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Crossed Wires
Listed under: Retail Clinic
Published: Thursday, November 12, 2009
With the new year fast-approaching, now is the time for retailers to rethink their business strategies and start planning for the difficult year ahead. Richard Heywood, owner of craft store Handy Hippo, explains why diversifying into new areas could be the answer
“We decided to move into the cross stitch sector earlier this year because we felt it was an area of the industry we didn't have a very strong presence in. Fortunately, our new range crosses over into our core cardmaking business perfectly, allowing us to dip our toes in the water and see how popular the category is before committing completely.
Diversifying into a different area has given our customers the opportunity to experiment with something new, and encouraged them to explore crafts and materials they might not have previously had access to. Over the past year, people have generally stopped going out as much and consumers now have more time on their hands than ever before. As such, we're seeing a far higher number of new crafters enter the market – something which is likely to continue for quite some time.
Generally-speaking, we don't tend to go into new areas with enormous expectations or plans, but aim to get a decent quality range into place, watch the sales and then respond. If a particular area is doing well, we will expand it. Fortunately, we currently have a number of systems that provide us with invaluable sales feedback, allowing us to react quickly, and increase the ranges that are important, while letting the less important ones fade into the background.
To attract traditional cross stitchers, we will need a much larger range than we have right now, but this is just the beginning for us, and we fully intend to expand our offer over the next year and hopefully have a more comprehensive selection by the end of 2010.
The main advice is to try new things. We experiment with a lot of ranges in different areas of the market and have very positive feedback, so we know what’s popular. The craft industry is a very fast changing sector and retailers need to be able to spot trends as they are happening, rather than predicting them.
As a retailer, you need to stock lots of kits, a good selection of threads, and all the other supplies that people routinely use in their day-to-day crafting. At the end of the day, if you don't supply a complete, comprehensive selection, you won't be a key player.”
Diversifying into a different area has given our customers the opportunity to experiment with something new, and encouraged them to explore crafts and materials they might not have previously had access to. Over the past year, people have generally stopped going out as much and consumers now have more time on their hands than ever before. As such, we're seeing a far higher number of new crafters enter the market – something which is likely to continue for quite some time.
Generally-speaking, we don't tend to go into new areas with enormous expectations or plans, but aim to get a decent quality range into place, watch the sales and then respond. If a particular area is doing well, we will expand it. Fortunately, we currently have a number of systems that provide us with invaluable sales feedback, allowing us to react quickly, and increase the ranges that are important, while letting the less important ones fade into the background.
To attract traditional cross stitchers, we will need a much larger range than we have right now, but this is just the beginning for us, and we fully intend to expand our offer over the next year and hopefully have a more comprehensive selection by the end of 2010.
The main advice is to try new things. We experiment with a lot of ranges in different areas of the market and have very positive feedback, so we know what’s popular. The craft industry is a very fast changing sector and retailers need to be able to spot trends as they are happening, rather than predicting them.
As a retailer, you need to stock lots of kits, a good selection of threads, and all the other supplies that people routinely use in their day-to-day crafting. At the end of the day, if you don't supply a complete, comprehensive selection, you won't be a key player.”
