How do we buy??
Finding a supplier is easy, finding the right supplier however… Not so!!
Since opening our business in 2016 finding items that are different has been a never-ending quest. Moving into our little shop in 2017 meant this quest became even more challenging to avoid using the same suppliers as others to ensure the customers of Hadleigh could have even more to choose from.
When you think about owning a clothes shop you simply won’t believe how much time and effort goes into finding the right suppliers and how this quest really isn’t a one off job! We are always asked by you about our buying, and we chat about this all the time to those that ask so felt a blog was something worth writing…
Firstly we buy like no other boutique we know of… we buy items individually rather than say 6 of the same item, this in itself means we have to find lots of suppliers to enable us to find the variety needed to fill our shop… the suppliers we use think we are mad… “why do you only want 1 of each colour of these, they are great sellers buy 6” we believe changing to do this would change so much what we are about but definitely recognise how it would make our lives far easier!! So many of you come in every 2/3 weeks asking “what’s new” and buying in the easier way wouldn’t be right for you so we do it the hard way!!
Every shopping trip we visit 12 suppliers sourcing maybe 20 items from each place. it’s a long day and sometimes we forget what we bought till we get it to the shop!!
We never buy online; we have been so tempted so so many times… but we feel there is so much value in seeing & feeling the items we buy ahead of doing so. (This also makes buying a time consuming process!) We can see not just the quality but fabric & colours that photos just can’t achieve… How many times have you bought something online and received it and been disappointed? Now imagine doing that exact thing with a box or two full of items and in addition the returns policy doesn’t exist! You just wouldn’t do it would you?
For some time now we have used the internet to search for new suppliers. As the items we buy are made mostly in Europe we started to try to source some of these to go and visit. We soon realised that our buying approach simply wouldn’t lend itself to us buying from them, with needing to buy a minimum of 50 pieces! Slightly more than the 1 we buy now! So switched to see what else we could do.
Business plans had been very fluid for us (a nice way of saying that we made them as we went!) … we don’t have a 5-year plan but as all small businesses who were affected by the arrival & extended stay of our friend, COVID! we started to consider these.. not only had our business survived it has grown so we felt the need to get a plan together…
Finding new suppliers was top of the list and following lots of trawling we found a few suppliers in Paris so given our need for a change of scenery and being able to use our passport at last, off we went. Given Kittys great sense of direction & Ems constant need to play sat nav on their journey to London each time this plan was filled with possible issues… and if you know us you know if there is an issue to find we will find it! This trip was eye opening! Not only dealing with foreign speaking suppliers but gaining our import licences & all the processes needed to buy new items from these suppliers… We got to the point that we just held our breath placed an order with 3 new suppliers, travelled home and waited! 3 days later the parcels arrived!! So well received by you that we are continuing to buy from these suppliers and now dont need google translate to do so….
Since our trip across to Europe we have sourced 2 new suppliers in the UK & are now planning a trip to other European countries to see what else we can find!
So in short buying the right things, the right amount & the right mixture is fraught with challenges.. but we love it and writing about it makes us realise just why it feels like hard work each time… but we know we get it right and love hearing all the lovely feedback from you all… As always thank you and hope you enjoyed the insight into how the items make it to our rails!!!!