If you’re feeling the pinch at the moment, trust me, you’re not alone. September through October are traditionally a major pinch point for retail - when you have lots of money going out as you stock up for the festive season, without any of the accompanying sales materialising until later in the year, cashflow can start to dry up and things can start to feel really tough. This isn’t just a small product business phenomenon - huge retailers are well known to take out loans or to secure lines of c...
Oct 19, 2023•24 min
In episode 167 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Caroline Gogolak, CEO and founder of the New York fashion brand Saint Art. Producing effortless but luxe street-style sportswear, Caroline has seen great success with Saint Art by implementing an effective ‘test-and-learn’ approach and making clever business decisions that help address issues of overproduction and waste in the fashion industry. In this podcast, we discuss the power of wholesale in increasing your brand awareness and ge...
Oct 12, 2023•27 min
The retail landscape is constantly evolving. From the continued growth in online shopping, to the collapse of the department store model, as well as the effect of lockdowns on the high street, we’ve seen a lot of change in the last few years, especially when it comes to physical stores. When the need to buy a product is no longer enough reason to go to an actual store, how can brands ensure that they stay connected with their consumers? In episode 166 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak w...
Oct 05, 2023•34 min
Paid Advertising can be incredibly effective for small product businesses. We’ve all undoubtedly seen some great sales success stories built off the back of social media-based ad campaigns, but paid advertising can be a bit of a confusing subject as well as a technical minefield - how do you know when you’re ready to jump into the Ads Manager, and if you’re already using the platform, how do you best optimise it for consistent results? In episode 165 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to...
Sep 28, 2023•37 min
Having run the Resilient Retail Club for the last three years, I’ve seen first-hand the transformative power being part of a community can have on not only your business but on your life. Fostering connections and relationships and sharing in experiences is such a crucial part of what it means to be human - in episode 164 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I cover five key ways that being part of a community can help transform your business and, quite possibly, enrich your life. In this podcast,...
Sep 21, 2023•23 min
There are many reasons someone starts a business, but a pattern I often see with founders in the Resilient Retail Club is a combination of dissatisfaction with the working world and a desire to make a more significant impact, and today's guest is no exception! In episode 163 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Lucy Jeffrey, founder of bamboo sock brand, Bare Kind. Having started her business as a side hustle five years ago, Bare Kind is now partnered with over thirty charities and dona...
Sep 14, 2023•34 min
The importance of Christmas for small product businesses can not be underestimated. Some businesses can end up taking half, and I’ve seen in some circumstances, even three-quarters of their annual sales in the fourth quarter! This sales period, and a highly competitive one at that, really has the potential to make or break your year. So if you want to achieve your Xmas sales goals and finish the year on a high, it’s imperative that you formulate a strategy and create and follow a robust and rigo...
Sep 07, 2023•25 min
If you’re a long-time listener to this podcast or have worked with me, you’ll know I love to start talking about Christmas early - from around May actually! With the holiday season but a few months away, I’ve been digging into lots of research around what we can expect for retail at Christmas this year. Xmas 2022 disproved a lot of predictions and exceeded many businesses' expectations, but with the bruising combination of high inflation, rising mortgage rates and the cost of living crisis custo...
Aug 31, 2023•26 min
If you’re running a small product business and are feeling a bit squeezed for cash flow right now, you’re not alone! August and September are traditional, well-established pinch points in the retail industry calendar. So, whether you’re coming up a bit short due to putting in your orders for this coming Christmas or perhaps an unexpected bill has landed on your desk, in episode 160 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I want to give you my top tips for what to do if you need money quick. In this p...
Aug 24, 2023•19 min
From decreased footfall to financial constraints, retailers across the board continue to be hit hard in the wake of not only the Covid-19 Pandemic but the ongoing cost of living crisis as well. It is tough out there - it may even be one of the most challenging periods experienced in retail history, but as smaller independent businesses, we have something to be grateful for that the industry giants don’t - the ability to be agile, adapt, and pivot quickly. In episode 159 of The Resilient Retail G...
