#741: How Working With Sales Reps Elevates Your Retail Business

Foreign.

Business can be a lonely game. But it doesn't have to be. Welcome to Boutique Chat, where we explore community over competition and how to scale your company with the balance and the happiness that we all seek. We'll hear from product based businesses of all types, retailers, e commerce and wholesale brands, along with industry experts shaping the future of our industry. I'm your host, Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and and I can't wait to chat.

Hey guys, welcome back to the podcast. I have not one, but two amazing guests this week. Kelly, Angela, thanks so much for joining me today.

Thanks for having us.

So, a little backstory for everyone. So we all just got to see each other. Oh, slap my mic. We all just got to see each other in person a couple of weeks ago at a conference. Before I introduce the conference, I, I, Angela, since you were really my first connection to the conference, I feel like you should talk about what we were just doing because all of us together in the same room is just like so many ideas about our businesses, our industry, where it's headed and how we all can work together. So Angela, do you want to tell us where we were just all at, what we were up to?

Sure, sure. And that's actually how we first met face to face. Ashley was here in my hometown, Tampa. We met at a ghta. It's the Gift Home Trade Association Annual Conference. And so we were all together in Park City, Utah. We had an amazing week in a gorgeous, gorgeous city. And the Gift Home Trade association is really the industry's place to all come together. So there are sales agencies, there are reps, there are industry affiliates, there are suppliers. We all come together and we talk about the needs and the problems and the successes of the industry. So it's just sort of our, our spot to, to brainstorm and it really is, it is a fantastic week.

It is a fantastic week. Kelly, you are a huge part of GHTA as well. What do you think retailers need to know about GHTA that they. Because it's probably a brand new concept to them. I think a lot of them have no idea that that type of event and conference exists.

Right. Well, it's, it's open to certain categories in the industry, but retailers should know that we are a collective industry and we believe in your favorite thing to say, community over competition. Yes, we're competitors, but when we're together we are a joyful community learning. Like we love to see each other, we're doing the same jobs. Right. And you know, we get to swap stories but learn from some of the best trainers in the industry. We have keynote speakers who are top notch, you know, giving us really great ideas. There's, you know, a book club, you know, where we get to get together and talk about, you know, ideas to further our business. So retailers should know that, like, we are coming together for their best interests so that all of us collectively can present the best products, the best service for them as sales representatives. That's really important. We want to, you know, just grow together and do our best for retailers.

Yeah, so, so helpful. And like you said, Kelly, community over competition. You guys know that are listening to the podcast. We've talked about that forever. And it's amazing to see how we live it in terms of retail and in wholesale, but how GHTA lives it in terms of reps and sales agencies and brands as well, and the knowledge and just genuine friendships that you guys have with one another I think was really inspiring to see. So today we wanted to come together and really, I think a lot of what we're going to talk about today is rooted in some of the conversations we've had at GHTA about the overall industry and what we can all learn from one another and where the industry's headed and how we can all do business even better when we do it together. So I'm so excited to have you both here. You both are members of the hub. You both are big thinkers when it comes to where our industry is going. So I would love just to have you guys introduce yourselves to everyone who's listening today. Your background, how you got into, you know, the showroom and agency world and the rep world. Let us know who you are. Angela, let's start with you.

My gosh. So my story is kind of funny. I was in hospitality and my husband was in sales, and I was like.

I, I want to do sales.

Like, I was just, I was done with management and hospitality. And so I randomly applied to an ad in the newspaper. Like, I'm dating myself. I did not know that this industry even existed. And so I had, I had the chance. Little did I know that I actually interviewed with one of the top sales agencies in the. In the entire gift in home space. And they hired me because I think there wasn't anyone else that applied.

Yeah, I spent a little over 10 years as a sales rep in the field in Central Florida. And so an opportunity opened up with my, my current company. I work for a sales agency, Roadrunners, and I'm one of the principals of the organization and we serve retailers. In addition to that, in the Industry. I also serve on the Gift for Life board, which is how Kelly and I met. And this whole thing was born because we were supposed to. Supposed to be talking about Gift for Life, and we sort of spun up an idea about the reps are local to movement, and we've kind of been off and running ever, ever since.

