Juliette Hogan has grown from her Ponsonby store and workroom base to recently add online sales. We catch up with Juliette as part of the Vend Retail Success series…
Juliette Hogan has grown from her Ponsonby store and workroom base to recently add online sales, a second store in Britomart and has just set up digs at a beautiful new workroom, meaning she is no longer in and out of her store all day.
As part of the Vend Retail Success series, where Vend, the Kiwi point of sale software company sponsors stories with their users to share tips for retail success, we thought we’d catch up with Juliette about managing such awesome growth, and what she has learnt. Editor’s note: Juliette uses only lowercase letters, so we’ve retained that in her replies.
Congratulations on growing out of your base! How long have you been in at Ponsonby?
thanks. we opened ponsonby way back in september 2007
Not having everything in one place, and you being there to keep an eye on everything, what have you had to change to be able to do this?
i feel so fortunate that i have great girls that look after the parts of the business that i am no longer able to do so myself. we throughout each day are continually chatting to both our retail manager and also part time girls so we know what is going on with each store and managing anything that may arise.
How have you found the move into online -how is that different than in-store? How do they work together?
the move to online has been such a great step for us. we love it that our clothes can be sent all around the country and further afield to the j ho customer. we really value our wholesale stockists but it’s great for people to have access to the entire collection and at any time of the day. we also appreciate that time is precious and that not everyone has time (or the ability) to pop into store to make a purchase.
Below: The interior of Juliette Hogan’s stunning Britomart store. Photo Karen Ishiguro.
What have you learnt opening a second store?
our britomart store is just so beautiful. i loved designing the fit out and think of it as almost a temple to the j ho brand. its been a lot more work than i envisaged having a second physical store but it’s been such a great move. as i mentioned above i have a great team and everything is always that much easier when you are surrounded by people who work really hard and have the brand’s best interests at heart.
Retail is hard and you are really good at it. What tips do you have for retail success?
create an environment that you yourself would want to shop in, surround yourself with great staff, ensure that your customers are treated in a manner in which is fitting for the brand, be patient and work hard.
And you use Vend, how does Vend do to help you?
vend has enabled us to track and keep a record of all things j ho stock related – we wouldn’t be able to manage our two stores and online store without it.
Vend is a Kiwi web-based Point of Sale provider that retailers love to use the world over. They’ve sponsored this post on retail success to help share some helpful tips.
Check out more here: www.vendhq.com/fashion
Simon Pound, 18 November 2013
Runway photos Megan Robinson
Leave a Reply