February 13, 2025 • 32 mins
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Have you ever found yourself wondering whether you’re truly making the most of your stock? Or perhaps questioned why a certain buying decision didn’t quite work out when that stock arrives? Then you’ll relate to Victoria Clark’s story today.
Victoria is the founder of Readymoney Beach Shop in Fowey, Cornwall. She turned an old public toilet block by a popular beach into a year-round shop that serves locals and visitors alike. On top of that, she runs a thriving e-commerce business selling locally sourced gifts, souvenirs, and homewares.
Her journey has had its fair share of challenges, particularly with stock management. Victoria’s here to share how the Stock Doctor service helped her move from feeling overwhelmed by inventory to gaining more control and running a more profitable business.
We’ll talk about how she navigates seasonal demand, selects the right products, and makes smarter decisions with data.
[00:00] Meet beach shop owner Victoria Clark
[02:33] The ups and downs of growing a souvenir shop
[09:57] What business was like before Victoria joined Stock Doctor
[14:47] Learning to manage numbers and stock with confidence
[18:38] How Victoria's peak season stock management has changed
[21:25] The merchandising strategy she used to sell through overstock
Resources:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Have you ever wondered if you couldbe doing more with the stock that you
(00:03):
have, or perhaps asked yourself whyyou made a certain buying decision
when all of that stock turns up?
If that sounds familiar, thenVictoria Clark's story is going
to resonate with you today.
She's the founder of the ReadymoneyBeach Shop, and she's going to be
telling us all about her experienceswith improving her stock management
through the Stock Doctor program.
(00:23):
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm your host today, as well as thefounder of the Resilient Retail Club.
Why not head over toresilientretailclub.com?
You can find out more about mymembership group and my mastermind,
as well as the Stock Doctor program.
And you can book a call to find outmore and see if it's right for you.
Let's jump in.
(00:46):
Welcome to the Resilient RetailGame Plan, a podcast for anyone
wanting to start, grow or scalea profitable creative product
business with me, Catherine Eardley.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
(01:09):
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
(01:30):
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
Victoria, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast.
Hi.
Delighted to have you with us.
Do you want to tell everyoneabout who you are and what you do?
(01:50):
Yes, of course.
So my name is Victoria.
I live down in lovely Fowey in Cornwall,on the south coast of Cornwall.
And back in 2017, I converted what wasthen a public toilet block or a defunct
public toilet block into a little beachshop called Ready Money Beach Shop
because we're at Ready Money Cove.
That was back in 2007 and that's grownover the years to where we are now.
(02:12):
Amazing.
So it was all started from, itwas sort of a public campaign
or people just posting, right?
Like what's happening to the toilets.
Yeah, so I'd been involvedthrough community project to raise
some money for some Christmas.
I mean, it's all one of one ofthese very convoluted set of affairs
that one thing led to another.
And I sort of fell intoit by accident, really.
I'm a solicitor by background whenwe moved to Cornwall 10 years ago.
(02:33):
That was from a career in the law andI've never done anything like that before.
So, just fell into it on a needs basisand opened it very much as selling as a
facility to keep the toilets open for thecommunity because it's the only toilets
at that beach, which is really important.
Yeah, and then to sell ice cream andhot chocolate and coffee and snacks
and buckets and spades and all thethings you need for a day at the beach.
(02:56):
Then over the years, startedadding more of the souvenirs.
Our customers get splitinto different sections.
We've got our local customers who arethere all day, every day, walking the
dogs down with the kids at the weekends.
We've got people who either havesecond homes or visit a lot, who
might come down a couple of times orfairly regularly, maybe once a month.
(03:17):
Yeah, yes.
And then there are people whocome to Fowey once a year.
It's their big holiday.
They've been doing it forever.
Lot of the time with generations,it's been their grandparents and then
parents, it's these multi generationalgroups and they come back and it's
a really meaningful place to them.
And a lot of these people, the souvenirsside of it really resonates with them.
(03:38):
So that's developed into the productside of the business with sourcing.
Yes, there's souvenirs, but I'mquite fussy about what I buy.
If don't like it, I don't sell it.
And I'm very lucky that there'snothing else at the beach.
So there's no competition.
It's not like a lot of other seasidetowns in Cornwall where you'll be at
a beach and there'll be maybe two orthree beach shops next to each other,
all competing to sell the same thing.
(04:00):
So I can be quite fussy with what I sell.
And I do tend to focus on the smallerlocally sourced brands because there's
so many people in Cornwall and furtherafield into Devon and into the Southwest,
really talented, making amazing things.
And they're not necessarily, youknow, they're selling them themselves.
So I do a lot of work on Instagram toconnect with makers and get them in.
(04:21):
So it's been it's grown veryorganically over the years.
It's been really fun and it's beena whole new set of skills to learn,
definitely, because it's not somethingthat I ever had any experience of.
I remember when I opened it, somebody saidto me, I was really stressed about it.
And somebody who had a shop in the townthen said, "Look, come on, Victoria, it's
just a case of buying things and thenselling them to people. It's not that
(04:43):
complicated." So I kind of come back tothat every now and then, and that is true.
It is buying it and selling it.
And that's the fundamental bit, butit's buying the right things for me.
That's what's so important.
Yes.
Yes.
And it's souvenirs, but it's notwhat you would, when you hear the
word souvenir, I think that canbe a little bit of a mixed word.
Yes, definitely.
(05:04):
So it's things like I mean, one of ourbiggest, most popular items is our range
of, we have ready money Cornish wear mugs.
And people love things like this.
They're a really strong,identifiable, viable brand.
And they're really popular.
and this is one of the areas whereI've needed a bit of reining back.
I have sort of fallen down a littlebit of a slope with getting the
(05:25):
sort of, the cuddly toys with thetown name on that I've got because
I thought people would like them.
But I've realised that although peopledo like them, they're probably not
what me and my business is about andthey don't fit quite right with me.
So I think there was quite a steeptrajectory of me adding things, meeting
(05:46):
with suppliers and going, "Oh yeah, we'lltry that. Yeah. We'll try that." And
a lot of it has been trial and error.
One of my suppliers will come inand show me all these catalogs of
stuff and I'll just be, "No. No."
