14-15_David Robertson.qxp_Grid 01/11/2024 12:02 Page 1
OVER THE
COUNTER
BY DAVID ROBERTSON OF JP POZZI, ELGIN AND BUCKIE.
Inset: David Robertson has written well over 400,000 words for PG over the last 17 years.
Words do come easy… As my life continues to change, we are making changes to our home - to accommodate the toys, books and games that seem to breed each night when you have a toddler! Up in our loft were large piles PG magazines, so I made it my mission to retrieve my column from each edition and file them in order. In the process, I couldn’t help indulging in some reminiscing about the industry developments over the last 17 years since I first put pen to paper for this esteemed organ. I first put my thoughts down in PG back in October 2007 so I have been writing for 17 years. With that the case I am very nearly an adult with just 10 months to the milestone 18th birthday! Call it ego, call it pride but for me this magazine has been a huge part of my working life and I am proud to have played a small part in what I see as the leading voice in the card and gift industry. My very first column was written in a diary style, detailing my visit to Autumn Fair. I remember writing it with a bit of trepidation and have to admit cringing a little having reread it! I was probably a bit afraid that people wouldn’t read it or that I would offend or that it would be boring! I also wrote it thinking that people would want to read about the day in a life of a cardshop owner rather than actually writing from a place of truth, about a subject that I wanted to have my say on. The column has evolved from a single page near the back of PG beside the wonderful Lynn Tait (sadly no longer with us) to now spanning two pages the front of the 14 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
magazine. Judging by the varied comments from industry stalwarts and fellow retailers I know, thankfully the column has hit the mark more often than missing it.
R ETAILER VOICE
R ETAILER VOICE
Over The Counter It was standing room only as independent card and gift retailer, David Robertson gave a seminar in the Talking Point area at the recent Autumn Fair. Owner of JP Pozzi (a group of four shops in Buckie and Elgin), this Retas award winner relayed his personal thoughts to PG about his trip to the trade show and his speech on how to win as a niche card and gift market player. As I was sitting in the airport waiting for my flight home from the Autumn Fair, I read Piers Morgan’s diaries. In it he notes the interesting things that happen on a day-to-day basis and it was this book which got me thinking…
Above: David Robertson outside one of his four shops, Bijou Too in Elgin. Below: A couple drinking coffee on a picture from Viewimages.
My parents bought our original shop up here in bonnie Scotland 21 years ago which was originally a newsagent. In those early days the cards were kept in shoeboxes and the gifts were basically tartan tatt! After five years of basically solidifying the business and installing card units!, my parents bought the hotel next door to give us the space to diversify further into cards as my mother felt that if she was prepared to travel sixty miles for unusual cards and gifts others would too! And so JP Pozzi cards and gifts was born! From that one shop we have now grown to four locations in Buckie and
2nd September – Leaving On A Jet Plane The journey to a trade fair is always an interesting one, as quite often your flight and train will contain a mixture of other retailers and on occasion some of your immediate competitors. My Sunday afternoon flight did not disappoint. As I sat waiting for the time to pass till we were herded on to the flight I listened into a husband and wife team who were also sitting in the coffee bar. Their chatter led me to believe that they were definitely new to the trade as not only were they excited about the show but were also speculating like small children about what they might do or find: “I can’t wait to see the card hall – I really want to get something different,” said the wife.
A Bit About Me
3rd September – Setting The Trends My main purpose of the visit to Autumn Fair was to take part in the Talking Point seminars. When I agreed to do this I had no real idea what I was letting myself into. I was due to give my seminar on niche marketing your business at 12pm on Monday, but instead of being in a small conference room the Talking Point Area lay right in the middle of Hall 5. This allowed people to come and go and indeed stop to listen in and then walk off if boredom or hunger took them. After scouting out exactly where I had to go I decided to listen to the two seminars before me. The first seminar was based around giftwrapping by Arona Khan, and provided many practical hints and tips on creating that different parcel. It was well attended and got me thinking about what my audience would really take away from my little chat. I began to doubt my wisdom in seeing what was in effect my competition. This seminar was swiftly followed by William Higgis, MD of his company, The Next Big Thing. His brief was to discuss fads, trends and mega trends. Despite my own nerves beginning to get to me I found his discussion to be exceptionally interesting
Elgin. Each town has major supermarkets and in Elgin’s case they have a WH Smith, Clintons, Birthdays and some of the busiest Asda and Tesco stores in Scotland. And despite the above factors and the looming threat of the internet, we have grown all parts of our business significantly in the last five years: We have opened two brand new stores and added over half a £million in turnover while driving up an overall profit margin to 37 % (although this is distorted by the newsagent part of the business which has a large turnover and a low margin!)
