Crafting your business identity is fundamental if you want to survive. Without trying to scare anyone here, most businesses die within the first 12 months. Everyone is starting a business these days – it’s suddenly gotten cool to be an entrepreneur. Everyone is more savvy than ever before, retail stores are sprouting up all over the place and in this overcrowded market place it’s quite difficult to make anything. So now more than ever it’s important to carve out your niche – ask yourself this very one simple question… Why are you unique?
Is it your well-curated product selection that people can’t stop talking about? Is it the design, or the vibe in store? Maybe those hand hewn ice cubes in the thinnest of tumblers in your cool bar in Tokyo, or the finest of Australian coffees in your coffee shop – what is unique about your biz?
Selling well-curated products by the way isn’t enough in retail I hate to tell you – as we have definitely learned. Well-curated products are expected – that’s pretty much normal. You have to go beyond that and have a story. Shoving it online and hoping people will come flocking won’t make you any money either, at least not serious money. It’s an art and it involves skill that’s why there aren’t that many well-known independents. You also have to hone your service and customer experience, which no business is ever, ever done with. It’s something we’re working on all the time and we’re always trying to improve and learn as the business has suddenly rocketed beyond all our growth expectations. It’s a mad up-hill dash to keep up but we always do our best.
Hours and hours and hours of hard work of involved. You need to tell a story with your product selection, you need to mirror that story on social, you need to merge e-commerce with content, (something I’m obsessed with at the mo, hence taking some of my tips, tricks and articles off the blog and on to the main shop website!). You have to create branded content and work tirelessly to create something that no else has seen. Whether that is styling it in a different context, buying from artisans from far-flung corners of the globe – it has to feel unique. So, one more time – what is unique about your biz?
Happy Friday everybody.