Craft Focus - Page number 88 - June/July 2021 (Issue 85)

88 THE BIG RETAIL SECRET Catherine Erdly, founder of The Resilient Retail Club, an online company committed to helping product businesses create growth and profit, recently ran a survey with 300 product business owners about the year 2020. What worked, what didn’t and what to focus on moving forward. Here’s what she found out... The story of the retail industry is often told through the lens of the larger chains, and their high-profile troubles. This narrative ignores the reality that the retail industry is increasingly made up of small and independent retailers and brands, many of which are flourishing. 2020 has really disrupted any ‘retail norms’ as we’ve watched small product business owners rise to the challenges and their customers enjoy many of the adaptations. The pandemic has, in fact, been a catalyst for starting or growing businesses. Some 58 per cent of non-bricks and mortar businesses surveyed have experienced growth during the last 12 months. Despite extremely challenging circumstances, 43 per cent of bricks and mortar stores saw either neutral or positive growth. Many businesses have maximised their digital presence during this time with 88 per cent selling through their own website, and 97 per cent having an Instagram profile. Some 94 per cent of businesses still found that the established platforms of Instagram and Facebook were the marketing channels driving the most sales. This last year has forced people to stay in their homes and local area for long periods. Many have started up a new hobby with crafting, and its ease to undertake at home, experiencing a boom of its own. Running your own business is hard work but now is a brilliant time to optimise the changes and challenges you’ve all faced. WHAT DID INDEPENDENT PRODUCT BUSINESSES SAY? In a recent survey ran by The Resilient Retail Club, 300 small business owners – a key question asked was ‘what was the one thing that made the difference?’ in relation to growing your business. Of course, inevitably most people struggled to name just one thing! There were usually several different elements combined to create business growth over time. There was also a large variety in the answers. The biggest categories were around 20 per cent of businesses, so it was not as if there was one ‘secret’ to growth. Many people mentioned trial and error and a willingness to experiment as one of the key factors. VISIBILITY – BE SEEN Being seen – by accident or on purpose – was key for many people. An incident where an influencer, a publication, or a large account on social media shared their product usually resulted in a spike in sales. What’s interesting is that this type of exposure can often be entirely accidental or unexpected! A more planned out strategy is paid advertising and around 10 per cent of businesses attributed the biggest shift in their business to this, whether that was learning how to do the ads themselves or having someone help them. When you think about it this all leads back to visibility – getting to where your customers are and getting ‘seen’ by them. Dipping into wholesale was flagged – again linking to visibility – being stocked by other retailers was the ‘one thing’ that made the most difference to some people’s business in terms of growing both their brand awareness as well as their sales volumes. The takeaway shows that collaborations with a retailer and a product is really valuable for both the stockist and the brand – so think about for example a social media collaboration with a particular brand. To reach where your customers are and to be seen by them often means being brave and trying new things. A common theme was taking part in a particular event (online or in person) or a new sales channel. It was very varied in terms of which particular event or channel had helped them – often it was to do with how well that event or sales channel did at also attracting their ideal customer.