RETAILER FOCUS
react. There are, however, large groups of people who like good service, well displayed products and knowledgeable staff, and we need to maintain our growth in those areas.
Who is your target customer? How does your selection of products align with this? An easy answer to this would be anyone that has money in their wallet or purse. Hopefully we can convert as many of the bricks and mortar sceptics as possible. We want to encourage them to see what we do and once they do, we can keep them for as long as possible. We have to accept that this is now a mixed retail offer and customers will use both online and bricks and mortar. However, our products are available to buy now, take home and use today, not in a few days when they are delivered and that is something we need to stress.
Where do you see La Cookshop in the next five years? How will the business evolve? Still here as I have just had a new heating system installed with a 10-year warranty and I want my monies worth! Seriously though, still growing the bricks and mortar business as well as the online business would make me happy. I also want to continue enjoying my work, as long as I enjoy it why would I want to stop.
have to attract customers by making the entrance look interesting. This is often done by changing the tables in the doorway on a weekly basis.
How have your staff contributed to the success of your business? The staff are the business full stop. Without great staff the business would lose so much of its appeal. My longest serving member of staff has worked with me for 22 years and the knowledge built over that time is something you cannot teach. Retaining staff is the key to success of any retail business, constantly changing staff means you never get across the basic knowledge threshold.
Tell us about your 2024 goals. How will you achieve them? Next year is an exciting year for us as we will be celebrating our 30th anniversary. To commemorate the milestone, we’re launching promotions and advertising across both the Cookshop and Gifting sides of the business. This year we’re focused on growing the business more, keeping double digit growth going and increasing sales through our website platform. We are launching a brand-new website which looks clean and fresh with more cookshop products. I am a salesman so I am driven to always be better than last year and look forward not back.
With the current economic pressure on the retail sector, how do you plan to overcome this challenging period? I often feel that the retail sector is good at talking itself down rather than up. The challenges of the high street will not go away by a change of colour in Whitehall. The challenges of big players in online shopping will also continue. Amazon will face strong challenges from online businesses in the Far East and it will be interesting to see how they
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