I never cease to be amazed at how many Sales Reps drop in to Havens unannounced and want to see me without an appointment. They usually tell me that they are just passing – not easy when you are based as far east as we are!

What happens next is a short but courteous exchange of pleasantries followed by the rep asking if I need to order/view his product. My answer is that I do not know as I have not planned to look at it. As a result the rep leaves and drives 30 miles back to the M25 after a fruitless visit.

With better training and better sales management behind them they could make their visits so much more productive.

Here are the basics:

• Make an appointment, it is courteous and the good buyer will prepare for you.
• Plan your visit, what do you want to achieve. New product launch, range review, sales promotion, market feedback and of course possibly an order!
• Have relevant catalogues and up to date price lists
• Come armed with Best Sellers list in each product category, available from all good sales managers!  Mark on the list the products the retailer has in stock and highlight best sellers not in stock. Try to find out why your best sellers would not be in stock.
• Have a digital camera and photograph  the way your product is presented – very often sales and marketing offices have no concept of how your product is presented, just an ideal vision.
• Have market information on sales. Retailers sales to date bench marked against your area and then nationally.
• At least once a year range review to make sure the retailer has the best of your ranges.
• Have product information: Lead times, manufacturing issues, country of origin and image bank for website.
• Update on sales progress of new product launched earlier in the year.
• It is the reps chance to get market feedback on supplier competition from the retailer too.

I am sure that there are more to add and I welcome comments from Retailers and Sales Representatives alike.

Fundamentally business is about building relationships and working together to mutually grow each others business. Being prepared on both sides gives that opportunity half a chance.

Think about that next time you are thumping or crawling around the M25 to do a speculative visit.

Let me tell you if the answer to my question in the title is “I do not know or No” then you best act and check now!

Last Monday our Website Host server went down depriving us and more importantly our customers access to our website. Not good. Fortunately Silkstream who are our website hosts, internet advisers and supremos had a disaster recovery plan in place. Just as well because down time, as they like to call it, loses us money and can sour relationships.

Following a scare a number of years ago we discussed contingency plans with Silkstream for any malfunction eventualities in the future. A plan was drawn up and back up servers purchased. A  little like a fire drill, the plan was tested and implemented to ensure it would work, which it did in practice.

Then last Monday 26th July at 7.30 am I could not find the Havens website,  a phone call later and Silkstream were already on the case. I did not understand nor care about the technicalities but my limited understanding is that the server had a hardware failure. Within an hour we were back up and running on the reserve server with all our pages “pointing” to the reserve server – there see I am getting more technical now!

There were the odd glitches, eg we could not immediately receive emails for instance but that was soon rectified.

We were trading again with little loss, the Disaster recovery plan had worked and I would like to thank Leigh, Steve and team for their swift actions.

Within a further 24 hours we were re pointed to a new server (more technicals again!) and the reserve server reverted to back up. A bit like getting a puncture make sure that the repair happens ASAP!

Lessons to be learnt:

• Make sure that you discuss Disaster, Contingency, Recovery Plan with your website host.
• Make sure once it is in place it is tested.
• Make sure your hosting company has an alert system in place for when the proverbial hits the fan.
• Make sure the Hosting company has the capacity and resource to deal with all eventualities.
• Understand Sod’s Law – disasters always occur at the most inconvenient times!
• Make sure that your web hosts have access to your domain name so that they can re point the pages to the reserve server quickly without having to seek 3rd party authority – again getting technical but certainly in our instance ensured a smooth transition.

The key to all of this is to constantly evaluate the risks and protect against them. The small monthly fee we pay for web hosting is worth it’s weight in gold when things go wrong. Do not get complacent in thinking that things will be OK,  if there is no disaster plan then you will have a problem.

Last of all make sure you have a good, sound relationship and  professional, expert support as we have with Silkstream – they treat our website as if it is their own – sure makes a difference in times of need.

Well it was widely predicted that Vat would increase in the Emergency Budget and so it has turned out to be the case.

Frankly given the parlous state of the economy the chancellor George Osborne has had to take some drastic measures.