I love it. Oh, my gosh. So many, so many things to talk about real quick. If anyone is not yet familiar with Roadrunners, Angela, talk about some of the brands and the lines that you represent, because I think a lot of retailers, if they haven't yet met you or been in the showroom, I bet a lot of these names would also click with those listening.

Sure. So our motto is we have it all, which means we, we truly carry a little bit of everything for any type of gift, apparel, home lifestyle retailer. So we represent brands like Boston International, the Darling Effect, Peking Handicraft. That's just a couple right off the top.

Awesome. I love it. All right, Kelly, let's hear it.

Well, I loved Angela's story so much. Let's see. I would say I started in the industry.

Sort of, kind of. I worked at amfar, the American foundation for AIDS Research.

A long time ago, near at the time when it was being founded and just a few years after it was founded, Gift for Life was an industry organization raising money at the time for AIDS research. And I was the liaison between AMFAR and Gift for Life because they were giving their money to amfar. Through that, I learned of the gift industry because I too didn't know that it existed. And my first trade show was or market was visiting the Dallas Market Center. And, you know, my eyes were really open then. I was then after a few years, four years at amfar, I was offered an opportunity at what was then George Little Management, that became Emerald Expositions. That's what it is today. But I worked for 19 and a half years on the National Stationary Show. Long time I went from selling booth space to being the show director over time. And so still working with exhibitors and retailers on that show. Through that, I visited all the markets. So I actually had met Angela lots of times because I'm friends with one of her colleagues, another principal at Roadrunners. And I got to visit Dallas, Atlanta, Las Vegas, et cetera in that role. After that, I was offered a position at the Dallas Market center to lead the gift temps. And then I lived in New York City at the time and went back and forth. Covid hit, switched gears and I went and worked at Brandwise and market time. And I did that completely remotely. It was brand wise. When I started it became market time. And after that I worked at purchasing power plus a hospital gift shop buying group for about 10 months. What a great group. That is a lot of fun, great people. And then I was offered an opportunity at Just Gotta have It, where I now am, sales rep agency. So it's lots of steps along the career. It was like this long, you know, bit and then you know, lots of positions that led to a great, you know, role at Just Gotta have It. And I am on the board of Gift for Life. So that's a full circle moment. And yeah, Angela and I were supposed to talk about CRM stuff for Gift or Life. We were, we had a project and we then this idea for RepSarlocal2 hatched and now we are great friends. We talk every week and we're very proud of what we've started and the interest that we've generated from. We have lots of agencies who are partnering with us in the mission to just put the idea forward that retailers work with their local awesome reps.

Yes. Well there's a lot to unpack amongst all of that we're going to talk about. Reps are local too. But Kelly, I've got to pause on this point and really for both of you, it's amazing to hear your journey and your backstory of all of these different parts of the industry that you've touched because sometimes I'll hear from retailers that are saying, you know what, I love this industry so much but maybe retail isn't right for me. What else could I do in this industry? And my head explodes a little bit because I'm like, ah, like there's so many things and when I hear both of you speak, I mean these are just such great examples of if someone's not interested in being a retailer per se, there's all of these other amazing roles, companies, positions and ways to stay involved in the industry.

I think we both have retailer former retailers who are now reps working for our agencies. That's kind of normal, right Angela?

Exactly, exactly.

Yes, absolutely. And so Kelly, go back to just gotta have it as well. Will you mention some of the lines and the brands that you carry as well for those who are listening.

Thank you. Sure. Yes. Blue Q. We work with Patty Wax. Scout Curated Wares is another one. We work with Patchology.

So many brands that are great for, you know, retailers and sometimes we have brands in common with other agencies because we, you know, agencies approach it divisionally. So Angela, mentioned Peking Handicraft. We also represent that brand but in an area area where they, you know, they're not covering it. So it's, it's a funny industry. We'll have lines in common and then there will be lines that we don't have in common.