Aug 17, 2023•31 min
When you start and run your own business it’s often not long before you realise you might need an extra pair of hands. Whether you’re struggling with picking and packing in those busy sales seasons or fumbling through your finances, it’s important to recognise how best to support the growth of your business. In episode 158 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Helen Dukes, founder of music-inspired clothing brand Disko Kids, about how she’s scaled up her business by growing a solid and s...
Aug 10, 2023•34 min
In episode 157 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Cally Russell, CEO and Co-founder of waste-free clothing brand ‘This Is Unfolded’, supporting children’s education and paying garment workers better wages. Cally inarguably posits that fast fashion and current retail models are killing the planet - but that they also create a bland customer experience. To change a global business model that is fundamentally flawed, Cally believes we need to create brands and production processes that a...
Aug 03, 2023•31 min
Trying to increase a customer's average spend or basket size can be tricky. With a lot of focus across e-commerce on the pre-purchase experience, brands can easily fall into the trap of frustrating, and even losing their prospective customers with annoying pop-ups and offers that potentially cheapen their brand. In episode 156 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Ruth Even Haim, the COO & co-founder of ‘ReConvert’, the number-one upselling app on Shopify, about how focusing on the p...
Jul 27, 2023•25 min
No business has shaped online retail, perhaps all retail, the way that Amazon has. Since its founding in 1994, the e-commerce giant has grown to become one of the most influential economic and cultural forces in the world, forever changing the way that we shop and sell. The idea then of trying to build a business on such a huge, busy and complex marketplace might seem a bit daunting at first, but in episode 155 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Amazon expert Emily Johnson who shares ...
Jul 20, 2023•30 min
When it comes to retail it’s never too early to start talking about Christmas! In fact, if you’ve left it this long without considering the big day you might even be too late to take advantage of some of the best ways to prepare your business for the dependably lucrative Q4 sales period. The more work you can do now to get you and your business ready for the festive season, the smoother it’ll all go - you don’t want to be scrambling for stock and pleading for PR in November and December, you wan...
Jul 13, 2023•15 min
In episode 153 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to Sabira Silcock of sustainable jewellery brand, SKEN Studios. Handmade in Manchester, Sabira produces fun and playful jewellery with personality, as well as running workshops and creating more bespoke pieces. Today she shares her journey from designer/maker to brand-builder, the story behind the rapid growth of SKEN Studios and the lessons she’s learnt along the way. Throughout the course of our conversation, we discuss operating on a b...
Jul 06, 2023•30 min
A lot of small product business founders have likely experienced that same exciting moment of thinking or feeling that what may have started as a hobby or a side hustle is starting to turn into something more! Taking your ideas, personal projects, or businesses to the next level does take a lot of work and requires a good degree of self-belief - what it requires is getting serious about your intentions. In today’s episode of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to the founder of sensory sensa...
Jun 29, 2023•32 min
Whether you’re someone who’s just started a creative product business and are chasing that first sale or whether you’re an experienced founder trying to leverage even greater growth for your long-running and established brand, something we all share in common is that we all want to experience success, in its many shapes and forms. From social media to shop windows, the popularity and success of a product or brand can sometimes seemingly explode out of nowhere, but it’s not often the case that th...
Jun 22, 2023•29 min
“How do I run a promotion that doesn’t damage my brand?” is a question I get asked all the time. It’s a valid concern, evidenced no better than by what my friend and fashion brand consultant Elizabeth Stiles calls “The Gap Trap” - where the constant over-promoting and discounting of stock at the famous clothing retailer culminated in the admittedly flagging brand having to shut up shop in the UK. The important thing to remember is that promotions should look like they’re designed for and are ben...
Jun 15, 2023•13 min
As you’ve undoubtedly heard me say before, the best sales strategy is a great product strategy. Everything works better for you and your business when your audience and customers are excited about your product - they’ll buy more, they’ll tend to convert at a better rate on your website and they’ll tell more people about your brand. So if you are feeling stuck, or find yourself in a bit of a rut it’s always best to bring it back to the product and to ask yourself - is it the best it can be in ord...
