Rowland Gee - The Retail Start-Up Book: Successfully Plan, Launch and Grow a Business

Retail is detail! If I had had the benefit of reading this book before I opened my first shop in The Royal Exchange, it would have been plain sailing.

Simon Crowther, Senior Executive in the retail, clothing and manufacturing industry

There are many grey areas in business along with the noise created by excessive information that doesnt address the real issues. The Retail Start-Up Book provides practical, up-to-date information from seasoned businessmen. Its an invaluable resource for anyone starting a business.

Toks Aruoture, Founder, The Baby Cot Shop

When we first introduced the Hugo Boss brand to the UK, Rowland Gee fully understood the brand philosophy and its potential. Our unique marketing strategy, as well as the advanced styling and use of new materials, were warmly welcomed by the Cecil Gee clientele. This led to the eventual development of Hugo Boss standalone shops which were managed and run successfully by Rowlands company without ever compromising the ethos of the brand. This book highlights his wealth of experience and his expertise in retail.

Detlef Doerge, former Managing Director, Hugo Boss UK

Rowland was and still is one of the most passionate retailers on the UK high street. His energy has always stood out, as have his taste levels. He always taught those around him to have a can-do attitude in all circumstances, and The Retail Start-Up Book is a manifestation both of his enthusiasm and the generosity with which he offers guidance to new businesses.

Simon Berwin, former Managing Director, Berwin & Berwin Ltd

Rowland Gee came on board at Me and Maya as a consultant for a year in 2016 to help streamline the business and steer it in the right direction. His help was invaluable in making me realize the brand had a market and that I should pursue selling online. This book brings much of that advice into one resource.

Lalita Russell-Smith, Founder, Me and Maya

You will be aware that retail is going through seismic changes. But, interestingly, the retail cake has not shrunk, meaning that the amount of money we spend in the shops and online has not diminished. In fact, over the past five years, money spent in the UK (in shops and online) has grown by 13 per cent and continues to accelerate. In cash terms, 68 billion is now spent online in the UK, accounting for just under 20 per cent of all retail sales, excluding fuel. In the USA, the percentage spent online is rising fast and is forecast to reach 14 per cent by 2021. Similar growth is being seen in Australia, Canada and across the European Union. In Germany, one-eighth of the total retail spend is now spent online, equating to 58 billion euros.

It is how and where we spend that is dramatically changing. There are big winners and big losers. Retailers who have not confronted the changing ways in which people shop, and the products and services demanded, have been shocked by how fast their fortunes have declined, and conversely those who have recognized the behavioural changes have prospered.

This book will help you to understand these changing patterns and to navigate a successful path. A retail career can be very rewarding emotionally as well as financially because you are able to measure very quickly the satisfaction the product you choose and the experience you offer has with the customer.

We offer you a solutions-focused book. Throughout, we will explain ways for you to plan, grow and survive in the retail space and how best to become a winner. Weve found many other resources that are impractical, which offer solutions that in many cases are impossible to act on. They can also be prone to exaggeration and over-simplistic explanations.

Being a good retailer is not good enough today. Being exceptional or even sensational must be the target start-up retailers set themselves. The most successful retail start-up founders are hardworking individuals, focused and dedicated to delivering their vision. They dont idealize the start-up lifestyle: they have to lead, be prepared to multi-task and quickly understand that if they dont do it, no one else will. It takes a special kind of dedication and unwavering tenacity to make it work.

Retail giant Amazon was once a start-up. In an interview with The Times , founder Jeff Bezos warns that to have a vision while not being prepared to constantly accept change can be fatal for retailers. The one thing I know about customers is that they are divinely discontent, he said. Expectations are never static, they always go up. People always want better and yesterdays wow quickly becomes todays ordinary. He also stressed that customers will never allow you to rest on your laurels.

Its how you think about achieving your vision; and it is taking the long lens approach that will set you apart. To succeed, you must know your market, be relentlessly curious, carefully target the customer you want to attract, communicate your product clearly, control and understand your business and, of course, manage your money. Scary headlines like high street dying, no point competing with Amazon and customers not spending are examples of what must not be allowed to affect your thought processes.

Because, despite the upheaval the retail industry is experiencing, an abundance of growth opportunities across a diverse range of retail sectors, both in the UK and in international markets, continues to exist. More than ever before, retail consumers focus on individual company propositions and expect to access these retailers in many ways. Early stage retailers that integrate online and physical stores, and that recognize the demands of todays consumer, will enjoy significant upside potential. If you open a physical shop, it is highly likely it will be in a small- to medium-sized town where the local authority will be active and interested.

Starting a business today is an opportunity, and there are many exceptional examples of how to think in a fresh and innovative way to challenge the doomsayers and make your mark. This book provides examples and case studies of what good looks like and will reveal how those people behind the stories achieved their successes. It will clearly explain why retailing is worth pursuing as a start-up business and, with our help, you will have the best chance of making a success of your unique enterprise.

So, finally, thank you for selecting this book. We hope you enjoy reading it and that it helps you to realize both your dreams and your business objectives in the world of retail.

• Low, V (1 May 2018) Quiet please! Amazon meetings begin in silence, The Times [online]. Available at: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/quiet-please-amazon-meetings-begin-in-silence-wd0zmhzc0

• Statista (2019) Retail e-commerce sales in the United States from 2017 to 2023 (in million U.S. dollars) [online]. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/272391/us-retail-e-commerce-sales-forecast/

• https://www.ons.gov.uk/

• Financial statistics

• The online phenomenon

• Start-ups statistics and business size definitions

• VAT and the start-up

• Point of Consumption (POC) tax

• Retail space

• Household spending per head

• Charity shops