On the way to meet my sister we popped into Page Two, downstairs in the QVB. Sister store Page One is upstairs in the same building. Sadly they had broken a lid from an Alice Tea for One Set, so I brought a spare and swapped it over for them. Ann was a little busy with customers as her staff had just ducked out to the ladies, so we had a chance to browse around while we waited for her to be free.

Besides a lovely assortment of J Style stationery and quirky tea sets, the store was chokka block with all kinds of fun goodies. Page Two primarily stocks gift cards and wrapping, so there were lots of cards. Joe loves those ones with dogs and cats that have been deformed by Photoshop or dressed up as rock stars, and Meg likes all the fancy pop-up cards. They also found plenty of cute little gifts from mini wind-up toys to a small sparkly pen with a stylus on the end that Meg thought would coordinate nicely with her new iPod Touch case.

Teapot lid swap taken care of, we were off to Abbey Bridal. After a few dresses and a little disappointment at not finding the perfect one (don't worry she got one a few days later without us), we zipped off to the Galleries Victoria hoping for a conveyor-belt sushi lunch. Until we saw the queue out the door. So up another escalator we went, aiming for a big bowl of ramen at Ichiban Boshi. Which had an even bigger queue out the door.

It was after 2pm by now so I don't know when these people have to get back to the office, but we were getting pretty hungry, so we headed back down all the escalators to the food court and found there was an Ichiban Boshi food court version downstairs with no queue at all! Yay!

Kids and I filled up on a nice big bowl of ramen noodles, while my sister went for a Thai Duck with Rice. We all felt much better after refuelling.

In the process of all the up and down the escalators, I spotted Monster Threads was just upstairs from the food court. Monster Threads have just started stocking J Style's more quirky tea sets and I've never actually been in one of their stores, so I wanted to check it out.

What a fun shop! They specialise in designer T-shirts, and then lots of fun things to go with their T-shirts. You might not think a tea set goes with a T-shirt, but you have to wear something while you're drinking tea. I have to admit to being a bit of a T-shirt aficionado as tees are pretty much all I wear. My sister and I liked the Tees so much she decided to buy me one for my birthday. Of course I couldn't say no - but I did have a bit of trouble deciding which one! The ladies tees are a really nice cut, and at only $35, very reasonable too. There was also a lot of super cute jewelery. Silver robot earrings and wooden bicycle necklaces, but we had to save something for the next trip.

I promised to wear my new tee the next time we met, which happened to be that weekend at my niece's 5th birthday. My niece is the daughter of my OTHER sister, who has just bought a farm outside of Goulburn. Only problem with my new T-shirt is that two of her cows really seemed to like it too, and I ended up running backwards out of the paddock while everyone had a good ol' laugh. It might also have been because my sister was tossing carrots around my feet. Luckily it was only the cows and not the giant bull that took any interest.

Page One (Level Two)
& Page Two (Lower Level)
Queen Victoria Building
455 George St Sydney

Monster Threads
The Galeries Victoria
Shop 7 Ground Floor
500 George St Sydney
For more store locations see
www.monsterthreads.com.au

Naturally there will also be a collection of J Style souvenirs in the gift shop, so we can't help but give the exhibition a plug. It's on from 15 March 2012, so put that in your calendar of things to do next week.

Wish I was closer to Mebounre, I'll just have to look them up online and eat my own sweets at home I suppose...

http://museumvictoria.com.au/immigrationmuseum/whatson/upcoming-exhbitions/sweets-exhibition/

If I WAS closer to Melbourne, I would surely get a ticket to the opening night SWEETS Dinner, where Chef Guy Grossi will serve you up all kinds of sweets with matching wine. Now that sounds like a nice way to spend a rainy evening.

February also means we've all had a nice rest after Christmas, got the kids back to school, and have lots of brand new exciting stock arriving ready to show off at the trade fair. Yes, I was just liasing with the customs broker about when exactly our container will be available at the port and how soon it will be until we are unpacking all those new goodies!

