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The Gifted Retailer

GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 11/7/2011 4:48:49 PM

Owner Robin Consani of Sweetwater Paper & Home in Walla Walla, WA, says that in this economy a retailer must adapt to changes and stay current in order to succeed.

Gifts & Decorative Accessories: What do you like best about being a retailer?
Robin Consani: I love being able to release the "inner shopkeeper" in me! Being able to have my visions and creativity come to life has been fantastic.

G&DA: What was the most valuable piece of business advice that you ever received?
RC: That's a tough one, hard to narrow down to just one. "Follow your gut" and always remember your core vision of your business, are the ones that help me the most. Whenever I am on the fence about something, I have to listen to what my instincts are telling me and follow that. When something does not go as well as I would like, I look back and realize I did NOT do this!

G&DA: What is/was your most successful promotion?
Sweetwater RC: We recently celebrated our first anniversary, and had a week-long Anniversary Sale & Celebration. We promoted it via email marketing, Facebook and local newspaper ads. Promotions included: daily drawings for gift baskets, a sidewalk sale (marked 40 percent or more off), a "sale a day" (one item category was announced each day on Facebook, and for that day all of those items were 30 percent off) and, of course, we had cake! The first day, a Saturday, was the biggest sales day we ever had, bigger even than the Saturday before Christmas. We ran our sidewalk sale for a week, increasing the discounting as the week progressed.

G&DA: What three products/lines are you best sellers?
RC: Greeting cards are our bread and butter (we have about 35 lines) and of those, Compendium cards are the best sellers. Next is stationery (journals, boxed notes) and Chronicle is huge for us. All around the rest of the store, Creative Co-Op is tops!

G&DA: What are you doing to attract new customers?
RC: Continuing to grow our email marketing list. I recently started asking good customers if they were on our newsletter list, and NONE of them were! They are now! Pays to ask!

G&DA: What was your most effective display? Sweetwater
RC: Two sides of our store are windows, so my merchandising has to face both ways. Featuring books, scarves, flower lights and jewelry in the window, it brings people in!

G&DA: How do you find your best employees?
RC: I "visualized" her. I wanted someone more "mature", someone whom I could trust, someone NOT looking for full-time work or big paychecks, but most importantly, someone who would bring passion and personality to the store. A tall order! I was keeping my eyes open, and one day a woman I had gotten to know as a customer and at her place of employment, told me she was leaving her job. We got to talking, and voila! We could not be happier to have her work here! Not the most practical approach, I know, but it worked!

G&DA: What was your biggest retail problem and how did you solve it?
RC: Moving out merchandise that isn't selling fast enough. First, I re-merchandise it, moving it to a better merchandising location, talk about it with customers, and when all else fails, discount, discount, discount.

Sweetwater G&DA: How is the current economy affecting your business? What advice would you give to a struggling retailer?
RC: We are very lucky in our area to have a fairly strong, diverse economy. However, everyone is aware of how they spend their dollars. The economy, and our world, are constantly changing. Retailers MUST adapt to these changes and stay current, with all aspects of their business.

Our approach is four-fold: 1: Offer products that people need. 2: Offer products that bring joy and fun to our customers' lives. 3: Offer products that are affordable (98% under $40). 4: Offer products that are NOT commonly seen.

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