On the First Day of Christmas...

Happy First Day of Advent readers!

As an early gift to you I pass on a recommendation for a great website to add to your must-hit shopping saites. It's call Escentual and they offer an impressive range of  beauty products- fragrance, skincare, haircare, make-up, bath and shower etc, with the majority of the top brands, at very reasonable prices.

Now that's not such a big deal in itself, but here was what really clinched it for me- the little extras that really made my shopping experience feel special, and made me feel like a valued customer on only my first purchase.

The free delivery for purchases over £40 was a good start (easily spent on a beauty website!) but things got serious when they offered complimentary gift-wrapping with a personal message on the gift-tag. And then when I received my package this evening my joy was complete. A complementary yet very good quality nail file and sampler of a yummy new fragrance.

Little things yes- but compared to the impersonal and dismissive shopping experience the majority of e-commerce sites provide (why ARE they still charging for delivery when it is clearly a dis-incentive for shopping online?!) these all stacked up to result in one very happy shopper- and a willing advocate- the holy grail of retail.....

We're open for business!

Very interested in Google's new venture http://www.boutiques.com/ - their attempt to make online fashion shopping easier and abit more interesting. Both worthy aims indeed. Whilst it is relatively easy to shop for certain goods online; those which are standardized and easy to compare in terms of functionality and price (such as brown and white goods), the experience tends to be more akin to searching for the needle in the proverbial haystack when it comes to fashion online.

Oh the nights I've spent in front of the laptop trawling through endless pages of fluff from my usual go-to online fashion retailers, either looking for something in particular (why can't I find a classic, plain belted trenchcoat from any of the high street stores? Anyway I digress), or in the hope of finding an inexpected gem.

So what is this new website of which I speak?

Well, the site offers a large curated range that has been categorised by colour, style, designer, celebrity, trend, retailer, blogger and silhouette. The site's search engine is then able to identify items of clothing and accessories by one of several basic style genres: classic, romantic, casual chic, edgy, street and boho; and can much more accurately suggest items and/or accessories that fit the user's personal preferences (for those who don't love it when they try to order a little black dress and are suggested a pair of sneakers to 'complete the outfit'. And it's not as if Google doens't already have pretty good form with matching user behaviour to potential 'likes'. You can also create your own personalised boutique, and make the experience social by following boutiques created by celebrities, friends, designers.
I think the site looks pretty good actually- similar to the 'magazine' style increasing numbers of fashion online sites are adopting. But in the interests of being able to give you a full review of whether this is going to completely rock your clothes shopping world- I have created my own boutique on the site!!! It's very much a work in progress so please bear with me.

Please have a look and let me know what you think!

See All Her Faces Boutique

It's all about the voucher codes....

Around three years ago I was working for a very large multichannel retailer. They decided to start periodically offering some of their VIP customers an exclusive temporary 'discount code'  they could use when shopping online, as a reward for the customers' continued loyalty and no doubt hefty credit account. The clever marketing department patted themselve son the back for their excellent initiative.

Cue the first Monday trading meeting after the discount code had been launched, and pandemonium breaking out amongst the trading team. It shockingly transpired that our supposed loyal customers had actually been telling friends and family and anybody else who would listen, about their discount code, so that they could all avail themselves of the benefits too. Who would have thought. The take up of the discount code had been 300% higher than expected, and as such had decimated the channel/department's stock and margin for the week. Red faces and burnt fingers all round.

Well as Dinah Washington never sang.. What a different three years makes.

Turns out our marketing department were onto something after all (even if their execution was naive at best) as these days online voucher or discount codes form a key part of a retailer's marketing strategy and as such are made widely available- they are relatively cheap but offer the retailer myriad benefits... and customer don't come off too badly either...

For us: Cheaper goods (hurray!) and potentially discovering (or rediscovering) a site we like that we haven't shopped at before.
 For the retailer: A simply way to reward existing customers thereby building their loyalty further. Ability to clear over or old stocks with targeted voucher code. Ability to attract new or dormant customers to the brand, who may in time also become loyal advocates. And of course ultimately the voucher code drives sales, and (if managed correctly)relatively cheaply too.

