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What additional services do you provide? One thing that has been asked for - and we have now started to do - is gift cards. They are really popular and we’ve have sold more than we envisaged. Our EPOS system allows for loyalty discounts and we may introduce this next year depending on feedback.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of your job? The most rewarding part of my job is when the advice you have given a customer has helped a tremendous amount, and they come back a few days later just to thank you and tell you how the advice helped.
What’s the most challenging aspect of your job?
Letchworth. [The Letchworth Business Improvement District partnered with environmental waste management company ACM Environmental to deliver the initiative to the town centre on August 20. The machine is installed in Letchworth’s Garden Square shopping centre to encourage shoppers to recycle in exchange for retail incentives.] The first of its kind in the country, you simply
put your empty plastic bottles and drinks cans in the machine, the barcode of each item is scanned and logged, and the machine then prints out a discount voucher which you can use in a number of shops in town. The bottles and cans are pre-sorted by the machine and collected for recycling.
One of the most challenging parts of the job is the balance between a sale and your margin. A lot of customers compare prices online simply by scanning the product barcode into Google and the product pops up with everyone's prices. At this point you realise that some of your competitors are selling the item at a loss leader just to get the sale.
Where are you taking the business next? Although it’s been a busy year for us we have exciting plans for the future. One of the main projects is to set up a demonstration kitchen where we could run classes and hold brand demonstrations. We are also developing an ecommerce website where we can sell some of our products to a wider audience.
What advice would you give to someone starting out in housewares retailing? I feel that, like many other industries, the housewares industry is going through a tough time. So if you do want to start out in retailing, make sure you have innovative ideas that you could implement during the quieter months of the year - and try not to get dragged into the discounting spiral, by looking for and promoting unique products that your competitors are not selling or are not promoting as well.
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