Yeah, I think that's a great place to start, Kelly, because I think if I'm going to approach this conversation from I'm just going to put myself in the eyes of the listener today who some are probably very familiar with going to gift market and working with showrooms and agencies and reps but there's probably many today that are listening that are like, this is all new to me. And just to like preface the conversation with why we're together, we want to talk about reps are local too and what it means to work with your local sales reps. But I think we want to arm and equip every retailer that's listening with how can you do business a little bit better? How can you get a little bit more service? How can you get, you know, exclusives from different brands? How can you carry something that your competitor isn't necessarily going to have access to? How can you go to market a little bit smarter? And so you guys have so, so much wisdom when it comes to these things that I want to unpack all of it. But let's just start high level for those who don't know the difference between the gift industry or the apparel industry or how reps work with brands. Can one of you start with kind of giving me the lay of the land of I'll call it tradition of how this industry's kind of been set up to this point.

Sure, sure. So it, it's first of all, it is super easy to work with a local sales rep. We actually have on the reps are and that's t o o2 website a rep finder. So if you are in the state of Florida and you're curious like I carry gifts or I carry apparel or I carry whatever and you want to find who, who your local rep is, you can actually go in, select your state and it will show you all of the sales agencies that work within your, within your state and it gives you a link to their websites where you can then find your local sales rep.

There's we, this is a big topic so I'm going to touch on it and then I think we probably will unpack and dissect it. But there are, there is so much value to working with a local rep that knows your town that will get to know your store and they can bring so much added value to help you work market smarter. Especially we as markets are changing, number of days you're staying are changing. I think we're probably going to touch on that a bit. But that's just a quick and easy way to find out who are some reps I can work with.

And working with a local rep is free. It's a great service. This is a time of year we're talking in just at the end of October, right. And you know as the fourth quarter winds down, there's a lot of holiday parties and events that stores are hosting and depletion, fast depletion of product in stores. You know, there's the furious buying that's happening around the holidays. So reps, you know, they're not just selling product to retailers, they're a partner to these retailers. They will pour wine at your event, they will, you know.

Take inventory. These folks are on ladders and on the floors restocking, taking inventories, looking, you know, making sure that a store is well prepared for, you know, an onslaught or keeping the best sellers fully stocked when you know, a retailer may not have time for that.

And Kelly just mentioned something Ashley that I, I'd like to share. This is like my hot tip for retailers. My hot tip is if you have a Q4 event coming up, ask your local rep for giveaways. It could be bag stuffers, it could be a, a something for a drawing. It could ask them to come in and attend one of my top accounts. When I was a rep on the road we, our relationship was built because my mother in law was coming into town and I didn't want to come on Saturday so I asked her if I could come just wrap gifts. I wasn't even selling or anything at that point and so I actually went to her store, just wrapped gifts all day on Saturday. Reps are willing to do these things. So my hot tip for any retailers that are listening in is ask your reps for giveaways. They have them and they will go to bat for you with the brands to get you goodies to give away.

It's so okay. I have a million things I want to unpack about this because I love it. First of all, I would probably be there with you wrapping gifts. But let me just say this. If you're new to the industry and you're like okay, why to reps exist and sales agencies exist and why are they available to do those sorts of things? Well, if you put yourself in the position of the brand owner. Right. The manufacturer of whatever the gift line is or the apparel line is. They can't be everywhere at once. They can only be one place at once. And so these larger companies, these brands, have partnered with reps and sales agencies around the country. Again, some, like you said, Kelly, overlapping in different territories. So you might see some in Dallas or Atlanta or Vegas, different places. And the agencies are the ones that are the boots on the ground. So, again, just like, what is a rep? How does it work? You know, that's kind of how that process unfolds. But I think a misconception that a lot of people have that are new to this industry is, oh, this showroom or this rep or this agency, they just exist to sell me something.

Oh, my gosh, time.

