Down to Business

• Regional Shopping Woes by Jen, J Style
  in Down to Business
  14 Aug 2011  | 0 Comments

  I mentioned earlier my desperation for some nice new clothes to wear to the Melbourne Home & Giving Fair, and my frustration at not being able to find anything interesting in the Wollongong David Jones. Well, I was in town again to pick up our new catalogues (available online and by post, just ask for one!), and I thought I'd give Myers a go. I'd suddenly realised that I only had one pair of nice Kimono Floral sneakers left to wear and was thinking that Melbourne really was calling for a nice pair of boots. I hadn't found anything in DJs. So...I'm in Myers, trying to decide which pair of rather uninteresting black boots I might buy, when I spotted a great pair of red leather boots! By my favourite shoe company Planet Shoes! With comfy almost flat soles great for standing all day at trade fairs!

  The ones on display were size 9, and I'm usually 8 and a half, so I asked if they had my size. I was told - rather snobbily - that Wollongong Myers doesn't usually stock red boots. Coloured boots are not popular in Wollongong. The only reason they were there was because someone had purchased them in the Sydney City store and then returned them in Wollongong. They could (would?) not order them in my size for me. Luckily size 9 turned out to be perfect for me, and after a good inspection to make sure there wasn't anything wrong with them to warrant the return, I had my lovely red boots!

  I also had the answer to my question about why I can never find anything interesting to buy in Wollongong.

  Since then I have been getting lots of compliments on my boots, and even had 3 different strangers stop me in the street to ask where I got them. Three people - and I've only worn them out in Wollongong twice.

  I know it's not possible for small town retailers to stock everything that everyone might possibly want, but it would be nice if they stepped outside the "safe zone" of plain black boots once in a while. I do have some wonderful stockists out in the middle of "regional Australia" in places much smaller and more isolated than Wollongong. They place small orders, with a good variety of our products, then keep our catalogue handy under the counter to show people the wider range available. By placing small but regular orders they can easily say to local customers that they will order something in for them and it will be there with the next order.

  Myers and David Jones may look at the numbers and say people in Wollongong don't buy coloured boots. But maybe they would if they were offered them! If they'd just had a sample on the shelf and told me I could order them in my size I would have been perfectly happy with that. As it is, there are a lot of Wollongong people driving to Sydney just to go shopping - or as we know from the media - resorting to buying more and more online.

  It comes back to wanting something special, and unique. I only got my "not available in Wollongong" boots by chance. Thank you whoever went all the way to Sydney to buy them and return them in Wollongong for me!

  P.S. If you are not in Sydney City either, you can get these boots (and they come in more colours!!) at http://www.shoebizarre.com.au/planet.php
• That special something by Jen, J Style
  in Down to Business
  18 Jul 2011  | 0 Comments

  I've been reading a lot of doom and gloom about retail in the papers lately, and then my Mum rings in a panic that we are about to go bankrupt and move in with her, but we're not finding it all that gloomy at all. I wouldn't say it's the best year we've ever had, but it's certainly not the worst either.

  Personally (and I have no hard facts to back this up), I just see a change in how consumers are shopping and what they want to buy.

  I am in DESPERATE need of some new clothes to wear to the August Gift Fair, but it's quite likley I'll end up down in Melbourne in the same stuff I've been wearing there 3 years in a row. Wollongong is not exactly the greatest place to go shopping at the best of times, so I struggle with anything beyond jeans and a T-shirt. You may have noticed that is pretty much what I end up wearing. A combination of little choice, and little incentive, since I work for myself from home. Now, Colorado is closing down so I won't even be able to get my favourite jeans anymore! DJ's is their own worst enemy. I took a look around our local David Jones last week and no wonder their profits are down. There was nothing in there I wanted to buy. It was all blandy bland bland. A mix of "same thing I saw in Target/Kmart for half the price" and "my Mum would probably like this".

