Ni Nov09 PG10.PASSED:NOV_08_p.6-13_News_legal.qxd 27/10/2009 10:19 Page 8
NiRetail Spotlight
Celebrating the birth of Baybeez
extent that price became less of an issue. Great Customer Service. A well
healed phrase often banded about by the major retailers, but seldom delivered.
What does great customer service mean to our customers when specifying a
travel system for example? To us it means really listening, really understanding
what they, as individuals, want. Understanding their lifestyle: where they live;
what type of vehicle they drive; how often they walk into town; do they take
the bus? Showing this sort of genuine interest enables us to recommend the
right style and size of equipment to fit their budget.
Bearing in mind that most initial enquiries will not result in a sale for several
months it is important to make the right impression in the early days, not just
at the time of sale.
Although we have only been trading for 6 months, we are seeing faces
returning and buying from us in preference to the ‘magic lantern’.
It is still very early days for us and we are by no means a well established
business. However, with zero advertising we are paying the bills, making a
modest profit and are on target to turn over just short of a quarter of a million
in year one.
Can you compete against the Internet? Yes. Can you afford to be fussy
about the range of products you sell? Yes.
This month Neal Higham gives us a potted history of the ups
and downs of his first six months in the industry as owner of
Baybeez, the only baby shop in Tamworth...
It all started on a rainy day in January 2009. My partner and I were getting
ready to head off to our respective jobs in different companies. We had known
for a while that redundancy was on the cards because of the deep recession
the world was diving into, but we didn’t expect the postman to deliver both of
our P45’s on the same morning.
So, what to do... We had a very low redundancy package each, which we
guessed would last us around 3-6 months, including a well deserved holiday,
but that was not going to pay the bills.
My partner had previously owned 2 modest baby goods shops in Kent a few
years ago, way before the birth and impact of the Internet, so we thought it
would be an idea to look into opening a similar retail outlet in our current
home town, Tamworth in Staffordshire.
We did lots of research on the demographics, birth rate (Tamworth has one
of the highest under 18’s pregnancy rates in the UK) and of course,
competition. In fact we found that the only competition within several miles
was Mothercare, which was on a reasonably difficult to access Retail Park out
of town.
Clearly one of the first major considerations was the location. Every sword
has two edges and for us the upside of the recession was the availability of
retail units in our local high quality, high footfall, shopping centre.
Negotiations complete, we headed off to the Harrogate show to source
our suppliers.
One of the things we had to seriously consider was the impact of the ‘magic
lantern’‚ or the Internet as it is more commonly known, on retail operations.
We very quickly discovered that as a retailer we had to be very careful which
manufacturers products we chose to stock and promote. Certain products
could be bought on the Internet cheaper by our potential customers than we
could source directly from the manufacturer. Other retail only manufacturers
promised a visit to our shop after the show, and 6 months later we are
still waiting.
However, there were lots of companies that showed a real interest in a new
start-up business and offered us some good deals and promised good support.
We also met some great representatives‚ who have since visited us and
recommended sound investments. We invested in a wide range of products
from high-end travel systems through to budget ones. We shopped around
with both manufacturers and wholesalers to make sure we got the best deal
on products which were not just Internet specials.
Tel: 01827 307897
So, given that we could not afford to buy by the container load and
6 Ankerside Shopping Centre, George St, Tamworth,
compete with the Internet giants, how could we differentiate ourselves to the
Staffordshire, B79 7LQ
10
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NURSERY INDUSTRY
•
NOVEMBER 2009
•
www.nursery-industry.co.uk
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