"But these are all really popularin other beat shops," and I'm sure
they are, but they're not for me.
It's that whole kind of not kiss me quick.
That's not really the rightterm, but not even tat.
(06:06):
That's not the right term either.
Cause these things have all got a place.
If you take, let's take somethingas simple as a fridge magnet.
People love fridge magnets.
People are obsessed with fridgemagnets and will buy fridge
magnets wherever they go.
There are differentclasses of fridge magnet.
And I can get a fridge magnet from asmall business who's making them by
hand and they're individual, or I canget them 200 or something at a time
(06:28):
from China, but you'll see the sameone in every other beach shop around
Cornwall and probably around the country.
And so for me, that's not themodel that I'm working to.
I like working with those small producerswho, you know, when I'm chatting to
them and I'm talking to my email orInstagram or what have you, I'm talking
to the person who's actually making them.
As opposed to the hardsell from a salesman.
(06:50):
Obviously that's going to work for somebusinesses, but it's just not what I
want for mine and it works well andI think because there's that personal
element with me speaking to the suppliersand then me pass almost passing on
that connection to my customers.
It's that very personal approach.
Yes, Yes.
So it's really your curation.
(07:12):
And I use that word a lot.
I do use carefully curated as akind of a buzzword on the website.
And I do try and think quitecarefully about what I'm buying.
But definitely over the last fewyears of, as the business has grown
and expanded, I've definitely lostmy way with that a little bit.
And I've got things that actuallyaren't really true to my sort of
(07:33):
the core message of the business.
So that's what I've been tryingto pull back on a little bit.
And also to say you sellonline as well, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
So like many people during lockdown,people are like, "Oh, can I buy
this?" I realized I had a reallybasic website before that because
people would come into the shop.
I mentioned to the customers who willcome for their one annual visit to
(07:55):
Fowey and they'll come in the summer.
And then they'll message me at Christmasand say, "Oh, actually I saw this when
I was in the shop," or "I saw thiswhen I was in the shop last week."
Can I buy it online?
So started, that's where it camefrom really on a needs basis started.
Initially, it was just okay, "I'llpost it, you can pay on PayPal,"
that was a faff, then movedto a really basic Wix website.
(08:17):
But then during lockdown, when I couldn'topen and nobody could open, that was the
time when like a lot of people, I movedto Shopify and completely changed the
whole e commerce side of the business.
So I don't tend to work actuallyin the shop that much unless
I'm covering holiday or leave orsickness, absence, what have you.
So my focus is doing all thenumerous admin things that need
(08:40):
doing behind the scene, but alsobuilding the e commerce and doing all
the associated marketing with that.
So the email marketing isa really big thing for me.
I have a really loyal bunch of weeklynewsletter readers who work really well.
And we've got so many repeat customers.
I wrote a blog post about it, I thinklast year, cause I had one at the time, I
(09:02):
think one of my repeat customers, they'reup to like 50 orders each or something.
They just order.
And I know that I can post something,add a new product, and they'll order it.
And there's people are so loyal.
I've packed three orders this morningand they're all repeat customers.
None of those are brand new customers.
There's a lot of repeat business.
And that has been a learning curveas well with managing my stock,
(09:24):
because I was like, "Oh, this is soldreally well. Let's buy more of it."
But that doesn't work.
I don't know.
You're going nodding.
Yes.
That doesn't work when you're sellingto the same people when you're
selling to the same loyal customers.
they don't need to buy it againbecause they've already got it.
So that's been a definite shift in mylearning over the last probably six
to 12 months, certainly since I'vebeen doing Stock Doctor in helping me.
(09:47):
And that's just helped me think like aretailer, really in terms of seasonal
collections, changing things up, bringingnew things in and moving things on.
Brilliant.
Well, I mean, that brings mevery neatly onto what I was going
to talking about Stock Doctor.
So you've been one of the firstpeople to join the Stock Doctor
program since last summer.
(10:08):
So what was it like in for you in thebusiness before you joined Stock Doctor?
It was chaotic, honestly chaotic.
So this is my home office and we'vegot shelves on either side, which
we've got a lot of the gifty stock in.
And then I have a big storage unitbecause the shop itself is really small,
with not much storage, and I have a bigstorage unit in the next village where
I've got boxes of buckets and spades andbeach mats and all that sort of thing.
(10:30):
And it was just full.
There was just stuff everywhere.
And I said, because it had grown soexponentially, I'd see something.
"Yeah, that's nice." And I'd add it.
And I fell into that gap, particularlywith one of the companies who
were selling me a lot of thebeach stuff of buying in bulk.
And I know this is something thatyou've talked about before on podcasts,
(10:52):
buying in bulk to get a cheaperprice and buying in bulk to get a
cheaper price is all well and goodif you know you're going to sell it.
But a lot of the time I was justdoing, oh, finger in the air things.
I could go back and lookat previous figures.
Once I had that data from Shopify tolook at, "oh, how many of these have
I sold?" But it still wasn't working.
So I do the ordering with him.
(11:12):
I'd placed this big order, sortof, I mean, he didn't normally
be done in December to place theorder for delivery, sort of Easter
time, place these big orders.
And then they'd come in and I'd belike, "why have I ordered all this?"
And I'd start adding it to the inventoryand I was like, but I don't understand
because I've sat down, I was sureI'd gone, right, I've got this many.
(11:33):
And I've sold this many, sothis is how many I need to buy.
And it just didn't work out.
And last year, so when the lastdelivery came in, I think it was an
Easter last year, because we'd hadsome really bad weather last year.
This is only a quiet period for us,Easter is when it starts to pick up.
I really struggled financially to payfor that massive order that was coming
(11:55):
in when it was coming in because Ihadn't had the cash flow to meet that.
And I was, yeah, it's just like, why haveI got all this stuff that I can't pay for?
Well, I could pay for it, but youknow, that I'm having to scratch
around to pay for and manage.
I then heard about StockDoctor, it literally could not
have come at a better time.
And I do think, I think you sent out theemail or mentioned it in the, because
(12:18):
obviously I'm in the Resilient Retailgroup, I can't remember how you first
met, but I'm pretty sure I was in therelike a shot, like, yes, I need this.