  The opening of Zara has been all over the news. I haven't made it up to Sydney for a look, but I did really enjoy myself in Zara in London a couple of years ago, so I'm imagining the goodies will be just as good. The big thing being they change their stock over so quickly. It's all new, new, new, every fortnight.

  I think that's what's hurting the big retailers, Consumers are so quick to pick up on new trends these days. The power of the internet and all that. We want new, we want different, we want unique, and we want it now. I don't need 70 percent off, I just want something nice and special that I won't see every second Mum at school pick-up wearing too.

  I think there's a real opportunity here for smaller retailers to bring those special somethings to the consumer. You can carry smaller quantities of stock, you can search the internet yourselves and stay on top of trends, and then use the internet and social media to get the word out there to your customers about what you offer. Stay small, stay niche, and build a following for yourself as that "special little place where they have special little things".

  Big and bulk and chain just doesn't cut it anymore. Of course I'm talking about fashion and giftware here. Washing machines are a different story. I DO want 70 percent off my next washing machine!

   
• What happens if you run out of money? by Jen, J Style
  in Down to Business
  31 May 2011  | 0 Comments

  You may have realised from my last blog post that one of my pet peeves is customers who don’t pay on time and need reminders. I think that’s pretty much everyone’s pet peeve!

  Nothing is more tiresome than sitting down at the end of the month to send out statements to everyone who hasn’t paid on time. Worse, is having to phone them after a statement or two has been ignored. Don’t even ask how it feels if I have to pass the invoice onto our debt collection agency and pay someone else to get my money for me. You don’t want to know what kind of mood I get in if we have to take someone to court.

  So, you want to stay in the good books with your supplier, but you’re a little short on cash, and your 30 days credit is quickly running out. What do you do?

  a)      Wait for a statement, or a couple of statements, or a phone call. Start screening your calls. Drag it out as long as possible without them sending the sheriff around to seize goods.

  b)      Call your supplier when you’ve still got a week to go and beg for mercy.

  OK – you don’t have to beg, but be up front. If business is slow for you, you’re probably not the first business to have called for help already.

  Suppliers want you to stay in business. If you’ve been a good customer in the past, we want to help you get through any rough patches. I am honestly so grateful to customers that call me first before I have to call them, that I’m a total sucker for giving them extended terms, or agreeing to take payment in instalments.

  Again, I am only speaking for myself, but on the whole, a supplier would rather be getting SOME money every week, than no money and empty promises for months.

  Business Tip:  If you get into trouble with your cash flow, be upfront, and do it early. Paying by instalments each week is better for you and your supplier in the long term.
• Collect Early, Pay Late? by Jen, J Style
  in Down to Business
  25 May 2011  | 0 Comments

  One of the top tips I often see on those “how to run your small business” lists, is to keep an eye on your cash flow and do your best to collect early, and pay late.
  
  This kind of advice really annoys me, because it means while I am trying to collect early, my customers are doing their best to pay late.
  
  Some people seem to think, “pay late” means “pay as late as you possibly can without being taken to court”. But one of the other top tips you often see is “build good relationships with your suppliers”. Paying them late is not the way to do this.
  
  Whether you are dealing with a big company, or a one-person home based business, these days we are all using accounting software to keep track of our businesses. When a customer calls me, nine times out of ten I’m sitting in front of my computer and the first thing I do is click on their company record. Up flashes their entire purchase and payment history. Whether I remember you and your store personally or not, I can see at a glance how often you order, and how long it takes you to pay your bills.
  
  You want your order shipped urgently today? Let me see…if you’re a customer who pays on time, or even better – early – I’ll probably give the warehouse a call and tell them to bump your order up to the top of today’s packing schedule and make sure it gets out. I may even pop down there myself at lunch and help pick the stock. But…if we’ve already got a full packing schedule for the day and you’re the kind of customer who regularly pays after 90 days, or just when you want to place a new order…well you might have to wait until tomorrow.
  
  It’s harsh, but it’s business!
  
