By Christina Van Blake
As a small retailer with both a design and retail presence, I get the opportunity to talk with sales reps on both sides of the market, from small gift and décor vendors to large furniture manufacturing companies. I (almost) always take the time to chat, ask them about their product line and company stats, as well as what’s going on with the other retailers they are visiting in their territory. Knowing it’s not polite to mine your rep for info on the competition… I track the other great retailers featured in the Retail Stars of Home Accents Today, the Dallas Market ARTS Awards, and a few I follow out of personal interest and admiration.
For this month’s edition of Elevated Retail, I selected a cross-section of retailers offering various goods and services and posed the same set of questions to everyone. I emailed about 12 businesses and received phone calls back from five of them, including The Mustard Seed, Fishs Eddy, Homesoule, Bountiful Home and Celadon at Home. Everyone I spoke with was more than willing to openly discuss their business structure, share information, provide personal insight and truly care about keeping the business of retail thriving.
Each retailer had a brick-and-mortar location. Some focus on design with a retail presence, while others focus on décor accessories and gifts, as well as offering styling services. Everyone had minimum hours of 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with a few also open on Sunday. About half the retailers offered online shopping, but they had a dedicated process for managing website sales, inventory and shipping.
Here are highlights from our conversation:
Do you sell online or solely in-store? What percent of sales are online compared to in-store?
Answers were a 50/50 split and online sales accounted for 5% to 20% of business. The general impression was that you can’t dip your toe into e-commerce. Jump in completely if you want to be profitable. Everyone had some version of being able to ‘window shop’ products online, even if there was no platform for purchasing and shipping.
Have you adjusted your sourcing or pricing due to tariffs or large 3rd party online retailers?
After the initial ‘who really knows what’s going on with tariffs anyway’ comments, answers were fairly uniform among the larger custom furniture buyers: tariffs, COVID, foam shortage, container surcharges; we roll with new issues year to year. Smaller goods are much easier to source from different suppliers and time purchases to avoid additional expenses.
What categories are your best sellers? Are they also your most profitable items?
This was a fun question as it was posed as a trick question to start the conversation about what constitutes a bestseller. What was consistent was that best-sellers are rarely the most profitable items. For my business, we have a line of locally made candles with a cult-like following. They are by far our best seller. People find us for the candles. They are not the most profitable. Custom upholstery is the most profitable, but it also takes more time, effort and knowledge to sell.
Regarding growth, how do you attract new clients and keep current clients engaged?
Hands down, social media is both the bait and the net. Consistently targeted social media posts, stories, reels, videos and ads attract new clients and keep current clients coming back for more. Many retailers also had an email newsletter they felt was worth the effort, but I was surprised nobody had an outside team handling their marketing. Celadon at Home and Fishs Eddy are the largest retailers I chatted with, and both have a dedicated in-house marketing team.
Do you collaborate with local artists, makers and designers?
A resounding “Yes!” All the retailers are very supportive of their neighboring business owners by featuring locally made goods in their shops, hosting pop-ups, events and workshops, and offering a Trade Program for local designers.
How do you decide what products to bring in? Go with your gut or a calculated choice?
This was a consistent answer, as all the retailers I spoke with do both. Everyone buys the things they feel are authentic to the brand story. Everyone buys the known bestsellers. And everyone had a story about when they bought something crazy just for fun. Although it didn’t break any sales records, it became a much-beloved part of the shop and a great conversation starter. We call those ‘justified under-performing objects.’
What are your biggest concerns over the next 6-12 months?
Everyone answered this question differently due to their business model. The main concern is trying to remain profitable and compete with online sellers while never knowing what you’ll wake up to in terms of tariffs, product availability or any other local and global variables.
What advice would you give to other retailers?
Find good employees and offer a great work environment: provide paid lunches, reimburse cell phone bills and keep the fridge stocked with favorites.
Buy what you love and don’t be afraid to take risks.
Have patience and tenacity.
Keep an eye on your sources, margins and minimums.
Win clients with service.
Christina Van Blake is an interior designer and the owner of House and Home in Dover, N.H.
