92 INDIE RETAILER FOCUS Talking Shop: Gems Gifts
This Bromley independent outlet mixes toys with party and wedding gifts. Speaking to Gems Gifts, Lewis Tyler found out how opening on the Amazon Marketplace and choosing the right variety of toys has helped lift the retailer’s fortunes during the worst of the recession…
Since September 2010, Bromley-based Gems Gifts has been supplying the South London area with toys and gifts not stocked by many of the retail giants and supermarkets
How did Gems Gifts begin? The aim was to provide Bromley, Beckenham, Anerley, Penge and surrounding South London areas with an alternative gift shop selling quality branded toys, gifts and other quirky products. We opened in September 2010 at the time the economy started to recover. Customers started to recognise that we were offering exceptional value, unique or hard to find items that Argos, Toys R Us and the supermarkets didn’t have.
How is the Penge High Street? Are customers spending much? Do you have much competition? It has been challenging but when a customer finds what they want they will more often than not make the purchase and spend on the more expensive items, which is really positive for when times improve. The competition is quite intense from the big supermarkets, and larger shopping locations.
How has this year been for you? The economic climate has taken its toll on everyone’s finances and we have seen an unprecedented decline in consumer confidence and spending.
FEBRUARY 2012
With this in mind and seeing customer spending decline so rapidly we had to develop our own survival strategy as a new start-up business, and started to sell our products via Amazon. Although the competition for online customers is intense, the ability to open up our product range nationally has been a good strategy.
What have been your best performers this year? This year has been the most
looking very positive with new product launches and some great existing lines in terms of popularity and sales. However, more needs to be done to help and support independents.
When did you set up your website? Do you operate in any other channels, such as eBay? We only set up the business card website in September to promote our Amazon Marketplace shop. We
I genuinely believe the toy industry as a whole is looking very positive, with
new product launches and some great existing lines in terms of popularity and sales.
challenging, but Monster High, Beyblades and Ben 10 are always popular. Barbie is a mainstay and sells steady at all times. Lego is great although difficult to get hold of for small independents.
In terms of products, do you think 2011 has been a good year for the toy business?
Interesting question. I genuinely believe the toy industry as a whole is
would love to go to our own website in the future, but Amazon and eBay offer an excellent foray into online selling at a limited cost.
What’s your retail philosophy? Initially we planned to offer a modern yet nostalgic version of the small High Street toy and gift shop. However the downturn has required swift action to online sales to sustain the shop until the economy picks up.
Which supplier is your favourite? It would be unfair of us to single out anyone, suffice to say we have a few excellent suppliers; Flair, Spin Master, AB Gee and Chester Toys.
What do you look out for when selecting a new lines?
There is a lot of media coverage of new lines such as Bandai’s ThunderCats or Character Options Xia Xia, so it can be easy to jump on board; but I like to be more cautious and seek out little gems of my own.
Do you think it’s a real advantage to be active with social media? As a small business it can be very difficult to devote time and effort to new media, but I do believe this can be a critical element in differentiating our businesses at relatively little cost.
What are your plans for the future? We plan to be around for the foreseeable future as a small local business and will ensure we’re always changing to attract more customers both in store and online. We plan to devote more time to social media to promote our business and we have a few ideas to help the wider small business community.
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