You're new in biz, and this is just like a business one on one thing, right? Anytime you're new in business, I think everyone has to overcome their fear of sales. And reps do as well. Right? Because what are we taught as kids when we watch cartoons? Like, literally, we're indoctrinated with this stuff. Who's the bad guy?

It's the salesman, this wealthy business owner, or, you know, like, the bad guy is always the guy selling you something. And cartoons teach our kids that. So we grow up with this idea. I don't want to be sold to. So when you get into this industry and you overcome that fear of, well, sales are actually just helping people solve a problem, or it's just building a beautiful partnership between two people. That's a win, win situation. I think when you switch your mindset to what truly sales can be, that's when I think the rep relationship becomes so evident and clear. Of, of course, why wouldn't I want to work with a rep or a showroom who can help me solve this problem, who can be on the ladder helping me merchandise, who can pour wine in my open house, or who can bring me an exclusive, beautiful new line to a trunk show that I would have had no idea even exists. But because they're boots on the ground in a hundred other stores that are successful, I have inside knowledge that I would have never otherwise had access to.

Well, that's exactly. Yeah, that's exactly it. They like these. These reps are covering territories that are 250 miles even more sometimes. You know, they're going to hundreds of stores in their territories. They're seeing the trends. They know what bestsellers are. They know what works in one community may or may not work in your community. If a ret is only ordering online. They're not and following like the brand saying this is a bestseller. It might not be a bestseller in that neighborhood. But reps can also say understand that you are having.

I think we both, we all know a retailer in Idaho who in her town, Coeur d'. Alene, there's like a wine festival and you know, the rep knows that and will bring in wine themed products for the wine festival to make it better. She'll work that festival. But like knowing what's happening in the community, you know that's reps live there. They know that a person at a brand who isn't boots on the ground wouldn't have that like local information. Another thing that I, you made me think of is that yeah I hear, you know, sometimes, you know, being a store owner is lonely and you know it's, you're doing your job and you've got, you know, transactions happening in your store. But you know, I was thinking about how much these relationships, how meaningful they are. Reps and retailers, when our reps are on the road, you know, they're often actually staying at the houses of some of their retailers because their friendships have grown so, so much over the years that they've, they're at each other's weddings and you know, all of the happy moments together.

Okay, so Ashley, you actually brought up a really good, a really good point when you were describing a salesperson and as having been a prior sales rep myself before being on the management side. It is all about the relationship that when, when you're a multi line sales rep, it's not about making the sale, it' not about selling the one car. It is about building the relationship because I'm successful when the retailer is successful. And so when I, when I use all of that knowledge that I have about those brands and what is trending and what is selling and not selling. Because I'm going to tell you if something doesn't sell and you're wanting to order it because I'm going to come back and see you again. I want to sell you more. I want you to be successful. The more you sell, the more I sell. So we truly are in it together. It's not about the one time.

No, no. It's not transactional at all. Like what? Just to play on what Angela said, if a store is tanking, you're losing a customer. So you know, being having. I think reps are, reps are contractors. For the most part they're doing this, you know, they're earning commission and you know that's it's really just that's fine. Maybe we, you know, it's but it's about the relationship that they're building and making sure that that store is successful. They don't want you to go out of business there. And the trust that comes from saying this isn't going to work for you, that's where it really comes in. Then the relationship gets to grow because the retailer is like, well, you just saved me wasting money.

Yeah.

And I think that's really, you know, important. The other thing is brands. You know, we represent big and small brands. So it's not just big brands that are with rep agencies. A lot of times we will take a brand on that we believe in and we know retailers are going to love and we want retailers to have exposure to the brand and without us, it's too hard for that one woman show, that one man show to get his products into retail, you know. So I think retailers can also have the understanding that they're seeing a brand because we believe in it and we think it's going to work in their stores.