This is me that I've have to do this.
I have to do this now.
And it was, it's quite terrifying,but yeah it needed to be done.
Definitely.
It was definitely right time, right place.
Maybe this resonates, but it's like,it's something about when someone
(12:40):
else comes and looks at your stock.
It's almost like, not a shameful secret,but like, it's just information that
nobody else really sees normally.
I think that's something,
Definitely.
And because I'm a sole trader, Ibasically run this business on my own.
I've got my staff team and one ofmy deputy managers, Vanessa has been
with me, I think three years now.
She is able to see it and sortof reign me back in again.
(13:05):
So I would make her come to themeetings when we would go with this
salesman and say, literally squash me.
If I go, "Ooh," no, just don't letme buy it, don't let me buy it.
That's been really good.
Or I'll talk to my husband about it.
This isn't his job.
It's not something that he, I can have aconversation with him about it, but yeah,
it's having that specialist person, it'sjust like a massive breath of like a huge
(13:29):
weight off my shoulders to go, "Oh my God,thank God I've got someone to talk to. Who
actually wants to look at all of this."
Yes.
And help me with it.
It was just like a yeah, like a massiverelief to be able to access that support.
Scary!
Yeah.
It is scary, and like you talk about it,you I think I did a lot of apologising.
(13:52):
Once they told her, I'm reallysorry this, and she's like, no.
And even since, I've still made it,I've dropped a couple of balls, and
I'll be there in the corner, and I waslike, I can't believe I've done this.
And she'll be like, "no, but you'refine." And I'm definitely getting
there, and just learning those lessonsfrom somebody who's got that specific,
real, industry expertise is brilliant.
(14:13):
And she loves the spreadsheet.
I hate spreadsheets.
I know you love a spreadsheet too.
I can't bear spreadsheets.
I do use them very basically becauseI know I need to, but I absolutely
like, Oh, there was a call with herrecently where she was just sat.
I just need to do this.
And it was just, it almost makesme, I was like, "I can't do this."
So that's why that's why havingthe done for you service.
(14:36):
Yes.
Was always going to be what I neededof I've worked my way through taming
tiger as part of Resilient RetailClub course, and it's brilliant.
But it does require me to do
Yeah.
things on spreadsheets and I'mgetting a bit better at it now.
But yeah, I've always beenanything and that's why I was
a solicitor, not an accountant.
I don't do numbers and spreadsheets.
(14:58):
It's always been the big,no, I'm not doing that.
I think actually it's changed mythinking, even with things like
planning for my tax bills and justmade me more comfortable with numbers.
And my numbers and how Ican control those numbers.
And what I need to do to makethose numbers work for me.
(15:22):
And then not work against me sothat the numbers are working for
me and I'm not fighting them.
And it's definitely spread outinto more aspects of the business
than just managing the stocks.
It's basically likegoing to retail therapy.
Therapy for chaotic retailers.
That's what I'm calling it.
So let's just go back tothe Stock Doctor process.
(15:44):
So for anyone who's not familiarwith it, then it is done for you.
So we have our Stock Doctors who comein and take a look at your numbers.
And it is funny because one of the thingsthat, it might've been you saying this,
or somebody else, but like the firsttime when we sit down and present back
to you and say, right, this is what wefound, they said like, "Oh, I feel like
I'm about to get my school report."
Yeah, it's a bit like that.
(16:05):
It's like that every month.
I'm like, Oh my God, what'sgoing to happen next?
What have I done?
It's very supportive.
I have a very, and everyone whoworks with me has a very like, no,
you know, like no shame policy.
Like you guys do such amazing workand it's such hard work as well
that nobody, we just want to bethere to help and help facilitate.
(16:25):
But you know, is there anything thatparticularly stood out for you about
the service or how do you find itapart from being slightly terrifying?
So it's definitely a process.
So I've done, I'm now intothe second six months.
I think just January was my firstmy business is very seasonal, it
changes so much throughout the year.
I knew when I signed up to it, that I wasgoing to need to do a full year in order
(16:49):
to get the full picture of the business.
So the first few months were very muchgetting the information out, being able
to pass all that information that swishesaround in the heads of our small business
owners into someone else, because itdoes, it just sits there and you have to.
pass it to somebody and it'snot always terribly obvious
where that information is.
(17:09):
Obviously, Paola was able to pullthe data from Shopify, which is
great for accessing that data, butthere's still a lot of information
that is just sort of in my head.
So it was a lot of factfinding to start off with.
And then it's been a process of lookingback and then, because when we were
(17:30):
then in the build up to Christmas,so from probably July or maybe August
September, I think it was onwards.
We were then properlyfocusing on Christmas.
We then focused on clearanceto have a big clearance sale in
January, which has worked reallywell and I'm not done before.
And then the remaining part of this sixmonths, as we sort of wrap up that whole
(17:51):
full year is very much about making thosestock buying decisions going forward.
It's not that every monthit's the same discussion.
It's very much part of a process thateach month we look at something else.
And then it builds on what we'velearned before, which I think is
(18:11):
also really helpful as a structurebecause you can see that those thing.
So now we're in theplanning for next season.
Because obviously when I started,we were right in the midst of the
busy season and I had all the stuff.
I'd placed all the massive orders thatI didn't really need and I didn't,
you know, they were just there.
So it's been really particularlyvaluable to have it now and pull
(18:33):
back some control over what I thendo going into the next seasonal.
So you how do you feel goinginto that peak season thing.
If you think about, youknow, a year ago compared?
What's the shift that's happened?
Much more in control.
And also weirdly, as somebody, Igenerally would say to anyone that
I'm normally fairly independent,strong-minded woman in control.
(18:57):
And there's this particular salesman forthis particular company that just turns
me into, oh yeah, I'll just buy all that.
And she'd say in the course, why are you?
I think it was November time, thesalesman guy and he called me, "so
I've got some of the stuff that you'veordered has come in already. We've got
(19:18):
loads, we're struggling with space inour warehouse. Is it all right if we have
it delivered?" And I said to him, well,I can't, I'm not going to pay for it.
And he said, "no, no, no." He said,"Oh, you don't have to pay for it until
May." And I said, "Oh, okay, that'sfine." And then the next call, Paola
was like, "why on earth did you do that?