The increase to 20% Vat tax is said to raise around £13bn a year for the government coffers.

What impact will it have from an independent retailers perspective?

On the plus side the increase has been deferred until 4th January 2011. This is the time when historically most retailers will see price increases from their supply chain. As a result the Vat increase will probably be masked by the normal increases to an extent.

Retailers and suppliers will also be able to look at and appraise the Retail price to ensure that the product is  still good value and competitively priced in the market place.

As a company we did not see a significant impact when Vat was reduced to 15% nor when it was subsequently increased to 17.5%.

On the down side I suspect that retailers will inevitably absorb part of the increase to ensure price competitiveness, but at least they will be able to review that with the suppliers.

Overall the deferment at least shows that the current Coalition Government understands the retail markets by introducing the increase at a time which will allow retailers to prepare and cause least disruption. By and large, on average ticket merchandise I do not think that the consumer will notice a slight increase. One thing is for sure retailers will know what to do if the rise does have an impact.

Putting the increase in perspective, firstly it brings us more or less in line with the Vat in most European Countries and also for every £100 the increase is £2.13 which will hardly buy you a beer.

I am afraid that we all have a responsibility to cut the deficit and increases in taxes and decreases in Goverment spending are all bitter pills we have to swallow.

The key thing the Government now needs to get across is that once the recovery is in full swing we will all be able to take less medicine!

Vat Increase illustrations:

£100.00  at 20% would be £102.13  Increase £2.13

£200.00 at 20% would be £204.26  Increase £4.26

£500.00 at 20% would be £510.64  Increase £10.64

A new directive from the Health and Safety Executive requires that all Wine Glasses and other Drinking Glasses with an alcohol prefix will be required to display or be engraved with a health warning label.

“Alcohol can seriously damage your health and mood  if drunk out of inferior glasses”

Drinking Glasses without an alcohol prefix are exempt from this ruling so Tumblers will not require the notice, but Port Glasses, Sherry Glasses, Brandy Glasses and Beer and Cider Glasses fall under the rules scope.

China and Glass retailers are concerned about the impact on Crystal sales and believe that it is another instance of  Government interference.

Nigel Havens comments ” It is all very well imposing these rules on the public but how will it be enforced, innocent drinkers may unwittingly become offenders and is it retrospective on glasses bought before the rules applied. If you are asking me it is another example of the nanny state interfering and obstructing with lives whist justifying a whole raft of public sector workers to administer it without the where with all to police it. Another badly thought through directive! When will our politicians allow common sense to prevail”

The directive comes into effect from 1st of April 2010

I do not wish to go all political on my News blogs but I do feel strongly, as I am sure most decent law abiding citizens  would, that we all have a right to protect our property and family. Surely this is the underlying reason, rightly or wrongly, this Government feels we should be pursuing the war in Afghanistan – to protect national safety.

At last common sense has prevailed in the case of Munir Hussain of High Wycombe. On returning from their Mosque the Hussain family found a gang of intruders in their home. They were attacked by the gang who tied their hands behind their backs and forced them to crawl from room to room. Managing to free himself Munir turned the tables on his attackers, quite literally launching a coffee table at them.

With the help of his brother and a cricket bat he set off in pursuit of the robbers and managed to catch one Walid Salem. The brothers hooked, pulled and drove the assailant breaking the bat, in turn leaving Salem some what battered.

The case went to court where the brothers were sentenced to 30 months imprisonment for assault. On Wednesday 20th January 2010 Munir had the sentence reduced on appeal to 2 years and the term suspended.

On the other hand Walid Salem the only intruder caught was not prosecuted for his part in events, as he was deemed to have been too badly injured during the attack. What money do you put on him to re offend in the not too distant future!

I would challenge any normal male not to think that they would do the same as Munir in similar circumstances. Your privacy and property is invaded, your loved ones are assaulted and face potential danger, the limit of which under attack you will never know. Our natural instinct is to protect ourselves and I believe this is how Manir instinctively reacted.

It is very easy to make judgements based on law in a cosy court room, as we know in life things can look quite simple on paper.

