As a creative product business, the first step to making a sale is driving traffic to your website - but it’s important to recognize that not all traffic is created equal - just like in a physical store, you’ll have people who have arrived at your business with the intention to buy but there’ll also be plenty of people just browsing. So how do you ensure that your website doesn’t become a leaky bucket of looky-loos that aren’t converting to customers? In Episode 19 of The Resilient Retail Game P...
Dec 03, 2020•30 min
2020 has been a year like no other for retail. With the pandemic ongoing and the uncertainty surrounding what a post-lockdown December looks like, consumers are in a bit of a holding pattern, and as small business owners, we have to expect the unexpected. We will see a Black Friday boom or will there be more in-person purchasing once lockdown is lifted? With everything so up in the air I want to spend episode 18 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan looking at what current research indicates about t...
Nov 26, 2020•23 min
In my many years of experience working for and dealing with creative product businesses, and of the many tactics and strategies people use to shift their products, I’ve found that stock clearance is one of the most misunderstood and misused. Stale stock traps money in your business, takes up valuable space, and can be a drain on you mentally - so how do you deal with stock that’s not performing? In episode 17 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to give you my five top tips on how to have a...
Nov 19, 2020•33 min
As a creative product business owner, the run-up to Christmas can be stressful. There’s so much to do, plan, consider, and manage and it’s all too easy to become overwhelmed and lose focus during this important selling period. In episode 16 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to focus on mindset and give you my best advice on how to come out on the other side of the holidays with a successful sales season and your sanity. We’ll look at how everything ultimately comes down to prioritizing a...
Nov 12, 2020•12 min
It’s easy to get overwhelmed in the hectic run-up to Christmas. As the winter months run away with us, it can sometimes feel like you’re constantly on the back foot trying to put an ad-hoc Xmas strategy together, and that was before you had a global pandemic and a national lockdown to contend with. So, in episode 15 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to go through a couple of points that will help you set some plans into action. We’ll look at how you can keep your customer base engaged th...
Nov 05, 2020•20 min
Though you might be feeling deflated and frustrated upon hearing the news that we’re in for a new month-long lockdown, we have the advantage of having gone through this once already and can use the benefit of that experience to get prepared for the challenges ahead. Christmas isn’t canceled, I believe it’s all to play for - so, in this special bonus episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’ll share some practical tips to help keep you and your creative product business moving forward. By not...
Nov 02, 2020•28 min
As a creative product business, there are many ways that you can get products in front of potential customers, and it’s thanks to the ever-growing reach and growth of technology that digital marketplaces have become a major component of the shopping process. From ‘Amazon’ to ‘Not On The High Street’ and from ‘Etsy’ to ‘eBay’, third-party marketplaces appear to offer a lot of advantages in the form of increased traffic and exposure to new audiences, often with enticingly reasonable commissions an...
Oct 29, 2020•29 min
Todays episode is a little bit different - a little bit of a rant, if you like! Starting a business is often a minefield in terms of your self belief and it’s very easy to get seduced by a lot of the quick-fix messaging that we’re exposed to on social media. We’ve all seen them - the Facebook ads promising you a roadmap to a six-figure business, promoted content that claims to guarantee you eye-watering profits in just a few weeks or months. I’m certainly not immune to these tactics, and it’s no...
Oct 22, 2020•25 min
Last year I conducted a survey where I asked about 50 small creative product businesses a wide variety of questions, ranging from how they managed their costs to what sort of turnover they were producing. One quite startling figure that arose from this research was that a whopping 75% of the business owners I surveyed did not pay themselves from their creative product business! Paying yourself is something I’m really passionate about. Yes, it makes sense to keep money in the business to help it ...
Oct 18, 2020•26 min
In mid-September, I ran the Resilient Retail online summit, which was all about getting ready for one of the most important sales touchstones of the year - Christmas. The summit featured 10 sessions across 2 days presented by an amazing range of industry experts with backgrounds and experience as diverse as email marketing, PR, wholesaling, and social media. So, with the festive season not far off, it is in Episode 11 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan that I want to run through and expand on wha...
Oct 11, 2020•24 min
In episode 10 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to get you moving from being a reactive to a proactive creative business owner, and that all starts with setting targets and goals as part of a robust sales plan. A sales plan is the first building block needed for many of the elements that are required to run your business effectively. Even making a simple outline with a few select targets can allow you to clearly see your goals and give you the information needed to correctly forecast and...