Are you ready to kick off the new year? Right. I hope you will join me. It is my favorite time of the year. Q. New planners gel pens. Trying not to Write like a 12 year old boy. That's what we do during the Best Year Yet Challenge. But better yet, we help you plan out your year from scratch. And we go far beyond just, just goal setting and the regular things that you put on the board that you say you're going to do but maybe don't do every single January. Instead, January 6th through the 8th for the best Year Yet Challenge, we're going to spend three days together, you and I, Sarah Burks, Jeff Fenn, our team here at the Hub, helping you map out real strategy for the new year, talking about what's actually trending and working right now across our industry. Everything from mapping out content, mapping out inventory, strategy, sales strategies, growing your team or just making sure you have the systems and processes in place for you to be the CEO of your business this year. And not just the hustling entrepreneur. Let's face it, I just want to make sure you have more profit and peace not only throughout the holiday season, but all the way throughout 2026. So come join me during the Best Year Yet Challenge. It's completely, completely free. Members, non members, doesn't matter. If you're listening to this and you just want to start your year off a lot stronger, come and join me for the best area challenge. All of the Links are across our social media in our show notes. Be there or be square. Let's start this new year off right. I, I just go back to what you said, Kelly, about, you know, retailers do feel lonely and they wear many hats and they're often very overwhelmed. And so I think about that rep relationship as wow, what a partnership. Someone else who's invested in my success that I can lean on in the good times and bad, who can help me get through it. And you know, the alternative to shopping wholesale today. And I mean granted I encourage every retailer to shop online, shop online with the brand, whether it's fair or fashion go or our own site, Hubventory. But that is a limited experience with that brand. And so I just want to make sure I'm also bringing awareness to there's so much more you have access to when you actually do business with the rep versus just placing that online order. So can you guys speak to that, to some of the exclusives that you guys might have when a retailer orders with a replay versus just going through an online platform on its own. Maybe it's discounts or swag like you said, Angela, or you know, the experience that you mentioned, Kelly, and the best practices that you don't get through just.

A transaction with a sales rep. You can taste it, you can touch it, you can smell it, you can hold it, you can see a sample. If and if they don't have that item, it's likely they have seen that product, they have touched it, they can tell you it's not as big as, as it appears to be on the same screen. The reps have the knowledge, they also know things like ship time. So it's going to take six months for you to get that or it might take six days to get that or here's the best promotion or wow, that's a really nice size order. And if you're going to do a eight foot section in your store, let me call that sales manager and let me see if I can get special terms, free freight mating, something that doesn't even exist because you have an advocate that is there to help you grow, grow that brand. And that's just off the top of my head. There's so much more, but that's just the quick and easy ones.

And our reps are in touch with the brands every single day. Every single day. And the brands have customer service people just for the reps. So when that rep is calling on behalf of a store, they take the call and that rep means many stores to that brand and so when the rep makes the call, the. The brand will realize that this is a, you know, important business and, you know, usually it's a win.

Yeah. So would you say, what are some of the best practices you've seen from retailers in terms of their rep and showroom relationships? What could retailers do to be most successful in taking advantage of the opportunity when working with reps in showrooms?

Communicate and ask. Like, as simple. As simple as that. Share your. Share your events. There's nothing for a rep. There's nothing more defeating than finding out that the open house is starting in an hour and you could have been there to help or offer something up or, you know, clean the shelves up. Help, remerchand. Like, I used to hate that when I would wake up Saturday morning and look on Facebook and go, oh, my gosh, I wish I had known that that was last night. So communicate and ask. We also coach and train our reps to ask those questions, like, what do you have coming up? But sometimes it just, it gets a little lost in the, in the, in the translation. But communicate with, with your reps. Communicate what your, what your needs are and how, how you want to be communicated with. Call me, visit me, send me an email. Like, communicate with your rep.

Kelly, anything else?

I think Angela hit on all the points. I will underscore that, you know, the. How you want to be communicated with is a good one because.

Some retailers like texts, some do not. So our reps are adept. We, we coach that one too. They, they know that, you know, they're going to text some, they're going to email others, they're going all others, they're just going to pop in. They're not going to pop in. They're going to make an appointment. It's, you know, they are very skilled at, you know, being flexible for the style of each of their retailers.

