Retailer Sarah Laker shares her top tips for building up a successful retailer/supplier relationship. As an award-winning indie retailer Sarah has a very clear business strategy and shares the key things that she’s looking from all her suppliers.
I sell about 15,000 cards a year alongside my stationery and gift products. I deal with over 70 suppliers across my two shops.
Connect with me, give me a reason to buy from you and to remember you when I’m buying.
And make it easy for me, suppliers who have what I call the ‘faff factor’ are low on my priority list.
Sarah Laker Stationery Supplies
Sarah is owner of award winning retailer Stationery Supplies, with stores in Marple and Wilmslow and online at Giraffe Gifts. She has also been a ‘Dragons’ at the GCA’s Dragons Speed Dating event and shared her tips to get the most out of this event at our Prepare to Slay the Dragons zoom meeting in January 2023. A passionate stationery lover Sarah has also been appointed to lead National Stationery Week in 2023.
Key card features that Sarah is looking for
The Design is the most important element as that will be what catches the buyers eye. Designs need to
- Have a USP, echo a trend in your own style or be the first of its kind.
- Fill a gap in my shop or justify me taking another range out of my shop. I have a set amount of room on my card display so I need a reason to do this.
- Look good on the shelf or spinner – make sure you use all the space available! Designs or wording at the bottom of the card will not be seen on traditional racking.
- Fit size wise. I don’t want awkward sizes or cards that need explaining to the customer or are difficult to display in any way, unless you are offering me a display solution.
The Back of the Card
This is an opportunity to share your story, and shout about your Unique Selling Point (USP).
Include information about your brand and who is the artist, how have the designs been created. Where are you based, and/or where the cards are made. The likelihood is that your cards will be printed in the UK, include that on the back of your cards as many consumers will look for that.
It’s also important to add what the cards are made from, e.g. recycled board or FSC board etc.
A product code is important for the retailer to identify the card, it makes it easier to order, re-order, and track missing or damaged items from deliveries. These need to be used on your invoicing too.
Do add the Pricing in Proportion (PiP) logo, this tells the consumers whether the type of postage stamp required for this size of card.
Consider including barcodes, some shops require them and won’t order cards without them. Some retailers will require price codes.
Click the links to read more about these in the GCA Library.
Envelopes and wrapping
The envelope is the first thing the receiver sees/holds so don’t let your envelope let you down. Consider whether your envelopes are made from FSC or recycled paper.
Will you be supplying cards naked or wrapped? If you are cello-wrapping is it compostable, biodegradable or recyclable? See the GCA blog on Sustainability in the Card Industry to read more.
Whatever you choose, make this message clear. No one solution will suit everyone e.g. I personally don’t like card klasps.
Sarah Laker, Stationery Supplies
Key selling points
It is important to be clear on the following ahead of trade shows and any retailer meetings:
Your Place in the Market
- Your Product – know where your company sits in the market place, are you aiming to be seen as a traditional, sentiment, contemporary publisher? Who are your competitors.
- Your Price Points – know that your cards are suitably priced for the market at which you are aiming. e.g. If you are publishing children’s cards consider how many cards parents buy a year for children’s parties and don’t out price yourself.
- Your Target Customers – accept that you won’t be for everyone and everyone won’t be for you – don’t take it personally, you will find your people. Know what kind of shops you think your cards will fit into.
- Visit other shops, outlets, trade fairs to help you know your competition, price points, and where your range will fit.
- Build on the belief – I like to know that you have thought about the future. How will your range stay relevant? Can you add to it, adapt it, has it got longevity? Have you plans for future ranges?
- Know how big you can go – can you meet demand and afford the print runs and finance?
Your trading strategy
This is really important, don’t wing it! I want to deal with someone with a business head. Retailers will be interested to know your terms and conditions/way of working:
- What’s your minimum order carriage paid? Make it achievable. Remember, no one will want to buy your whole range so make sure a retailer can still meet the minimum order by giving enough choices of designs.
- Is the first order proforma?
- Ensure your invoicing is very clear – use product codes.
- How will you chase late payers – sadly some people will see you coming as a newbie, so have this process ready.
- Exclusivity – this is important to indies, they want to be unique, so consider if this is something you can offer via postcode or towns etc.
- How will you deal with damaged cards from deliveries or shortages.
- Have you thought through delivery and costs.
- Have you got T&Cs.
- Make sure that you understand VAT and margins, do your sums, if there isn’t enough profit in it for me, I will walk away.
Deliveries
Things to consider…
Give careful thought to how you pack your cards. Imagine the courier uses your box as a football. The box has six sides, it won’t stay the same way up throughout its journey, so protect it!
I personally don’t like shredded cardboard, which will make all my carefully chosen designs dusty and I haven’t time to dust them all off.
Add a personal message, a small treat, a few card samples – it all makes for good customer relations and a nice experience.
If there’s a problem and the delivery will be delayed, let me know.
Stay in touch with your retailers
It’s a fine balance, I don’t want to hear from you every day, or even every week, but I do want you to keep in touch! Having ordered from you, keep that communication going…
Emails are great, but so is a physical catalogue of new designs and card samples.
If you include card samples then put in the finished product, don’t leave me guessing what the envelope is like or how it’s wrapped. This also means I can sell the card, see how it looks on the shelf and is less wasteful.
I want to see and know about your new ranges. I can’t buy it if I don’t know about it.
Keep an eye on your social media, if I tag you in a post then comment, share it etc, don’t ghost me. We’re all in this together and the more brand exposure we both get, the better.
Enter awards – there are lots of benefits of entering awards and look at who the judges are, e.g. the greeting card industry awards, The Henries, are free to enter, great for industry awareness and for reaching the buyers who are doing the judging!
Greeting cards in the UK are brilliant!
By retailers and publishers working well together, we can ensure that more cards are bought and sent, delivering more smiles!
Sarah Laker
Further information
Visit our Members’ Library . This is full of information and tips on selling and marketing your product, and help you build your business. If you spot a gap in our market tell us and we’ll fill it!
To find out more about our popular Dragons Speed Dating click the link to see photos and film from previous events.
To learn more about what buyers are looking for from suppliers see our Prepare to Slay the Dragon blog, which contains recordings of top tips from retailers Sally Matson of Red Card in Surrey, and Sarah Laker talking through her top tips above.
To visit Sarah’s online store