Why did you say yes?
Why didn't you just say no?
It's not your problem that he hasn'tgot enough space in his warehouse." And
(19:38):
she said, "You haven't actually analysedwhether, we haven't been through and
analysed whether actually you want tobuy those things that you've ordered."
And in the end I thinkprobably some of it.
If I hadn't had it delivered, we'd havegone through those numbers in a session
and she just said, "don't order thatmuch." don't order, I mean, actually,
it wasn't that big a value and I knowthat there are things, and because
(19:59):
there are things like beach goods andtents, they're evergreen, they last
forever, so they will go, it's just whyspend the money if you don't need to?
And that was like, honestly, I kickedmyself, and I was like, what, it's almost
like I haven't listened to anything.
So I've been much more bullishwith him and I said, well, and so
it's, I've learned those skills.
(20:20):
Ultimately, he's a salesmanand my husband's a salesman.
So I can talk to him and my husband'ssitting there going yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know all the old tricksto get you to do it.
And it just made, I'm not, you know,I'm not somebody, I think probably
the most salesy I've ever been likethat is if you go and buy a car, for
example, and don't do that very oftenwhere you're actually being sold to.
And he's not selling me, trying tosell those things because they're
(20:42):
the right thing for my business.
He's trying to sell them becausehe wants to get the sales to get
his commission or what have you.
I've been much more bullish.
I've been able to be firmer with him andlike, send me through what is outstanding.
And I said, right, takethat off the order.
I don't want that.
And actually I had anothersupplier who was less bullish.
Yeah.
But whose products Iactually preferred that.
(21:03):
I wasn't ordering from becauseI wasn't getting the same push.
Yeah.
So now actually I met up with thatsupplier at a trade show a couple
of weeks ago and I'm going to goback to getting the products from
that supplier because I prefer theirproducts and there isn't the same push.
So I have learned my lesson, I promise.
(21:25):
And have there been any specific,because I also remember when we were
first working together or when youfirst joined the program and it was
also about identifying, okay, this isthe stock that you've got, so you've
got it now, so you got to push it.
Did you find that was helpful duringthe peak season last year as well?
Yeah, definitely.
(21:46):
So identifying, so one of the thingsthat I had a lot of from this previous
horrendous delivery in the beginningof last year was rugby balls.
We have beach rugby balls and footballsthat have Fowey stamped on them.
And I don't know what I'd done, butI'd literally ordered twice as many
as we had sold the previous year.
(22:07):
So it meant that I was able to say tomy staff, we have got lots of these.
I added them on the website to makethem as something that people could
buy online, either inflated or flatand that it didn't shift a lot.
But it shifted morethan it otherwise would.
And it meant I could say to the top, theteam in the shop, right, this basket that
sits at the front of the shop, that'sgot these balls in, this needs to be
(22:31):
filled full to the brim at all times.
And if it starts to empty.
Get the pump out, get somemore balls and then push those.
And that has made a real differencein terms of me just going, we need
to sell these, we need to sell these.
There were some other things as well.
Like we had some little metal spadetool set things like a set of three.
A little spade and a rake and thingsthat were wooden metal and they
(22:53):
were lovely and on this, but theywere on this cardboard packaging.
And everything was getting dustyand bent and wet in the rain
and they just looked rubbish.
So we took them off and put them in abasket and sold them individually and
they sold like they sold brilliantlyto the point that I thought, "Oh,
do we need to order some more ofthose?" And I went no, we're not
going to order some more of those.
But that was the thought process.
So it's definitely having a betterawareness of what I've got and what
(23:19):
the sell through rate is likely to be.
In order to manage the decisions,the kind of operational decisions
day to day in the shop with as in,we've got this, we need to sell it.
Also from a merchandisingperspective as well.
So doing that whole supermarketthing of, right, we've got lots
of this particular beachy braceletthat I shouldn't have bought.
(23:42):
Let's put them at the till.
Let's reduce them and putthem right at the till.
So people come in and buytheir coffee, they go, oh yeah,
I'll pick one of those up.
Whereas they might not have seen itwhere it was elsewhere on the display.
So that whole merchandising thinghas been really valuable as well.
That's the kind of crux of, I mean,it's great to hear because that
is exactly what, you know, StockDoctor is kind of two principles.
(24:02):
One, which is, you know, making surethat you're really clear on how much
you should be buying and what you shouldbe spending your money on and avoiding
kind of costly purchasing mistakes.
And then the second being, okay,well, when you've made that investment
already and you've spent the moneyon the stock and it's sitting there
in your shop You know, do you knowwhat you've already invested in?
And are you pushing that enough?
So that, yes of course, sometimes you haveto take discount action against something.
(24:27):
You have to reduce the price.
But actually sometimes it's about, likeyou said, identifying, okay, well, I've
got this pocket of stock, I've got thesetool sets where I'm just sitting on this.
It's just money that I've spentthat I'm not getting back.
And then you can start being alittle bit more creative about,
right, well, how can we shift it?
And yeah, it's brilliant thatthat's, that's worked well.
And I think that definite mindset into,you know, how can we get this going?
(24:50):
There was a quite a lot of, particularlywith these beach goods, there's quite a
lot of, if I buy, I don't know, let's sayI buy some cards or prints or something
from someone, they're quite clear onwhat the suggested retail price is.
They'll say, Oh, we buy it for 6 pounds.
Retail price is 12.
And it's very clear on the RRP.
With these beach good things,it's a lot less fluid because
there's a lot of variation.
(25:11):
So if you're in somewhere like Newquayand you've got three beach shops in a row.
Yeah.
They're all going to haveto adjust their prices.
Now, I'm not saying that I over inflatemy prices to be because of where I
am, because I try really hard anddo a lot of research not to do that.
But it just means that the suppliersdon't give you any indication of what
they suggest you sell things for.
(25:32):
So I get my things that there'snothing, there is no suggested
retail price on any of these things.
So I'm literally using my gut andgoing, well, you know, I'm a parent
who takes my kids to the beach.
If I took my kids to the beachand they wanted to buy a bucket
and a spade, how much would itpay for a bucket and a spade?