Inevitably a number of websites have sprung up to capitalise on retail's new enthusiasm for discount codes (and our eagerness not to miss out on a bargain in straitened times) by advertising all of these, with the ability to browse or search for a particular brand. If you're interested My VoucherCodes is thorough, whilst the Voucher Mum has a good range incorporated into its broader scope of thrift and saving money (and is a charming read).

But I'd warn that retailers should think carefully about their use the voucher code as an easy way to top up flagging sales. There is an increased risk of checkout abandonment and serious hits on profit margins using these codes, as customers on the site who were expecting to purchase at full price, notice the prompt for a discount code at checkout, and abandon their purchase, only to revisit once they've picked themselves up a nifty little discount code- so the code in that instant has not driven an additional sale, simply eroded profit on an existing one. (This can be minimised by more thought on the distribution of the codes, and on how customers are prompted for these at checkout. Some excellent suggestions here how-should-online-retailers-handle-discount-codes.)

Overall though discount codes seem like a pretty fair win win for consumer and retailer. Which of course means that actually the benefit is far greater for the retailer than the shopper- but hey, for 10% off plus free delivery, I can make my peace with that.

Look Sharp!

See All Her Faces has unfortunately had to go into hibernation recently, but I am now crawling back from under my rock, squinting a little as I get used to the light, and having a look around me to see what is new in the wonderful world of retail...

And I note with some bemusement that in the intervening period Mad Men has become no longer simply a show that I take an almost obessive interest in, but also something of a cultural and fashion-wide phenomenon.

It started off as a little watched, slow-moving, period piece hidden away on BBC4, lovingly re-creating the era of the late 50s onwards- the fashion, the decor, the heavy smoking and daytime drinking...
And then Prada and Louis Vuitton started channelling a Betty Draper vibe... And Christina Hendricks' pneumatic figure (playing the fabulously fearsome office manager Joan Holloway)  was embraced by the public as the refreshing antithesis of the tired skinny celebrity stereotype...

And now you can't sneeze without falling over another of the abundant of Mad Men references out there currently (hmm... overkill anyone?)... nonetheless...an observation or two...

 I note with interest that the impact of this TV show on the clothing landscape seems to dovetail somewhat appropriately with the current consumer attitude to spending- namely that fashion trends have seen a definite move away from the 'gimmicky' fast fashion trends styles that have dominated the landscape in recent years, towards classic, timeless, enduring (and dare I say more sensible) choices..

We are currently paying a little more for items such as this seasons camel coat, shift dress, midi heels, cocktail rings, blouses and so on... that we expect to make us happy a lot longer.

In these straitened times we are looking for more certainty, and more security- beautiful clothes that will last, styles that will hold their relevance- 'investment pieces'... we haven't the money or time, whilst we worry about mortgages and jobs, to waste money on clothes we don't like, won't wear, or can't last.

And as Christina Hendricks' embraces her curves, so we now want to enjoy wearing clothes that actually make us look and feel attractive (that means a goodbye to the dastardly hareem pants)- with a wardrobe we will continue to love long after Mad Men has finished its current season.

'Looking sharp' is a key theme on the show. There is no such thing as business casual at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce- Guys sup their mid-morning whisky in a natty suit, the ladies sashay in impeccable shift dresses... and this is being borne out on the high street. RetailWeek announced in the last week that Ted Baker have seen first half profits soar by 25% as customers look for smarter product during the downturn.

So evidently the public knows as well as Donald Draper does, that no problem seems insurmountable when you're in a bloody good suit.

Your High Street Needs You!

See All Her Faces went dark over the last few weeks, but I'm back now! I was in mourning, because a lovely little gift shop has closed recently on my local high street- the second one since I moved to the area. In fact the first one was featured in the Evening Standard as one of the 'secret finds' in London, around a fortnight before it had to shut up shop for good.

So clearly- Houston we have a problem.

It is a well-publicised fact, that the humble high street has been in decline for a long while now. The rise of out of town mega supermarkets, which cater not only to your every food whim at a low cost, but also now provide clothes, home furnishings, electronics etc etc, mean that some time ago it became part of our weekly routine to drive to the supermarket and stock up, rather than pick up bits as and when from our local stores- who we found in comparison to have  too limited, and too expensive, a range.