Chika and I just spent a good day's work typing up all the details to put up on the website too!

Take a look, especially at the super cute new Tea for Two Sets (I love the Black Cat. Chika is going for the Dog). I'm putting them on the website today, but they haven't QUITE arrived yet, so any orders placed now will be dispatched after we actually unpack the container. Just giving you a sneak preview!

Better yet...come along and see us at the Home & Giving Fair! We love to meet all our retailers face to face, and it gives you a chance to play with everything and get touchy feely with the products. The Home & Giving Fair is a trade only event. For more details and registration see www.homeandgiving.com.

One more thing I'm really getting excited about are our new Japanese Handkerchiefs and Furoshiki Wrapping Cloths. I've been waiting to stock Handkerchiefs for about 10 years, and finally Sam has relented. He's terribly worried Australians will try to blow their nose on them which would be absolutely horrifying in Japan. Please don't! Please use these gorgeous handkerchiefs for everything but. Wrap presents with them, wear them as a bandana or scarf, use them as a coffee table cloth, cut them up for quilting if you must... just don't blow your nose on them!

I've decided blogging about the business ALL the time is not as exciting to you readers as I may find it, so I'm going to throw in a few other random things along the way. Honestly, I think sometimes blogs can get a bit tedious if they're too personal too, but maybe a mix of both will help spice it up a bit.

So, what do the J Stylers get up to at New Years? If you read our NEWS on the front page, you'll know we've given ourselves some time off for a start.

Here in Australia, Christmas is the big Gift Giving Season, and being a supplier to gift stores, by about the 22nd of December we are pretty much over it. There's no time left to get stock to our customers before the big day, and we've been working harder than elves for about a month in the lead-up, so we really do need a long winter's nap (except it's summer).

Sam's family are all in Japan, and they couldn't give two hoots about Christmas. My Mum thinks this is fantastic because there is no need to fight the in-laws over where our family will spend Christmas every year. Besides, my Mum lives about 2 minutes walk from the beautiful beaches of Jervis Bay, so choosing a week at Grandma's for Christmas is pretty much a no-brainer.

There are few Christians in Japan, and most of the Christmas celebration focusses on Christmas Eve, a night for "lovers" (or "rubbers" if you pronounce it with a Japanese accent). There's usually a few good fireworks displays on, and smoochy couples wander from bar to bar until the wee hours. It's a bit commercialised (any excuse for gift giving) but surprisingly not so much as it is here.

New Years is the big religious holiday. A lot of people try to visit a shrine at midnight. You usually don't get anywhere near the shrine gate until at least 3am, unless you've been camped out since the 30th. The traditional meal is soba noodles on New Year's Eve. Long noodles help you to live a long life. Then on New Year's Day (after you get home from the shrine) you eat a kind of sweet bean soup with mochi (rice cakes) floating in it called "Zouni".

Here at home in Australia, "Noodle Master" Sam always makes us soba noodles for dinner on New Year's Eve, before we head to the local Australian-style fireworks. Today he made Zouni for lunch.

The thing that really gets me about Zouni is that it's dangerous. The rice cakes are really chewy. Which is great. I love them. But after watching the Australian News broadcast in the evening where they tell us how many people were rescued (or drowned) at beaches on New Year's Day, we switch to Japanese News and the news reader is reading the statistics on how many people died from choking on the mochi rice cakes in their Zouni. It's mostly people over 80 years old who can't chew their extra chewy rice cakes well enough. A lady who was 101 was taken to hospital this year (she recovered thank goodness). On the last news report I watched 17 people had been hospitalised and 2 had died!

New Years Advice from Australia experts: Swim between the flags, and slip, slop, slap.

New Years Advice from Japanese experts: chop your rice cakes into smaller pieces and don't slurp them too quickly with your soup.

