A small business owner is responsible for, well, everything!
She is the marketing department, accounting department, payroll, customer
service, sale, human resources, IT, product prep, ordering, shipping/receiving,
merchandising, housekeeping . . . The buck officially stops here. It is long
hours for little or no pay as you build your business into your dream. Every
business has its unique challenges and solutions and if you can’t learn to roll
then self-employment likely isn’t for you.
One of the big ‘owner challenges’ I face twice a year is
Market. Where we go to order everything we’ll be selling later in the year. For
my daywear stuff it’s like a giant trade show. Suppliers call you a few months
in advance and book appointments, and you schedule time for browsing as well to
find that perfect something you might be missing. Bridal and grad are a little
different. Most of my bridal vendors
take conference rooms at hotels at a particular city (Saskatoon, Edmonton, Calgary
etc) for a set group of days. We drive in a spend a few days visiting each
suppliers sales representative, viewing the upcoming line and making our
choices for which gowns we’ll bring in for the next season.
What many people may not know is that in order to sell a
bridal or grad line, we have a contract with each of our suppliers. That
contract states that we will order a certain number of samples each season.
That we won’t sell our gowns online (I can let you know I have the gowns, even
colour and size, but I can’t have a ‘web store’ saying you can order any size
or colour of any style), and that we’ll price our gowns according to a set
pricing window. Every contract is unique but the types of terms are very
similar. When we keep our side of the agreements, our suppliers agree to tell
people we sell their lines, and allow us to order any of the gowns from those
lines, even if we don’t have a sample of that particular gown in store. (This
is very different from day wear where you pre-order a size group of an outfit,
and if you don’t have it in store, you cannot sell it.)
So, usually twice a year, we meet with our sales reps and
chose our samples for our ‘placing order’. This week we are headed to Edmonton to order for fall delivery.
In order to make the best possible choices for my store, and
have the best possible selection for my brides, I make lists. Lots and lots of
lists. As soon as my spring samples arrive and all the gowns from the bridal
show are unpacked, I start. By the time I head to Market, I will have spreadsheets
that tell me the size, colour, fabric, body style and designer of every gown in
the store. I will know which designers have sold and which ones haven’t. How
many were ‘special order’ sales and how many were discount clearance sales. And
how does all this information compare to what I had in the store 6 months
earlier.
To an outsider, it seems like a lot of unnecessary work. But
I strongly believe this preparation is what makes me able to create a store
that is different from other bridal salons. Because by doing this, I know, that
baring gowns being sold off the rack, when a bride comes in she will be able to
try pretty much every fabric, in every body style. I may not have a size 20,
lace top princess gown with a strap in pink. But I will have each of those
elements for her to see and try between size 16 – 24 (for example). A bride or
grad in our store will get a very good idea of what her dream gown will look
like on. Even if we don’t have her exact dream gown in the store. Making sure
every bride, not matter what her size and budget, has a great selection of
gowns to try is why we order sizes 6 – 30. And why we work with 5 different
bridal lines.
Have a great week!