That's, that's actually a funny, a funny point. When we were talking about the GHTA conference, that was actually one of the points at a prior conference because we all think we know how people, how retailers want to be communicated with. And there was a retailer panel with four retailers. And so we started going around the room and everyone assumed they were all going to answer the same and all four retailers had a different response. They each wanted something different. So communicate that with your reps. If you prefer to have a text, tell them and they'll communicate with you that way.

That's so good.

And then.

Oh, go ahead.

I was going to say, and then at market, you know, if you're Attending, you know, the Atlanta, Las Vegas, Dallas markets. And you're going to visit in the showroom. There's different styles of buying that we see. Right, right. Some retailers come in with an action plan. They know they need to reorder things. They have an open to buy and this much money is budgeted for new. And some just want to be open to everything. Show me what's new, everything. And they go on this grand tour of the showroom. So having a plan is great, but I think there's always so much new at market. Definitely being open to your expert rep, you know, your local rep showing you what's new, because she's going to have an idea that maybe you didn't have. That will be exciting. It's like brainstorming a little bit. Angela and I have calls with each other and at the end of our call, we always come up with some amazing nugget. I think those meetings with your reps, you're going to, like, go through your reorders, you're going to talk about what you have, have planned for the, you know, coming year. And at the end of it, you're going to see this product and be like, I would never have thought of that, you know, and it ends up being a bestseller. Sorry.

No, to your point, it's. It's kind of like even a retailer, right. When someone comes in the store and you know, can I help you find something? Right. And they carry. I'll use apparel as an example. And. And the person's in a dressing room and they're trying something on, the store owner typically is bringing them new things like, hey, but what about this? But what about that? And pretty soon the person walks out with something they would have never picked out on their own because they relayed on the experience of the store owner. And I think that's the experience of the rep, is trust them to bring you something that you wouldn't have thought of on your own, but they have the knowledge and experience to bring it.

To you, which I really love that parallel. I used to work at Contempo Casuals just to date myself. Yes. And I was the person bringing the belt and the scarf and all the things.

So I've got a parallel of this back to a conversation, Angela, that you and you and I have had. And I think we've had this on webinars and a previous podcast that we did together. But in our first meeting with one another, I said something that I think it definitely sparked your brain. I think I lit a couple people's Hair on fire when I said this, but I was making the point that a lot of the new retailers that I visit with that have maybe never been to market or they've never been to a gift show, they've only been to the temps and apparel, they find the showroom experience the first time they go intimidating. And Whether it's the 15th floor in Dallas and the apparel showrooms or it's the territory in Dallas or it's Atlanta, you know, the gift buildings, and they say when they walk up to the desk and someone says, excuse me, do you have an appointment? They're like, like Pretty Woman vibes. Like, oh, my God, do I belong here? You know, I know I don't have an appointment. And they're embarrassed and they leave. And so I want to keep pushing on this stereotype and break down this wall and this barrier and this belief that it's intimidating to walk in. I think we just need to understand the appointment exists because the rep wants to serve you. So tell me about, like, that whole question. Do you have an appointment or should a showroom experience be intimidating? Why or why not?

Absolutely not. We are the friendliest folks out there. And. And you did hit the nail on the head.

We.

We want to connect the retailer as quickly and as efficiently with their sales rep, because time is money. And so that's the purpose of that question. Like, are they expecting you? Because if so, we want to get you together as quick as possible. You do not need an appointment. You absolutely do not need an appointment. Walk in, wander around.

We are there to serve you. We are there for you, the retailer. That is our goal. We will get someone to help you. I know those front desks can be really intimidating because there's people sitting there behind the computers processing orders, but we are there to serve you. So come in. Tell us how we can help you. Tell us what you're looking for. And if you don't know what you're looking for and you just want to wander through, you are more than welcome to. It is wide open in my home. The front door is wide open. Please come in. Please come in. Please introduce yourself. If you found us through this webinar. We want to know that we are the friendliest folks and we are here to serve you.