And Mr Higgis’ ideas underlined my beliefs. I truly feel that to compete with the main players in the card industry we have to become ‘boutique’ card shops - that is, card shops who specialise in unusual and different products, whose staff are extremely knowledgable and helpful and who can give the public a great choice of not only basic everyday cards but also that something with a little bit of WOW! We need to be innovators in how to display things, with the companies that we stock and support, and look beyond the standard fare which we find not only on our doorstep through our reps and agents but also at the trade shows. Designers who are innovative such as card publisher, Arty Smith, have to be sought out and found. The company’s unusual product and others like it will, to my mind, give independent retailers a great buzz to sell the product and give the customer that feeling of being in a cutting edge shop. They will trust you to bring them something they haven’t seen before, and while they buy one of these unusual cards they will pick up two or three normal cards from your control. In effect it is one of the oldest tricks and has been used by the clothes retailers for decades - show them the catwalk piece and they may buy one item but they will actually buy three or four from the more mundane collection as well. This may be a new way to think of card retailing but we have to think out of the box
Pozzi Pointers
We are no longer a nation of shopkeepers, we are a nation that shops. So if we are going to create our own empire we must get with the ‘beat’ with some key factors: ● We cannot compete with supermarkets or discount warehouses on price. So don’t! - Stock quality goods at prices which reflect the area you are located. ● Don’t be a slave to margin either. Be realistic and if you really want to sell something because it will make your shop stand out do it. Sell what you believe in! ● Innovate don’t replicate - Shopping centres and High Streets are all becoming the same. Make your shop look different. Yes, we all need to stock the best lines but they can be presented in a different way. The wow factor is what you want! You then can boost the basic sale quite considerably! ● Know your competition. ● The ‘chatter factor’ is not Simon Cowell on a Saturday night but it is extremely important. The ‘chatter factor’ is key - word of mouth is worth an awful lot more and costs an awful lot less than advertising. ● And finally, embrace change – Be different. Be Bold. Be unusual. Be daring!
and look at different ways of bringing people into our shops. As independents we on the whole cannot afford the prime sites and rates that the multi-nationals can so we have to generate our own footfall and become destination shops where people speak about products we stock and the service we provide. As Rupert Murdoch said, “big will not beat small anymore it will be the fast beating the slow.” With this being the case we will all need to get in training! These points formed the basis of my seminar, which I will explain in more detail along with quite a number of other points in future columns. And despite my strong
Scottish accent I managed to be understood without my translator and the reaction was very positive.
4th September – Homeward Bound On my way back home I kept looking round the departure lounge hoping to catch the couple from two days previous. I fully intended to see if their excitement had been quelled after two days among the aircraft hangers at the show! I had my conversation played out in my mind but alas they were not there, so who knows, perhaps they had become confused among the pods on the Cardgains stand and were still lost in Hall 4!
Below: A serious audience absorbs significant advice at a Talking Point seminar at the recent Autumn Fair.
and relevant to what I truly believe makes a different card shop! He spoke of a how a trend starts with a handful of people who are classed as the innovators. They lead the way experimenting with different and new or exciting ideas or concepts. This is then picked up on by the early adopters who are the group who want to be seen as being ultra hip and trendy but are not quite brave enough to be the originators. Then the early majority and vast majority come and the trend becomes a strong part of the culture relating to that product. Finally the Laggards arrive at the end, jumping onto the bandwagon some way down the road. This is a very simplistic overview of his points but it is extremely relevant to many of our businesses today.
30 PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE
Top: Just some of the PG magazines that David has got down from his loft, much to the amusement of Hiro, who is hiding under the desk. Above: The very first Robbo column in PG, back in October 2007.
Looking back at the many themes I have covered, they have included the need to maintain margins, competition, trade shows, relationships, notable company happenings, card trends, threats and many more. Paperchase, Birthdays, Thoughts, Occasions are just some of the chains that have come and gone while some large characters have also disappeared from our industry. The passing of Clintons’ founder, Don Lewin OBE in recent weeks also marks the end of an era. He was the man who took quality cards to the masses. A don in the mafia is the boss and in many respects he was an industry forerunner and visionary, so his first name was very apt. I remember I upset him once over some comments I wrote about his Inverness store and I was never a fan of the orange colour scheme, but there is no doubting the influence he had on our sector. My November 2010 column detailed the Halloween horrors of dealing with big landlords and the dreaded dilapidation. That feels like yesterday and probably spoke more to my naivety than anything else. It was the first and last time I ever rented a building and only time will tell if owning my own property will return a reward. Another column criticised the use of really crude/bad language on some cards - today I don’t think anyone would bat an eye. Back in Feb 2008 I wrote about the heavyweight fight between Hallmark and UKG and in keeping with typical boxing tradition, if Hallmark can get its stuff together in 2025 we may get something similar again.