buy from those within our planned stock controls as well as buying some cards wild to give us additional choice in key titles, such as sympathy. We also buy wild because we love this industry and feel deeply rooted in supporting as many publishers as we can. Secondly, in both the Pozzi and Bijou stores we really try to apply the principle of appealing to all. Having our planned stock control as well as wild buying probably means we give our customer too much choice, but this is something we have always done, and we believe the stores would be weaker without this dual approach. We have had visits from major publishers who have questioned if we are confusing customers by having the ‘traditional’ baby cards in one place and then ‘handmade/small publisher’ baby cards on display in another section. It was an understandable challenge. Those who shop with us regularly know our layout, but what about those who don’t? If they just find the handmade/small publisher section do they think we as a retailer are too expensive? If they just look at the ‘normal’ cards, do they think we are just like any other card store and have no special card treasures? Over the last month I have been asking myself a number of questions of this ilk, including… l Which card companies sit well together? l Which cards give us the best margin return?