I totally agree and want to add to that. Yes, yes, yes. And I think that is why we're asking if you have an appointment. But I think we're all trying to. We all realize that, you know, we want to say, you know, we're happy that you're here. I think wandering showrooms is also a fantastic way for research seeing trends. So, you know, please, again, emphatically, as Angela was, you know, come in, look, you're going to find that, you know, whatever roosters are, that, that's an old one, but, you know.

It'S so old, strawberries or something are the next big thing. You know, you're going to see trends from showroom to showroom and on different products. I might have a, you know, just gotta have it might have a stationary line that has strawberries and cherries. And then you go to Roadrunners and you're gonna see pillows with strawberries and cherries. And you're gonna go to the next and you're gonna realize, like, I need to make a theme. And I think that's why spending more time at markets is important. I say, let's start another campaign, Angela. Plan another day.

Plan another day at market. Plan one day just to be like open to trends because you're going to realize that you need to make a theme in your store related to that. And you can get the candles here and you can get the pillows there and the stationery in another place.

Yeah, I. And I'm gonna, I'm gonna jump on the bandwagon of let's start a movement or a trend. And I know not everybody agrees with this trend, but I think the more that gift and home markets and apparel markets can overlap, the better it is for the retailer, the better it is for the brand and the better it is for the rep. Because I wanna talk about this with you both. I think this is really important. There's a huge intersection happening in our industry between home and gift and apparel. And I've made it my personal mission to break down some of these words that I think, think aren't necessarily relevant anymore between. Well, I'm just a gift store. I'm a boutique, which is just apparel. That's not true anymore. So we just. I was telling you guys this before we started to record. We just did a customer wide survey and we found that 48 of our audience here at the Boutique Hub and members of our community are actually selling home and gift. And that might be. Yes, they sell apparel and home and gift. Right. It might be a crossover and intersection. So how can we better serve the retailer of the future, which I think is a lifestyle retailer? They may have sections of stationery and candles and home gift and tabletop. It might be a little bit of everything because it's such a curated experience based on their brand and the Lifestyle versus just falling into a category of what they sell. And one last thing, I'll, I'll drop one last stat that I shared at GHTA and then I want you guys to dissect all of this. But I shared this stat just to drive home the point of these terminologies that we use are out of date. And that is that every single month Google averages this search volume for boutiques near me. And it's 950,000 searches a month for boutiques near me. That's average for gift stores near me or gift shops near me, it's 91,000. Massive difference, right? Almost a million searches for boutiques. And so the reason I think the word boutique is important because it encompasses everything. It's a curated lifestyle experience from an independent retailer, not necessarily a product category. So let's, let's hear what you guys think about the intersection of the two industries and the future of where we're going together.

Sue Ashley, you, you bring up a really good point. And as you were talking, I started thinking about something that's actually taking place right down the street from me here in Tampa. There is a new, a new community being built downtown called Water Street. And I've watched the retail evolve there. Literally it was a dirt road when I moved here. And what we're beginning to see, not only here in my own community, but I see it on Main Street. Small town America, everywhere. It's becoming more of experiential retail. And it's where everything is, is converging. We have home stores, we have gift stores, we have lifestyle stores on this water street. And in addition to that, we have an ice cream shop in the ice cream cream shop has retail. We have a plant shop that has retail. They are selling jewelry, they are selling accessories for plants. And plants is there is their core. But they sell everything. Guess what? They fall under the umbrella of what we, everyone on this call is doing. Same as the ice cream shop, same as the wine shop. It's all retail. We have, it is all converged together. And it's truly interesting to watch this, this street with all this different type of retail coming together. And it all falls under this umbrella. We're all one. It's not a singular retailer anymore. It's not just gift or just home or just apparel. We're all doing the same thing. We just have our own little spin on it.