And you know, these beachbracelets that I've got loads of.
My boys are obsessed withthese sorts of beach bracelets.
(25:54):
Everywhere they go, they'll knowthey've got bracelets up their arm.
How much would I pay for one of those?
And sometimes I think I would getthose pricing decisions wrong.
And then go, actually that's overpriced.
And I've got lots of them because they'vecome in bulk and I've ordered, you know,
the minimum order is 288 or something.
And actually, the way to get rid of themis, so I'm not making a loss on them.
(26:18):
They're still being sold and they'restill profitable, but I think I just
not got that pricing quite right.
So it's helped me be a bit more sort ofintrospective about what is the right
price for that particular product.
And also to know that actually for mebulk buying that particular product,
(26:40):
it's not the right product for me.
I won't order those again,that they're not right.
But it's difficult when something comesin and it's like, "Oh, actually I might
try that, but you've got to try 288."
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
That's the minimum order on them.
Yeah.
Yeah, and then that's partof it as well, isn't it?
It's like being able to run throughthings through and say, right?
(27:01):
Okay.
Well, what's worked really?
Well, what do we need todo more of what perhaps?
Do we just not have the demandto meet those minimum orders?
Okay, so we've got to then makethose decisions Do we go somewhere
else for this or do we look for?
Do we you know try andget smaller quantities?
Or do we just say right this isn'tthe right product and just being
able to talk those decisions through,I think it's really important.
(27:23):
So just to wrap things up, what wouldyou say if someone was thinking about
working with Stock Doctor, but theywere feeling nervous or hesitant?
Or like they might get.
You know what, in the course of otherdiscussions with other traders in
the town, I have already recommendedthe course to two people locally.
Just in term, you know, I had a chat withsomebody who runs another shop in town.
(27:45):
She was like, "Oh, I've got all thisstock and I can't sell it." I was like,
"Oh my God, this is what you need to do."
So I would hundred percent recommend it.
Because as you said, ittakes that pain out of you.
Because it's such a weight that youcarry as a business owner, as a sole
trader, to think I've got this stuffand I don't know what to do with it.
(28:06):
Particularly if retail is notnecessarily your background.
It's like learning a new skill.
And this is equipping me with thoseskills that you and other people in
the industry have developed over years.
It goes back to that thing withmy friend saying it's just as
simple as buying and selling stuff.
Well, it is to a certainextent, but actually it's not.
(28:29):
It depends what it is.
And that works up until a certain pointbecause it's buying stuff, selling it
on, but it's also having the, makingsure you've got the money to buy it
and making sure you can sell it on.
And then what happens whenyou don't, what do you do?
So yes, I've already recommended you andI would absolutely just for that clarity.
(28:52):
And I did, you know, I sat downand I went, Oh, this is, you
know, this is the cost and chattedit through with my husband.
But actually it's less than it would cost.
It's like having another member of staff.
Basically, it's like having a parttime member of staff who can go in
and pull out all that information.
Particularly if you're a spreadsheetand analytics hater, like I would never
(29:16):
have got all that information out and doall the the calculations and the things.
So I would 100 percentrecommend it to anyone who's
feeling they're not in control.
It's like, I think you say this andwhere you feel like your business is
controlling you, not the other way around.
Whereas this is enabling me topull it back within my control.
(29:36):
Definitely.
Yes.
Absolutely.
And that is the purpose of it is that,I mean, the reason I created it as a
done for you service, as opposed to sayanother course or something like that
was I felt like actually it's about timeat the end of the day as well, isn't it?
It's like if you're not anexpert in something it takes
you so much longer to do it.
Then like you're saying when Paola waszipping around a spreadsheet, I often
(29:59):
it's easy quick just so much quicker forme to do something in a spreadsheet than
someone who's just not familiar with them.
Because it's like anything, right?
If you've got skills and trainingin something, you're going to be
faster at it and it's going to bemuch more efficient, effectively
better use of your time as well.
If someone else is looking at that andsaying, this is what you need to do.
We're obviously in collaboration with you,but rather than you trying to wade through
(30:20):
it and how long that would take you.
And I've learned from that as well.
So, it's not been done for you andI just sit back and let it happen.
It's been really interesting.
I mean, you know, I'll getmy emails afterwards and it's
like so many spreadsheets.
And I'll be like, oh,there's so many of them.
But then in the first sessions,I would say to her, "there's so
many, I'm overwhelmed by them."
She's like, " you don'tneed to understand them.
(30:41):
This is just to gather the data.
I'm pulling it through.
And then as we go through, you'llget to what it is that you need to
understand." At the beginning, it feltquite frightening, but actually now
it's really, you can see the process.
Yes, amazing.
Well, Victoria, if people want to gocheck out Readymoney Beach Shop online
(31:01):
or in person, where should they go?
Yeah.
So the website iswww.readymoneybeachshop.com.
The shop, as I said, is in Foweyon the South coast of Cornwall.
We're open every day except Christmas Day.
It's not just beach souvenirs.
We've got lots of gifts.
It's very gift heavy focus on the website.
So yeah, it'd be lovely to see people.
(31:22):
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much toVictoria for sharing your.
story.
It's always a pleasure to hear moreabout you and your fabulous shop.
If you have listened to this podcast andthought to yourself, do you know what?
I could really use some of the supportof someone who knows what they're doing
to make sure that I'm buying the rightstock and to set me up for success.
Then why not head over toresilientretailclub.com, take
(31:44):
a look at the Stock Doctorservice, and why not book a call?
I would love to hear moreabout your business and see if
stock doctor's right for you.
And of course, if you have a momentto rate and review the podcast,
it makes a huge difference togetting out there to more people.
And if you like subscribe or followdepending on which platform you
podcast, then you'll be the firstto know about each new episode.
Have you ever wondered if you couldbe doing more with the stock that you
(00:03):
have, or perhaps asked yourself whyyou made a certain buying decision
when all of that stock turns up?
If that sounds familiar, thenVictoria Clark's story is going
to resonate with you today.
She's the founder of the ReadymoneyBeach Shop, and she's going to be
telling us all about her experienceswith improving her stock management
through the Stock Doctor program.
(00:23):
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm your host today, as well as thefounder of the Resilient Retail Club.