So I realised I hadn't written a blog post about the last trade fair, and seeing as the two Home & Giving Fairs each year are our two biggest chances to show everyone J Style’s new products, meet our lovely customers face to face, meet some new customers, and gather those all important orders, it seems I really should be blogging a bit more about this all important event.

10 or 12 years ago when J Style first started exhibiting at fairs we used to rope my uni student sisters into staffing the stand, and when it got quiet they used to amuse me no end with their crowd watching observations. They used to play games like "spot the pharmacist" and "guess which product this customer will order first". In one way it was quite rude for them to be stereotyping my customers, but from another point of view, they were doing a good job of profiling my customers. Even now I have a bit of a secret smile when I see someone wearing a neatly ironed blue cotton shirt, smart pants and sensible shoes head straight for the hair accessories & make-up pouches, then turn to me and say, "we have a pharmacy with quite a large gift area".

J Style has a very broad range of products all tied together under the theme of "imported from Japan". We hence have a very wide customer base. Tea specialists do feature quite heavily in the J Style stockist list, but we are also stocked by stationers, department stores, fashion retailers, jewellers, kitchenware stores and of course many pharmacists!

So, to the point of this blog post, "what is your best seller?" Every trade fair I get asked this question at least 3 times a day. My sisters would jump on this as an obvious indicator of "spot the new retailer". You may not be totally new to the retail game, but at least a new customer of J Style.

The thing is, there's no point me telling you that the Kimono Concord Hair Clip is our best seller if you own a tea shop. Similarly, if you have a boutique stationery store, you really won't care to hear how well our Camellia Tea for Two Sets are selling. To further complicate things, Kimono Glasses Cases, sold in packs of 6, sell six times as much from the get go. They may come in tops in total quantity, especially when we have a few chain stores like Sussan stocking them, but it may be better to judge the "best seller" by how many retailers stock a product, even if they only order a dozen each. The final complication is, that one individual memo pad design is never going to make the best seller list, but if we add "memo pad" sales together, they do very well, as do our foldable shopping bags. Dividing their sales by 50 designs seems a little unfair. In the end, does the quantity even matter at all? I used to sell some gorgeous ceramic platters that wholesaled at over $200 each. I didn't need to sell very many of them to make more profit per year than I did on hundreds of $2.00 teddy bear charms.

So although when I'm asked this question at a fair I tend to ramble a lot, as a trade fair wrap up this year I will attempt to summarise what our "best sellers" were at the fair.

And the award for Best Seller by total quantity of an individual item goes to;

Kimono Glasses Cases, very closely followed by 150g Washi Tea Canisters and Kimono Large Concord Clips

Best seller by total quantity of a "series" goes to;

Kurochiku Eco Shopping Bags, closely followed by Letter Sets, LB/LC series teapots & cups, and Japanese Vases

Individual item stocked by the most individual retailers;

Almost equal scores to Red Riding Hood Tea for One Set, Matryoshka Flower Tea for Two Set, and Eiffel Tea for One Set.

"Series" stocked by the most individual retailers;

Washi Paper Tea Canisters (100g size is marginally ahead of the other sizes), and "LB/LC series" teapots & cups.

I'm really not sure what you as retailer are supposed to make of this list at all. Should you rush out and buy the best sellers? Or the most popular items ordered by the most other retailers? My usual advice, especially to first time buyers is, to go with your gut instinct and pick what you like. I know it doesn't always work, but if you like it, you're at least going to do a much better job of selling it enthusiastically to your customers than trying to flog off something you think is as ugly as mud, but some wholesaler at a trade fair told you it was their best seller.

I personally wouldn't risk buying anything a wholesaler recommended as the best seller unless I also liked it myself. I prefer to make my first time customers very happy with their sales so they come back again, but I'm sure there are plenty of wholesale sales reps out there who will point out the slowest, dead duck on their stand as the "best seller" so they can move a few of them off onto a gullible first time buyer.

So in summary, ignore this list above, pick what you like, that will suit your store, and don't ask me again! :)

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

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!

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.

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.