Q&A
Trade was difficult before Covid, but now we just take the attitude of a day at a time and try each day to get something positive out of it. We have had some support from our landlords, lots of praise from the public and obviously the grant support from the Council/Government. We will just keep trading and hopefully come out at the other side wherever the new normal lies but there is still a long way to go.
Do you have an online shop/website, and do you use social networking for business?
We are trading online through our own website and platforms such as Amazon and ebay.
The problem is without around 12,000 people passing our doors every day, online might help a little, but won’t really save our business. Every shop needs footfall if you are subject to market rents, service charges and business rates. Our next step is to start working much harder with social media.
Through the lockdowns my staff were furloughed, and I worked 3 days a week just to maintain our online business. I guess my personal thoughts regarding online for a small retailer is that it is ultimately a race to the bottom. When you see what the turnover of online retailers achieve and then look at the profits attained, I think it tells the story. I feel online is an extension of what we do instore, we sell some product and hopefully push customers back into our store.
What’s selling well? Any particular trends? Which are your best- selling footwear brands – and why?
Most of our brands we’ve worked with for many years such as Fly London, Irregular Choice, Blundstone, Tamaris, Ruby Shoo, Marco Tozzi. Obviously, winter boots are working well but regarding trends it seems to be a
little bit of everything. We’ve had a great response to El Naturalista and Art who have helped and given great support by providing lots of POS enabling us to showcase the brands really well. It has definitely helped to focus the brands in store and has pushed the sales of their product really well. (Photos attached)
Knowing your product is important and we’ve worked with all our brands for many years. This really helps to have confidence and knowledge of our product. Customers also know their brands to a degree and know what works for them. No formal training but something we might look at.
Does your shop sell other items besides footwear, bags, gloves, tights, socks, below the ankle products?
We used to sell stand-alone bag brands such as Fiorelli but found sales on bags have slipped back. I think with the rise of top end designer brands such as Michael Kors and Armani etc The market has changed and there doesn’t feel to be a middle market anymore. We still sell bags, but only those associated with the shoe brands we sell
Do you use an EPOS (retail technology) system in your shop(s)? Not anymore. We had an EPOS system 20 years ago when we had a couple of outlets. We can check stock on our online platforms and as we are just a stand-alone unit we can do without the expense.
What is your favourite men’s footwear brand/manufacturer – ditto ladies/children’s brand – and why?
We love all our brands but my favourite this season for mens and ladies is probably ART. It combines colour, quality, sustainability and has sat really nicely in the shop.
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