Why not head over toresilientretailclub.com?
You can find out more about mymembership group and my mastermind,
as well as the Stock Doctor program.
And you can book a call to find outmore and see if it's right for you.
Let's jump in.
(00:46):
Welcome to the Resilient RetailGame Plan, a podcast for anyone
wanting to start, grow or scalea profitable creative product
business with me, Catherine Eardley.
The Resilient Retail Game Plan isa podcast dedicated to one thing,
breaking down the concepts and toolsthat I've gathered from 20 years in
the retail industry and showing youhow you can use them in your business.
(01:09):
This is the real nuts and bolts ofrunning a successful product business,
broken down in an easy, accessible way.
This is not a podcast about learninghow to make your business look good.
It's the tools and techniques that willmake you and your business feel good.
Confidently plan, launch, and manageyour products, and feel in control of
(01:30):
your sales numbers and cash flow to helpyou build a resilient retail business.
Victoria, thank you so muchfor joining us on the podcast.
Hi.
Delighted to have you with us.
Do you want to tell everyoneabout who you are and what you do?
(01:50):
Yes, of course.
So my name is Victoria.
I live down in lovely Fowey in Cornwall,on the south coast of Cornwall.
And back in 2017, I converted what wasthen a public toilet block or a defunct
public toilet block into a little beachshop called Ready Money Beach Shop
because we're at Ready Money Cove.
That was back in 2007 and that's grownover the years to where we are now.
(02:12):
Amazing.
So it was all started from, itwas sort of a public campaign
or people just posting, right?
Like what's happening to the toilets.
Yeah, so I'd been involvedthrough community project to raise
some money for some Christmas.
I mean, it's all one of one ofthese very convoluted set of affairs
that one thing led to another.
And I sort of fell intoit by accident, really.
I'm a solicitor by background whenwe moved to Cornwall 10 years ago.
(02:33):
That was from a career in the law andI've never done anything like that before.
So, just fell into it on a needs basisand opened it very much as selling as a
facility to keep the toilets open for thecommunity because it's the only toilets
at that beach, which is really important.
Yeah, and then to sell ice cream andhot chocolate and coffee and snacks
and buckets and spades and all thethings you need for a day at the beach.
(02:56):
Then over the years, startedadding more of the souvenirs.
Our customers get splitinto different sections.
We've got our local customers who arethere all day, every day, walking the
dogs down with the kids at the weekends.
We've got people who either havesecond homes or visit a lot, who
might come down a couple of times orfairly regularly, maybe once a month.
(03:17):
Yeah, yes.
And then there are people whocome to Fowey once a year.
It's their big holiday.
They've been doing it forever.
Lot of the time with generations,it's been their grandparents and then
parents, it's these multi generationalgroups and they come back and it's
a really meaningful place to them.
And a lot of these people, the souvenirsside of it really resonates with them.
(03:38):
So that's developed into the productside of the business with sourcing.
Yes, there's souvenirs, but I'mquite fussy about what I buy.
If don't like it, I don't sell it.
And I'm very lucky that there'snothing else at the beach.
So there's no competition.
It's not like a lot of other seasidetowns in Cornwall where you'll be at
a beach and there'll be maybe two orthree beach shops next to each other,
all competing to sell the same thing.
(04:00):
So I can be quite fussy with what I sell.
And I do tend to focus on the smallerlocally sourced brands because there's
so many people in Cornwall and furtherafield into Devon and into the Southwest,
really talented, making amazing things.
And they're not necessarily, youknow, they're selling them themselves.
So I do a lot of work on Instagram toconnect with makers and get them in.
(04:21):
So it's been it's grown veryorganically over the years.
It's been really fun and it's beena whole new set of skills to learn,
definitely, because it's not somethingthat I ever had any experience of.
I remember when I opened it, somebody saidto me, I was really stressed about it.
And somebody who had a shop in the townthen said, "Look, come on, Victoria, it's
just a case of buying things and thenselling them to people. It's not that
(04:43):
complicated." So I kind of come back tothat every now and then, and that is true.
It is buying it and selling it.
And that's the fundamental bit, butit's buying the right things for me.
That's what's so important.
Yes.
Yes.
And it's souvenirs, but it's notwhat you would, when you hear the
word souvenir, I think that canbe a little bit of a mixed word.
Yes, definitely.
(05:04):
So it's things like I mean, one of ourbiggest, most popular items is our range
of, we have ready money Cornish wear mugs.
And people love things like this.
They're a really strong,identifiable, viable brand.
And they're really popular.
and this is one of the areas whereI've needed a bit of reining back.
I have sort of fallen down a littlebit of a slope with getting the
(05:25):
sort of, the cuddly toys with thetown name on that I've got because
I thought people would like them.
But I've realised that although peopledo like them, they're probably not
what me and my business is about andthey don't fit quite right with me.
So I think there was quite a steeptrajectory of me adding things, meeting
(05:46):
with suppliers and going, "Oh yeah, we'lltry that. Yeah. We'll try that." And
a lot of it has been trial and error.
One of my suppliers will come inand show me all these catalogs of
stuff and I'll just be, "No. No."
"But these are all really popularin other beat shops," and I'm sure
they are, but they're not for me.
It's that whole kind of not kiss me quick.
That's not really the rightterm, but not even tat.
(06:06):
That's not the right term either.
Cause these things have all got a place.
If you take, let's take somethingas simple as a fridge magnet.
People love fridge magnets.
People are obsessed with fridgemagnets and will buy fridge
magnets wherever they go.
There are differentclasses of fridge magnet.
And I can get a fridge magnet from asmall business who's making them by
hand and they're individual, or I canget them 200 or something at a time
(06:28):
from China, but you'll see the sameone in every other beach shop around
Cornwall and probably around the country.
And so for me, that's not themodel that I'm working to.
I like working with those small producerswho, you know, when I'm chatting to
them and I'm talking to my email orInstagram or what have you, I'm talking
to the person who's actually making them.
As opposed to the hardsell from a salesman.
(06:50):
Obviously that's going to work for somebusinesses, but it's just not what I
want for mine and it works well andI think because there's that personal
element with me speaking to the suppliersand then me pass almost passing on
that connection to my customers.
