In our series of interviews with independent schoolwear retailers on the reopening of their stores, Jan Richardson, managing director of Total Clothing in Peterborough, shares her experience.

 

Laura Turner: Did you manage to trade online during lockdown?

Jan Richardson: We closed down over lockdown. Turnover was massively reduced, of course, but online ticked over. We were fortunate enough to have had quite a few school leavers hoodies already on the website as well as usual uniforms. These were ordered online by parents and stored up until we reopened production. No orders were sent out whilst we were closed, but each customer was aware that their order would be dispatched on our return.

LT: What measures did you put in place before reopening?

JR: We put up screens, queue barriers and lots of new social distancing signage. We re-organised the showroom, set up a new appointments system, made 48 bespoke sizing videos, and sent a whole raft of marketing information and updates to each school. We also created bespoke pricing booklets for each secondary school, which were emailed out. We usually do pop-up shops at the school open evenings. With these cancelled, we needed to ensure that our literature was standalone in terms of information and sizing help. The booklets had links to our website, the school information, and sizing videos tailored to each school. It was a moving target and changed a lot as we worked through it all – and it continues to develop all the time. The PPE side was hard to source. We struggled with certain items but eventually everything arrived.

 

 

LT: How was your first week back trading?

JR: I think we were all quite nervous about opening. It’s a balance between servicing the customers and balancing the books. It all went very well though, the appointments were a success. We do need to keep monitoring the situation on a weekly basis however. As much as we can, we must get the traffic through early to mitigate the massive pressure points at the peak of August. The closed changing rooms have been challenging but our staff have lots of experience and can size largely by looking at a child. Having experienced staff has helped massively. Plus, the one-to-one service has led to increased average order values; customers are happy with the service.

 

 

LT: How are you finding the practice of social distancing in-store?

JR: We have been offering appointments and are revising this all the time. We are trying to encourage all local Year 7 pupils to come in. Average spends are way up due to the personal service that each customer is receiving. It’s hard work, but rewarding. We will monitor this as we move towards August; we don’t want a drop in trade through confusion over appointments. We will work six days a week from July and may need to move to seven days depending on the amount of traffic heading towards August. We are also giving a gentle nudge to schools that have had slower sales to offer encouragement to their parents to purchase earlier.

 

 

LT: How have you been promoting the reopening of the store?

JR: We have been keeping in close contact with all of our schools as they have access to the parents. We are also in direct contact with parents and have been sending regular updates. Social media has been an important means of communication.

LT: What are your plans in terms of buying stock?

JR: Most of the stock is already on the shelves at this time of year, ready for sale. We work our year based on the fact we will be selling at pop-up shops in June and July; with these cancelled, we are bursting at the seams with stock. Fortunately, good online sales for June have helped in that respect and also with cash flow. We will buy top-ups towards August; this may well be a challenging time for both retailers and suppliers.

LT: How do you feel about Back to School?

JR: Positive, it has started very well. As long as the government doesn’t make any drastic changes or U-turns on its support for “Back to School in uniform”, I think it will be fine. We have a few stock issues, which we hope will sort themselves out in good time. Other than that, we are planning within the constrains to have a much greater online turnover and hopefully a manageable retail experience and a good summer, all things considered…

 

Total Clothing
Botolph Bridge
Woodston
Peterborough