My personal view is that those people who are prepared to act outside the Law should not expect that same Law to protect them when things go pear shaped.

I am always being asked how is business almost as if we are a barometer of how things are during these difficult economic times!

My stock reply is that our Retail Store business remains challenging as we like most other retailers struggle with footfall on the High Street. It seems to me that those customers that are visiting the store are spending money there are just fewer of them. Having said that our Wedding Gift List business has been much better this summer. More Brides appear to be reverting to the more traditional option of wanting useful Wedding Presents for the home reversing the recent trend of Holiday/Honeymoon and even Charity donation options.

As I say to our loyal staff who can get frustrated at the lack of customers in the store, we cannot have it both ways. The Havens Internet business, which they can see for themselves, is still growing at a great pace and as the consumer uses the Internet to Browse and Buy goods this inevitably has an impact on the footfall in all High Streets.

Retailers should not be too surprised with this change in consumer shopping habits. Changing social priorities with leisure, family activities and entertaining pushing Shopping lower down the list. This coupled with High Streets becoming more homogenised with little inspiration, aspiration and in many cases poor car parking facilities and access as Local Councils strive to move traffic away from town centres – a strange strategy as Retailers need busy High Streets and people move around by car!

The success of our website to date can be attributed to a number of factors. The revamp of the Site in November 2008 by Leigh Mason and his team at Silkstream means that is much easier for customers to navigate and find what they are looking for. We have also outsourced our Web Marketing to Leigh which is making our adword campaigns more focused and therefore more cost effective. We have daily contact to discuss strategy and to analyse results. We are also grappling with the social networking side too with Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn all on our radar.

The areas we are receiving good orders in are Tableware Dinner Sets and Crystal Wine Glasses with huge growth in these specific areas. We also have good orders on Giftware and Collectables but these are areas that we feel we have good scope for improvement.

So our business continues to develop and change, who would have thought 10 Years ago that a 100 year old Retail Store would be so advanced in the technological side of Internet Trading. We will continue to improve the offer in the store with a new more Contemporary Home and Gifts Section opening in October, we have faith that Footfall will improve and revitalise the High Street to an extent – Though I fear not back to the heights of recent years.

The real growth plans for Havens lie in continuing to improve the Offer, the Service and visibility of the Havens Website. I personally welcome all comments to help us make these improvements.

As we now know KPS an American private equity group has bought the intellectual property rights of Waterford crystal. At first this did not include the manufacturing plant at Waterford. We now understand that a partial agreement with the Unite Union, who represent the employees ,will see some workers retained at the factory although on the face of it seems more as a tourist attraction than a serious attempt at producing quality crystal.

We fully understand that global markets, cost structures and budgets mean an ever changing market place where manufacturers have to look at the price they can bring a product to the consumer. This means increased outsourcing to countries where labour is relatively cheaper. Providing the quality meets the expectation and aspiration of the Brand then it works.

What is being missed by the new owners is that Waterford Crystal is different. I do not suspect that there is a home in Ireland that does not either proudly own or aspire to owning a piece of Waterford Crystal. The loyalty to the Brand is like no other in the China and Glass Industry and spreads to the ex pat. community through out the world not least the USA. It is also the easy gift solution for anyone buying a gift for someone who is Irish.

The thing that they all want to know and is vitally important to them ” Is it made in Ireland”

For what it is worth here are an Independent UK retailers ideas on how to save and rebuild the brand.