  If only everyone would just “Collect on Time, Pay on Time”. I do actually have many customers who do this. I am so happy to not have to send them statements, or call them to remind them to pay. I love you, you organised, responsible customers! The best way to your suppliers’ heart is to do this. There’s no need to pay early (although that certainly is appreciated!), just pay on time and save them that embarrassing phone call to ask when your money is coming.
• Starting Out by Jen, J Style
  in Down to Business
  4 May 2011  | 0 Comments

  Starting Out

  We’ve been in business at J Style for 11 years now. It doesn’t feel that long, because time flies when you’re having fun, but I guess if you are a new business person, 11 years must seem like a pretty long time to be in business. At least when I started in business and I met people who’d been in business for 10 years or more – I assumed they were old hands, experienced, and if nothing else, had made it past the “90% of small businesses fail in the first 2 years” mark.

  Before I left the corporate world to start J Style with my husband Sam, one of the jobs I had was as a public servant in Canberra – gasp! I know. The complete opposite of a “business” person. Every time I do something that’s a bit too “customer service” and not enough “bottom line” for Sam’s liking, he loves to point out what a public servant I am.

  The thing is, my role in the public service was in small business assistance programs. We did things like provide seminars on how to start your small business, the importance of business planning, budgeting, how to access government grants for R&D and exporting, do your tax, and all that. We supported programs to help long term unemployed people to start their own businesses, and education programs aimed at developing entrepreneurial skills in young people.

  Later in my career I worked for JETRO, the Japanese Government’s trade promotion organisation in Sydney. Again I was helping business people, but this time to export to, or invest in Japan. We supported businesses to develop products for the Japanese market and market them appropriately, as well as set up a Japanese office and hiring local staff.

  So what led me to start my own business after a life of government work?

  Firstly, I was dealing with small business people every day. Yes a lot of them were brilliant people with great ideas and great products. But there were also a lot who left me wondering how they managed to feed themselves. Surely if these people could make enough money to pay their rent, I could do it!

  Secondly, and most importantly, Sam and I decided to start a family. With no paid maternity leave, and little scope to return to work in my old position involving lots of travel and late nights at the office, I decided it was time for a change. I would set up a little business I could run from home with baby tucked under one arm.

  Well, look where that got me!

  The thing is, after all my seminars insisting people have business plans and budgets and feasibility studies before they even think of starting a business, it turned out that in real life, that’s harder to do than you think.

  Yes I did do a lot of research before I started. I found that no-one else was doing what I wanted to do, and that’s where I hit a dead end. How do I benchmark myself in an industry that is as disparate as the gift and homewares industry? If importers of Japanese tableware and teaware are few and far between, does that mean there’s a gap in the market? Or does it mean no-one wants to buy it?

  In the end I literally hit the streets, and pretending to be chatty customer on a quiet weekday, asked questions at every good retailer around town. I studied their colour choices, window displays, stock levels. I read House & Garden and Vogue Living and every other design magazine from cover to cover. I looked up the websites of wholesalers by Googling the names on the labels under every teapot, dish or bowl I found. I hit the trade shows and collected catalogues and price lists everywhere I went.

  Finally armed with all this knowledge I took off to Japan and went in search of things at the right price, in the right style, and the right colour, but completely different from what was already available. The one thing every retailer mentioned. They wanted something new.

  I don’t think I ever sat down and wrote a business plan. I didn’t do a proper budget either. I didn’t do most of the things I’d spent years telling small business people were ESSENTIAL to making your business a success. But I did do my research.

  That’s where you’ve got to start. It’s one of the old clichés I used to hand out at government seminars and it’s actually true. Before you can sell anything, you’ve got to know who your customers are and what they want. That’s the beginning of your business. The continuation of your business is to keep knowing who your customers are and what they want. They all want something new, but as soon as you give it to them, it’s old. So off you go again!

  Business Tip No. 1: Get to know your customers, then keep getting to know them, and never stop getting to know them. They’ll change. You have to keep up, or better yet, be ahead of the game.