It's that very personal approach.
Yes, Yes.
So it's really your curation.
(07:12):
And I use that word a lot.
I do use carefully curated as akind of a buzzword on the website.
And I do try and think quitecarefully about what I'm buying.
But definitely over the last fewyears of, as the business has grown
and expanded, I've definitely lostmy way with that a little bit.
And I've got things that actuallyaren't really true to my sort of
(07:33):
the core message of the business.
So that's what I've been tryingto pull back on a little bit.
And also to say you sellonline as well, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
So like many people during lockdown,people are like, "Oh, can I buy
this?" I realized I had a reallybasic website before that because
people would come into the shop.
I mentioned to the customers who willcome for their one annual visit to
(07:55):
Fowey and they'll come in the summer.
And then they'll message me at Christmasand say, "Oh, actually I saw this when
I was in the shop," or "I saw thiswhen I was in the shop last week."
Can I buy it online?
So started, that's where it camefrom really on a needs basis started.
Initially, it was just okay, "I'llpost it, you can pay on PayPal,"
that was a faff, then movedto a really basic Wix website.
(08:17):
But then during lockdown, when I couldn'topen and nobody could open, that was the
time when like a lot of people, I movedto Shopify and completely changed the
whole e commerce side of the business.
So I don't tend to work actuallyin the shop that much unless
I'm covering holiday or leave orsickness, absence, what have you.
So my focus is doing all thenumerous admin things that need
(08:40):
doing behind the scene, but alsobuilding the e commerce and doing all
the associated marketing with that.
So the email marketing isa really big thing for me.
I have a really loyal bunch of weeklynewsletter readers who work really well.
And we've got so many repeat customers.
I wrote a blog post about it, I thinklast year, cause I had one at the time, I
(09:02):
think one of my repeat customers, they'reup to like 50 orders each or something.
They just order.
And I know that I can post something,add a new product, and they'll order it.
And there's people are so loyal.
I've packed three orders this morningand they're all repeat customers.
None of those are brand new customers.
There's a lot of repeat business.
And that has been a learning curveas well with managing my stock,
(09:24):
because I was like, "Oh, this is soldreally well. Let's buy more of it."
But that doesn't work.
I don't know.
You're going nodding.
Yes.
That doesn't work when you're sellingto the same people when you're
selling to the same loyal customers.
they don't need to buy it againbecause they've already got it.
So that's been a definite shift in mylearning over the last probably six
to 12 months, certainly since I'vebeen doing Stock Doctor in helping me.
(09:47):
And that's just helped me think like aretailer, really in terms of seasonal
collections, changing things up, bringingnew things in and moving things on.
Brilliant.
Well, I mean, that brings mevery neatly onto what I was going
to talking about Stock Doctor.
So you've been one of the firstpeople to join the Stock Doctor
program since last summer.
(10:08):
So what was it like in for you in thebusiness before you joined Stock Doctor?
It was chaotic, honestly chaotic.
So this is my home office and we'vegot shelves on either side, which
we've got a lot of the gifty stock in.
And then I have a big storage unitbecause the shop itself is really small,
with not much storage, and I have a bigstorage unit in the next village where
I've got boxes of buckets and spades andbeach mats and all that sort of thing.
(10:30):
And it was just full.
There was just stuff everywhere.
And I said, because it had grown soexponentially, I'd see something.
"Yeah, that's nice." And I'd add it.
And I fell into that gap, particularlywith one of the companies who
were selling me a lot of thebeach stuff of buying in bulk.
And I know this is something thatyou've talked about before on podcasts,
(10:52):
buying in bulk to get a cheaperprice and buying in bulk to get a
cheaper price is all well and goodif you know you're going to sell it.
But a lot of the time I was justdoing, oh, finger in the air things.
I could go back and lookat previous figures.
Once I had that data from Shopify tolook at, "oh, how many of these have
I sold?" But it still wasn't working.
So I do the ordering with him.
(11:12):
I'd placed this big order, sortof, I mean, he didn't normally
be done in December to place theorder for delivery, sort of Easter
time, place these big orders.
And then they'd come in and I'd belike, "why have I ordered all this?"
And I'd start adding it to the inventoryand I was like, but I don't understand
because I've sat down, I was sureI'd gone, right, I've got this many.
(11:33):
And I've sold this many, sothis is how many I need to buy.
And it just didn't work out.
And last year, so when the lastdelivery came in, I think it was an
Easter last year, because we'd hadsome really bad weather last year.
This is only a quiet period for us,Easter is when it starts to pick up.
I really struggled financially to payfor that massive order that was coming
(11:55):
in when it was coming in because Ihadn't had the cash flow to meet that.
And I was, yeah, it's just like, why haveI got all this stuff that I can't pay for?
Well, I could pay for it, but youknow, that I'm having to scratch
around to pay for and manage.
I then heard about StockDoctor, it literally could not
have come at a better time.
And I do think, I think you sent out theemail or mentioned it in the, because
(12:18):
obviously I'm in the Resilient Retailgroup, I can't remember how you first
met, but I'm pretty sure I was in therelike a shot, like, yes, I need this.
This is me that I've have to do this.
I have to do this now.
And it was, it's quite terrifying,but yeah it needed to be done.
Definitely.
It was definitely right time, right place.
Maybe this resonates, but it's like,it's something about when someone
(12:40):
else comes and looks at your stock.
It's almost like, not a shameful secret,but like, it's just information that
nobody else really sees normally.
I think that's something,
Definitely.
And because I'm a sole trader, Ibasically run this business on my own.
I've got my staff team and one ofmy deputy managers, Vanessa has been
with me, I think three years now.
She is able to see it and sortof reign me back in again.
(13:05):
So I would make her come to themeetings when we would go with this
salesman and say, literally squash me.
If I go, "Ooh," no, just don't letme buy it, don't let me buy it.
That's been really good.
Or I'll talk to my husband about it.
This isn't his job.
It's not something that he, I can have aconversation with him about it, but yeah,
it's having that specialist person, it'sjust like a massive breath of like a huge
(13:29):
weight off my shoulders to go, "Oh my God,thank God I've got someone to talk to. Who
actually wants to look at all of this."