Oct 04, 2020•24 min
Social Media is an inescapable and vitally important channel through which to reach and connect with your customers. With the right mixture of content and posts, you might see great results in a short space of time but it’s important to remember that Social Media is not a sales strategy, but just one device in your selling toolkit. In episode 9 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I go over the approaches, challenges, and benefits of using social media to sell your creative products. We’ll look at...
Sep 27, 2020•35 min
There’s so much to do once you start your own creative product business! When you’re in charge of doing everything and find yourself juggling so many responsibilities it can be hard to see the big picture, especially when it comes to sales. That’s why in episode 8 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I’m diving into the ONLY four ways to grow your sales. From ‘Sales Funnels’ to ‘Super-fans’, we’ll start at looking at how to get more people aware of your business through tools like SEO and social m...
Sep 06, 2020•35 min
Whether you find yourself bursting with business ideas, think that you've spotted a gap in the market or are simply just tired of the 9 to 5 and are ready for a change, starting a creative product business can seem like the perfect option - but it’s not without its challenges and a steep learning curve. So, in episode 7 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to give you 5 things you need to know before starting your product business that will help you take your ideas, passion, and excitement ...
Aug 23, 2020•37 min
Profit is the engine that drives everything you do, so if you don’t price your creative products correctly you can’t hope to last very long or to build a resilient retail business. Underpricing is a common trend I see afflict budding entrepreneurs and small businesses alike, where various elements, often including a lack of confidence or belief in you and your business, means you start charging less than the market value for your products. In episode 6 of the Resilient Retail Game Plan, I'll wal...
Aug 09, 2020•35 min
Stock management can make or break product businesses. It’s all too easy to fall victim to ‘shiny new stock syndrome’ and bulk buying discounts, where you end up overstocking your business and creating a “stock monster’ that reduces your cash flow to a trickle. In episode 5 of the Resilient Retail Game Plan I cover the four key rules for stock management - having a plan, ordering the right amounts, trialing and repeating, and clearing as you go. These tools will help you feel strategic, in contr...
Jul 26, 2020•27 min
If you want to sell more as a creative product business you need to be as passionate as I am about those products at the centre of your business - why else start a business if you’re not going to create fantastic products? I always say “The best sales strategy is a great product strategy” and this involves a number of approaches - from the way you interact and relate to your customer base to revising, refining, and renewing your product lines. So, join me in this episode of The Resilient Retail ...
Jul 13, 2020•26 min
Profit margins are like the foundations of your business so it’s very important you pay close attention to them and that you’re fully aware of how much money you’re making every time you make a sale. In this episode, I go over how to breakdown your costs and how to use those figures to become a more profitable and resilient retailer. We’ll cover the simple calculations (which I've included below) that’ll give you a clearer picture of how your business is operating and discuss the importance of q...
Jun 29, 2020•35 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Retail isn’t in trouble, boring retail is in trouble. Witnessing the collapse of behemoths like Debenhams can certainly knock your confidence, but don’t be deterred. The challenges we’re seeing facing legacy retailers today are a result of decades of change and are part of a new cycle for the industry. In this episode of The Resilient Retail Plan, we’ll take a look at the birth of the big chains in the 1950’s through to today where artificial intelligence, big data, algorithms, last mile tech, a...
Jun 29, 2020•32 min•Season 1Ep. 2
So, why am I here and why am I talking to you about the retail industry? Well, first - a little background. After graduating from Warwick University with a degree in International business back in 2000 I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do. After numerous, uninteresting interviews with consulting firms, and from previous experience on the shop floor, I knew I wasn’t cut out for a career in retail management. I instead found my home in Merchandising. Numerically and creatively-led, in wo...
Jun 29, 2020•25 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Welcome to the Resilient Retail Game Plan. A podcast for anyone wanting to start, grow or scale a profitable creative product business with me, Catherine Erdly. The Resilient Retail Game Plan is a podcast dedicated to one thing - breaking down the concepts and tools I’ve gathered from twenty years in the retail industry and showing you how you can use them in your business. This is the real nuts and bolts of running a successful product business, broken down in an easy, accessible way. This is n...
Jun 19, 2020•1 min
