Gift Focus inc Attire Accessories - September/October 2020

142 spend has increased. Customers frequently mention our reasonable prices both in store and in reviews online. In addition to this we provide a full range of price pointed giftware from low entry level to higher price points in order to fit all budgets and demographics of our customers. We sell everything from £3 coasters from Transomnia to £220 earrings from Alex Monroe. All our shops are in areas with a wide-ranging demographic of people but they all enjoy shopping in their local Lark. It makes us very happy to serve everyone in the local community. We have turned the prehistoric ‘exclusive’ boutique concept on its head. What’s your USP? Another USP is our huge variety of gifts on offer. We provide a one-stop shop for so many different types of gifts for women, men and kids it is almost impossible to leave empty handed. Our customers spend a long time in the shop when they visit and often buy for many different people at once. We have become known as a shop you can rely on, and many customers stop by on their way to birthday parties as they know they will always find something at Lark. We buy from many different suppliers and stagger deliveries weekly. Although this creates more work in the buying process and results in more deliveries in store, it enables us to introduce new gifts and new displays every week to provide constant inspiration to our customers, many of whom are regulars. Many other multiple retailers manufacture their own branded gifts, but this results in their product selection remaining samey for long periods of time. Our concept stands out as the shop is more exciting and interesting for our customers with new stock being introduced all the time. Our many reviews on google and other platforms consistently mention our wide gift range Are you active on social media, and how do you use it for your business? We have a large following on social media and post personal family posts occasionally so that customers can see we are not a large corporate chain, just two normal people trying our best. Customers feel like they know us, they know our staff and they feel happy coming into the shop. Our friendly, personal family- oriented approach really helps Lark stand out from the crowd and although we have had to delegate a lot of responsibility during our expansion, the shop has not lost its soul – something that is very hard to achieve as a multiple retailer. Social media is therefore an extremely important platform for us to use to demonstrate who the local community are supporting. Selling through Instagram has been a vital tool for us during lockdown. It helped us to show our followers the new stock we were receiving so that they can still support us online despite being shut. Without this platform our revenue would have been significantly less. What brands do you stock and why? What are your current bestselling lines? To differentiate Lark from other multiple retailers we often buy locally made products as it gives the shops a unique selling proposition and a nice talking point for staff to use when helping customers choose gifts. By reinforcing the selection via social media we can help local designers gain followers and drive traffic to the shop. For example, we sell a range of organic cotton tote bags and area-specific baby grows made by a local mum, Amy, who hand screen prints her products exclusively for Lark. Her products are well priced, and she has a large following with our customers. We include in every shop a range of tailored giftware specific to the area in which the shop is located. We produce many of these items ourselves and hold exclusive rights for their sale in each local area. For example, in Balham we sell “I love Balham” mugs and “Best mummy in Balham” coasters. We stock different area variations of these, plus other area related gifts, in every shop. The products make excellent gifts for people who live locally, people who will soon be coming to the area (e.g. new home gifting), and people who have left the area but miss it! They help to create a personal shopping experience and a strong customer connection to the shop. We have maintained them as NOOS (never out of stock) products for over 10 years now as they are so popular and never go out of fashion. How often do you change up your window dressings and displays? Once a week across all stores. We have done this so regularly as it is local customers who come in once a week and we want to show them how the shop has changed each time. This includes changing the stock once a week and letting items sell out quickly and replacing them with new stock. What are your plans to do develop your online presence? In March 2019 we launched a transactional website, www.larklondon.com. W ith online shopping growing rapidly year by year we really wanted to explore this as a new sales channel. For years customers have been asking us if we sold online but it was only with the rebrand to Lark that we felt confident entering this field. Over the course of two months I have taught myself