1. Reduce the number of SKU’s ( Stock Lines). With the help of retailers and Waterford’s own sales team the range can be condensed to a manageable assortment where forecasting, production planning and outsourcing will become more accurate and efficient.
2. Continue to make iconic and traditional product like Colleen Glasses, Lismore Glasses and some Waterford Crystal Gitware ranges in the Waterford factory in Ireland. John Rocha Glass should be included too because of the designers deep association with Ireland. Contemporary Wine suites like Siren Wine Glasses should also be considered.
3. Outsource product in high quality factories under the Waterford brand licence. Product like Jasper Conran Glasses and Giftware that is just not economical to make in Ireland.
4. Centralise non selling elements of the operation with the rest of the Group. For starters Finance, Marketing and HR.
5. Reestablish the Brand with the unique proposition as the only quality premium crystal brand still made in the UK and Ireland.
6. Have a clear marketing strategy which focuses on the aspiration and international renown of the brand.
7. Package all product not least the Drinking Glasses in boxing that reflects the brand. Currently they come in grubby industrial cartons which hardly gives the right impression. Think Tiffany and Links of London they will show you how to market product aspirationally.
8. Before launching and investing heavily in new product counsel opinion to make an informed judgement. Ask the workers and create retailer forums you are more likely to get an honest view from them. Research consultants  will ask a sample of uninitiated and more importantly uncommitted people which will not give the actual picture.
9. Decide quickly what to do with the Stuart Crystal and Edinburgh Crystal brands. Stuart sadly has not received any love and attention and should be sold. Edinburgh is more difficult. Like Waterford the prestige patterns like Star of Edinburgh glasses and Thistle glasses have a country of origin issue, although not half as bad. I think in an ideal situation you would try to make these two patterns in Ireland and continue to outsource the rest. You could have the blanks outsourced and find a cutter in Scotland to finish the designs to retain the Hand Cut in Scotland message.
10. We have many customers waiting for positive news on the future off all three brands. We need information now  so that we can keep both them and us interested.

Please feel free to add your own views as I feel it would be an absolute travesty if the Waterford brand were to disappear. I will post further information as soon as I receive further updates.

Following the success of our website havens.co.uk I am regularly asked how much does it cost to set up and is it worth it?

For our business the Internet has become a vital sales channel. In these difficult economic times retailing on the high street has become challenging and adapting and changing the way we do things has been critical.

We set up our first web site in September 2000. I produced a schedule of our aims and objectives along with a business plan and a broad idea of the content. I then submitted this schedule to a number of providers and had quotes from £2,000 to 22,500!!! At that time having a website designed was all fairly new, so I decided to plump for a local supplier in the middle of the range of quotes, hardly scientific.

Our website was born and we soon received our first orders and fraud! A cloned card was used to send a canteen of cutlery abroad, shortly to be charged back by the Credit Card company! You live and learn.

Since then we have built a relationship with Leigh Mason of  Silkstream. Leigh was seconded to us as a graduate trainee on the Shell sponsored STEP Scheme . As an eager, fresh faced guy he listened to my pearls of retail ramblings, interpreted them and came up with a solution to totally overhaul our initial website. His tolerance of my limited technical knowledge and his ability to make things happen as I would suggest “that is how a customer would see it” has ensured that we have developed a relationship which has seen the launch of his very successful web design and marketing company and the successful growth of our Internet sales. Moreover I count him now as a close friend and look forward to the continue success of his and our businesses.

In November 2008 we launched our completely new site which is taking us to the next level. Watch this space for further stories on our Internet trading experiences.

When asked what should a website design cost, I reply that you need to answer a number of questions before you can estimate the cost and the effectiveness. In no particular order I list my thoughts:

• Is the Website to sell the Company or its products ?
• If you are wanting an e – commerce site to sell your products are you committed to treating it as a new store or branch ?
• Are you selling branded product or generic items?
• Are you prepared to totally commit time, resources and money to the day to day operations involved in running, developing and marketing a website?

Now a list of Do’s and Dont’s again in no particular order

• Do research your potential design providers contact the companies they have worked with
• Do research the web market. Google the key words that you think the consumer would and see what comes up
• Do research the competitions offer
• Do use either your brand or a google friendly URL or Domain name.
• Do draw up a detailed plan of the pages and format you want the site to take
• Do take on a provider who listens to your needs and is prepared to understand your business as few will know your business better than you.
• Do draw up an Internet marketing plan.
• Like and trust your provider as you will be working closely with them, particularly in the development stage.
• Make sure your enthusiasm for the new venture rubs off on the staff who will be running it for you. Engage them early.
• Do update, refresh and change your website daily.
• Don’t expect to get sales immediately
• Don’t skimp on the set up costs of your website, by all means get like for like competitive quotes to establish market price but do not dumb down the spec. to save money. Better off waiting until you can afford to do it properly.
• Don’t expect the site to drive itself

I am sure the real experts will add more to this but it will get you started and thinking.