And it's amazing how retailers are boutique owners are able to spin so differently from one another because you can have. That's what's exciting about retail. Right. You know, you go from store to store and it's a different experience from one to the next to the next. And you're finding different product and exciting points of view. You know, hey, I love shopping, but, you know, I love that. And when people can bring in, you know, things that, you know, speak to their vibe and their community.

Beliefs, we have a lot of give back brands that we represent. You too, Angela. And sometimes these stores are very involved in give back and they want to have been in stores where every single product in the store does something where they're supporting whatever community is meaningful to them. So there's, you know, I think that the future is definitely bright, of course, but also, as Angela said, mixed. Like that plant store she talked about could have plant bookmarks and plant, you know, all things plant notepads. And I'm thinking the ice cream store probably sells really cute jewelry with ice cream themes on it.

Yeah, it's all. I love what you said, their point of view. And it's kind of like the anthropology effect, right? It's retail has become a brand like anthropology has become a brand where it's serving this particular lifestyle in all of those different categories. And when I look across the most successful retail stores that I see, that's what's happening. Like, that's exactly what they're doing. So parting thoughts because we just have a couple minutes left, but parting thoughts from you guys on, you know, as retailers walk into the new year and they're hitting those January markets and they're deciding what markets do I go to, what showroom should I visit it, what new category should I experience? What's your best advice in terms of working with reps and then also just living into that, you know, point of view and the lifestyle brand that retailers are building today.

So I'll go. Go back to, to what I said before about communicating and being open. Ask the questions. Don't be afraid to ask, to ask, what are you seeing? What's trending? Because in the month of December, we begin to do training in new product rollouts. So we kind of have a little bit of an initial glimpse into what's coming out new, what we think will be trending. Really, where the rubber meets the road is when the orders start coming in. But we kind of have a little over an overarching sort of beginning. We get to see what's happening. So communicating and asking your reps, what are you seeing? Because you might get 3, 4, 5 ideas to head into market, so that when you begin to explore.

You'Ll start to see them. So ask the questions. And I really loved Kelly's idea of leaving some time just for exploration. Yeah.

Yeah. I also think it's really important to. So, yep, leave time for exploration for sure. Thank you. But I think also the understanding your inventory position as you go to market, understanding which brands you're going to phase out and do you want to replace that brand with a like brand or are you looking for something completely different? Understanding your budget because you know, that is, that's really important as you're writing those orders. You know, it's crushing, you know, for us all the brands, the reps, everybody, if you know, you have to dial it back on those orders. So like making sure that you understand what your spend is going to be at the market is really important.

That's huge. We can help you with that at the boutique of we can help you make those plans and understand your position so that you can be a better partner with all the brands you work with. With. I love it. All right, well, ladies, thank you so much for this. As far as Reps Are Local to go, I, I just don't want to, you know, stop without putting a cap on that as well. We'll link up the website, the information we'll also link up the gift guide that we put together between the boutique hub and Reps Are Local Too. But any, you know, quick parting thoughts on just making sure that retailers get in touch with Reps Are Local Too and understand that mission?

Sure, if The Reps are Local 2 website is just a great global resource. It is the top sales agencies across the US that have come together all to serve the retailer. The mission of Reps Are Local Too is to support and celebrate the work of the independent retailer. It's very similar to the Shop Local movement. Our goal is to help to educate and support sales reps and celebrate the work they do every day.

It's amazing. It's so important to the industry. Thank you guys both for your time. Kelly, Angela, this is so great. I look forward to seeing you guys at market soon. We'll leave all of your contact information as well so everyone who's listening of course can catch you in the showroom, learn more about the brands you carry and hopefully test out some new opportunities for inventory and buying strategy going forward. Thank you guys for being here today.

Thank you.

Thanks for listening, guys. I hope you took away all kinds of of nuggets and new ideas from this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a rating and review. We love to hear your feedback and give you a chance to be featured on the show each and every week. For more information on our spirit of community over competition and to access guest downloads and bonuses and all the resources we talked about on the show, head on over to the boutiquehub.com and join the community. We'll see you next week.