And then the fight-back began- for a number of reasons- a realisation that if we didn't look after our high street it wouldn't be long before it was all charity shops and KFCs, an appreciation of the quality of product coming from local, specialist vendors (meat, fruit and veg, unique furniture or clothing etc), an environment (and financial) awareness also- of reducing one's own consumption and waste by buying little and often, and reducing food miles by spending our pound on more locally sourced ingredients; and finally, a migration towards that which we know and trust, and which knows us, in uncertain times.

So if, as the campaign goes, we now all 'Love Your Local High Street', why are shops still closing?
They have a captive audience, due to their proximity and thus convenience, they have a customer base which is alot more switched on to supporting local business, for both altruistic reasons and plain old self interest.... Yes there is a tough economic climate- but any stores who couldn't survive that closed long ago, as things are getting better rather than worse at the current time....
There are a few reasons why some local retailers still have some work to do to get you to spend your money with them.... And as ever, it's all about the customer.

1. Knowing the Customer.
The customer should be at the heart of everything a good retailer does, whatever their size. Every decision should be made with the end purchaser in mind, and whether it will enhance their shopping experience, and make them more likely to buy and to return. In order to do this you must 'know' your customer. Who are they, what sort of things do they like, what are they comfortable spending, how often do they shop, how long do they shop for, who inspires their choices and decisions... the list is endless.

This is a lot more difficult for the big boys, who do not have the opportunity to know or interact personally with the customer walking through the door (or clicking through on the web), and as such they must rely on sales performance/web stats, market research, and data derived from loyalty schemes (which they place a huge premium on- so remember how much you are personally helping Tescos in exchange for your Clubcard vouchers)  in order to figure out who you are and try to sell more stuff to you.  .

Small businesses have a huge advantage here- they have the potential to interact with every customer who walks in the door, a unique opportunity to observe and better understand their customer base and their habits- to guage what their customer base looks like, which products they are interested in, how they shop, and to build spend and ultimately loyalty, based on the product and service they provide.
But they don't always use it. A clothes store I know serves quite a young, relatively wealthy area, and has a constant stream of trendy ladies desperate to spend the money burning a hole in their pocket. Yet I rarely see anyone buy anything because the store simply doesn't cater to their needs-,they have no representation of this seasons' trends and a huge very retro vintage section that doesn't cater to the tastes of the locals... Perfext example of a Buyer selecting products they like..

2. Serving the Customer.
 And then we come to something else that should be a no-brainer for small businesses- Customer Service. Again an area that large retailers are notoriously weak on (apart from the saintly John lewis one hastens to add), this is rather difficult to succeed on with inexperienced, poorly trained, un-motivated staff. It should be so much easier with a friendly expert on hand, with an interest in helping you make your purchase decision.
Local retailers have the chance to make you feel valued and welcome the moment you walk through the door (and you don't get that at Tescos). They can advise and inspire you and thus gain your trust and loyalty (regardless of perhaps an increased cost)- what you could make with those broad beans, what belt might look good with that dress, which model of laptop you should be going for....
And yet- How many times have you been in a local store, where you have either been harrassed, or ignored, when you might have happily discussed the product, or what you were looking for, given the chance? There is another clothes store close to me, with beautiful dresses, that I never go in since the day I tried one on and got the hard sell from the couple who owned the shop, pushing me to spend £250 on two dresses!

3. Doing it Better than the Competition.
And finally- learning lessons. Successful retailers are constantly looking outside themselves to find ways they could improve- looking at things their competitors are doing well, whether that is new products, cheaper prices or innovative services. To stay ahead of the game you need to know what everyone else is doing, and offer something different, something better. Those managing small businesses need to be cogniscent of what their competitors are doing- even the big ones, so that they are one step ahead of the game,, and to understand if it is something they should also be doing, or whether they have a point of difference that renders it un-necessary. And one thing we now know is it isn't necessarily about price anymore- people ar ewilling to pay if they feel they are getting a good deal. So if the other shops are reducing their prices on electronics do you need to? Maybe, if you want to stop them taking some of your sales, or maybe not, if yours are high quality, and the sale comes with expertise and service that marks you out from the rest. But either way you need to know what they are doing and why you are/aren't.

So, too late for my local gift shop then, but as the high street evolves, maybe something even better will take it's place. Here's hoping that doesn't mean a KFC....