One thing I always say and that is the initial development and building of the site is only the start, the shop fitting if you like, it is the easy bit. The challenge is to constantly update the content. I liken it to a shop window, if you do not change it the passer by will quickly pass it by! The other key thing is the marketing of your site – you can have the best site in the world, if it is not high up on the search engines no one will get to see it.

There is no doubt that having a website can drive people to your business and build online sales too. However if you are not committed to it then you might be better saving your money.

We nurture, feed and love our site looking to improve it daily, as a result it has grown into a very meaningful business and our ambitious expansion plans are fast becoming a reality.

My daughter Veronie was very keen to visit Westfield shopping centre for retail therapy, I was keen from a research perspective. So along with Helen my wife we alighted at White City walked past the iconic BBC building and into Westfield. The entrance from the tube feels like the back door, first up is a burger king, angular  staircase and escalator – I have had better entrances.

Up the escalator and things begin to look as you might expect of a shopping centre. On further inspection it takes on the feel of a modern Airport departure lounge with rows of seating and sumptuous relaxation areas. The central atrium is altogether more impressive, light, airy and clearly a space available for performance too.

The one striking thing at 11.00 on a March Tuesday morning is the lack of people or as us retailers call it footfall. A break at Starbucks,  at the insistence of Veronie – wants a Frappuccino, where a small coffee comes in hideously thick and bucket size mugs.

From Starbucks I can see Oliver Bonas a retailer who receives rave reviews in the Gift trade journals. I watch for half an hour, not one person goes in, mind you there were hardly masses passing. I decide to be the first in. Windows not particularly attractive, internally not particularly inspiring. Curious fashion mixed in with a range of Oliver Bonas jewellery and gift accessories in a tiny space. Feel disappointed that an up and coming company in our industry looks so unappealing, little focus or identity. You feel that if you sold the whole contents of the shop you would not make a months rent.

Next stop Hollister. Now we are happening, Hollister is relatively new to the UK and less well known than it’s me too Abercombie and Fitch. You would be forgiven for thinking you were in Abercombie and Fitch – very similar layout, clothes in neat piles lit very discreetly with pools of light – I always thought they did that in A&C to hide the price tag! On teasing out the price on a Hollister tee shirt I am pleasantly surprised, not bad value at all for a preppy branded product and clearly the public agree as mums with hand fulls of garments queue to pay.

The anchor stores are Debenhams – true to form Half Price Sale, House of (I am trying to find an identity)Fraser and M&S. On the way into HOF there is an upmarket bit, De Beers, Tiffany and Louis Vuitton to open soon, brand s not normally suited to a mall, time will tell particularly if the Champagne bar is anything to go by, 4 customers at 1.00!

Feeling hungry we explore the food area. This is a real treat, food of all types and ethnicity in a good atmosphere. The offer is wide and varied with some exotic options Tiffinbites, Yo Sushi and Vietnamese along with the English options of Roast and Pies.

We settle on Yo Sushi where the food conveyor belt is going at the speed of a Lewis Hamilton Selectric’s set making grabbing food a risky business. They also have a sound system that periodically bleats out messages in tourrets style! Food good and quick and suddenly around us there is a transformation. People are appearing, queues only previously seen at Hollister are now forming at most of the food serveries, the place has come to life.

After lunch a final tour, wife and daughter go in separate directions, I settle down in a comfy chair and consider would we like to trade from here?  The answer would be yes but like most Malls I would not be able to make any money as a small independent retailer, so no!

The verdict from the girls is that it is relaxing and the food area is great but the overall retail experience is not compelling. Veronie would prefer Bluewater, so too Helen for Mall shopping but Oxford Street and Bond Street have the retail anchors and theatre that really gets me excited and from which I can learn something in our quest for constant improvement. Next stop Oxford Circus!!