Jun 08, 2023•13 min
Artificial intelligence certainly is a hot topic at the moment! There’s a lot of heady discourse flying back and forth in the news, as well as concerns about its use (or misuse) in specific contexts. Still, I think it’s worth remembering that AI, in the form of algorithmic and machine learning applications like Google Maps, has existed and been in use for a long time. It’s the advent of platforms like Chat GPT, which stands for Generative Pre-trained Transformer, that have really begun to shake ...
Jun 01, 2023•26 min
It’s a fact of running a small product business that some days are better than others. When you spend so much time and put so much passion into creating or curating your line of products, it can feel deeply demoralising when your sales numbers suddenly drop or fail to materialise for that item you had such high hopes for. This is often when the ‘cycle of doom’ starts to spin and whir and where in some extreme cases people end up shutting up shop due to low confidence and inaction. That’s why I w...
May 25, 2023•22 min
It probably holds true that many small product business owners dream of the day that they can hand their notice in at work and dedicate themselves to their own businesses full-time. It’s an audacious goal and certainly isn’t going to happen overnight (in most cases!) but it’s completely possible as my guest today demonstrates. In episode 146 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I speak to children’s decor and gift designer and founder of Hannah Joy Designs, Hannah Burn. Having always wanted to run...
May 18, 2023•28 min
Celebrations are in order! May is not only the month of my birthday but it also marks the third anniversary of The Resilient Retail Club. When I started the business back in 2020, I never set out to create a membership, but instead planned to offer courses, starting with my ‘Grow Your Sales’ course back when I used to operate as ‘Future Retail’. But with the challenges presented by COVID and the subsequent lockdowns, I pivoted from offering courses to creating a community where people could come...
May 11, 2023•24 min
With Easter not long behind us, the next big calendar event on the horizon is Father’s Day. Whilst the dad-centric holiday sees lower spending on average than Mother's Day, it’s still a major event in hospitality and retail. Now, some of you may be looking at your range of products and thinking where does my business fit into Fathers Day? It’s true that not every small product business will be suited to catering for gifts for dads, that's why I want to spend today's episode of The Resilient Reta...
May 04, 2023•20 min
The impact of mindset on your business truly cannot be underestimated, it affects everything we do as small business owners, from the way that we interact with our customers and staff to how we show up on social media and market our products. Too often when we lose confidence in ourselves, and potentially in our business, we tend to take less action and get stuck in what I call the 'cycle of doom': sales drop - we lose confidence - we take less action - sales drop - we lose confidence, and on an...
Apr 27, 2023•25 min
In episode 142 of The Resilient Retail Game Plan, I wrap up my short series about building your small business on a budget with my good friend and fashion brand consultant Elizabeth Stiles. Elizabeth and I share a lot of background and experience when it comes to the retail industry and understand the vital importance of sales strategy and skills when it comes to growing a business and that if small business owners don’t work on these areas they could end up with what amounts to a very expensive...
Apr 20, 2023•31 min
In the fourth episode of my mini-series of discussions about building your business on a budget, I speak to Jayne Lasley, founder of “Fairlie Curved”. Originally started as a styling page on Instagram, Jayne took a modest £500 after losing her job in lockdown to attempt to create a fuller-bust clothing line - an idea informed by her own experiences of someone with a 30HH bust and an idea that had been on her mind since the final year of her degree in Textile, Fashion Design and Management. Only ...
Apr 13, 2023•40 min
In the third of my mini-series of discussions about building your business on a budget, I speak to Steph Douglas, founder of the thoughtful gifting company “Don’t Buy Her Flowers”. Steph started her small business back in 2014 after she was inundated with bouquets of flowers following the birth of her first child - although wonderfully well-meant, flowers just felt like just another thing for Steph to look after when she already had her newborn and herself to prioritise. Like most parents, she j...
Apr 06, 2023•38 min
In the second of my series of discussions about building your business on a budget, I speak to Rebecca Gibbions of the boutique jewellery brand, ‘Last Night I Dreamt’. After putting a successful career in television production on hold to raise a family, Rebecca felt a bit adrift until an opportunity to open a jewellery shop in her home of Southwell, Nottingham, ignited an excitement in her she hadn’t felt for some time. Since opening in 2015, and launching a website in 2019, Rebecca’s small busi...
Mar 30, 2023•28 min