Yes.
And help me with it.
It was just like a yeah, like a massiverelief to be able to access that support.
Scary!
Yeah.
It is scary, and like you talk about it,you I think I did a lot of apologising.
(13:52):
Once they told her, I'm reallysorry this, and she's like, no.
And even since, I've still made it,I've dropped a couple of balls, and
I'll be there in the corner, and I waslike, I can't believe I've done this.
And she'll be like, "no, but you'refine." And I'm definitely getting
there, and just learning those lessonsfrom somebody who's got that specific,
real, industry expertise is brilliant.
(14:13):
And she loves the spreadsheet.
I hate spreadsheets.
I know you love a spreadsheet too.
I can't bear spreadsheets.
I do use them very basically becauseI know I need to, but I absolutely
like, Oh, there was a call with herrecently where she was just sat.
I just need to do this.
And it was just, it almost makesme, I was like, "I can't do this."
So that's why that's why havingthe done for you service.
(14:36):
Yes.
Was always going to be what I neededof I've worked my way through taming
tiger as part of Resilient RetailClub course, and it's brilliant.
But it does require me to do
Yeah.
things on spreadsheets and I'mgetting a bit better at it now.
But yeah, I've always beenanything and that's why I was
a solicitor, not an accountant.
I don't do numbers and spreadsheets.
(14:58):
It's always been the big,no, I'm not doing that.
I think actually it's changed mythinking, even with things like
planning for my tax bills and justmade me more comfortable with numbers.
And my numbers and how Ican control those numbers.
And what I need to do to makethose numbers work for me.
(15:22):
And then not work against me sothat the numbers are working for
me and I'm not fighting them.
And it's definitely spread outinto more aspects of the business
than just managing the stocks.
It's basically likegoing to retail therapy.
Therapy for chaotic retailers.
That's what I'm calling it.
So let's just go back tothe Stock Doctor process.
(15:44):
So for anyone who's not familiarwith it, then it is done for you.
So we have our Stock Doctors who comein and take a look at your numbers.
And it is funny because one of the thingsthat, it might've been you saying this,
or somebody else, but like the firsttime when we sit down and present back
to you and say, right, this is what wefound, they said like, "Oh, I feel like
I'm about to get my school report."
Yeah, it's a bit like that.
(16:05):
It's like that every month.
I'm like, Oh my God, what'sgoing to happen next?
What have I done?
It's very supportive.
I have a very, and everyone whoworks with me has a very like, no,
you know, like no shame policy.
Like you guys do such amazing workand it's such hard work as well
that nobody, we just want to bethere to help and help facilitate.
(16:25):
But you know, is there anything thatparticularly stood out for you about
the service or how do you find itapart from being slightly terrifying?
So it's definitely a process.
So I've done, I'm now intothe second six months.
I think just January was my firstmy business is very seasonal, it
changes so much throughout the year.
I knew when I signed up to it, that I wasgoing to need to do a full year in order
(16:49):
to get the full picture of the business.
So the first few months were very muchgetting the information out, being able
to pass all that information that swishesaround in the heads of our small business
owners into someone else, because itdoes, it just sits there and you have to.
pass it to somebody and it'snot always terribly obvious
where that information is.
(17:09):
Obviously, Paola was able to pullthe data from Shopify, which is
great for accessing that data, butthere's still a lot of information
that is just sort of in my head.
So it was a lot of factfinding to start off with.
And then it's been a process of lookingback and then, because when we were
(17:30):
then in the build up to Christmas,so from probably July or maybe August
September, I think it was onwards.
We were then properlyfocusing on Christmas.
We then focused on clearanceto have a big clearance sale in
January, which has worked reallywell and I'm not done before.
And then the remaining part of this sixmonths, as we sort of wrap up that whole
(17:51):
full year is very much about making thosestock buying decisions going forward.
It's not that every monthit's the same discussion.
It's very much part of a process thateach month we look at something else.
And then it builds on what we'velearned before, which I think is
(18:11):
also really helpful as a structurebecause you can see that those thing.
So now we're in theplanning for next season.
Because obviously when I started,we were right in the midst of the
busy season and I had all the stuff.
I'd placed all the massive orders thatI didn't really need and I didn't,
you know, they were just there.
So it's been really particularlyvaluable to have it now and pull
(18:33):
back some control over what I thendo going into the next seasonal.
So you how do you feel goinginto that peak season thing.
If you think about, youknow, a year ago compared?
What's the shift that's happened?
Much more in control.
And also weirdly, as somebody, Igenerally would say to anyone that
I'm normally fairly independent,strong-minded woman in control.
(18:57):
And there's this particular salesman forthis particular company that just turns
me into, oh yeah, I'll just buy all that.
And she'd say in the course, why are you?
I think it was November time, thesalesman guy and he called me, "so
I've got some of the stuff that you'veordered has come in already. We've got
(19:18):
loads, we're struggling with space inour warehouse. Is it all right if we have
it delivered?" And I said to him, well,I can't, I'm not going to pay for it.
And he said, "no, no, no." He said,"Oh, you don't have to pay for it until
May." And I said, "Oh, okay, that'sfine." And then the next call, Paola
was like, "why on earth did you do that?
Why did you say yes?
Why didn't you just say no?
It's not your problem that he hasn'tgot enough space in his warehouse." And
(19:38):
she said, "You haven't actually analysedwhether, we haven't been through and
analysed whether actually you want tobuy those things that you've ordered."
And in the end I thinkprobably some of it.
If I hadn't had it delivered, we'd havegone through those numbers in a session
and she just said, "don't order thatmuch." don't order, I mean, actually,
it wasn't that big a value and I knowthat there are things, and because
(19:59):
there are things like beach goods andtents, they're evergreen, they last
forever, so they will go, it's just whyspend the money if you don't need to?
And that was like, honestly, I kickedmyself, and I was like, what, it's almost
like I haven't listened to anything.
So I've been much more bullishwith him and I said, well, and so
it's, I've learned those skills.
(20:20):
Ultimately, he's a salesmanand my husband's a salesman.
So I can talk to him and my husband'ssitting there going yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know all the old tricksto get you to do it.
And it just made, I'm not, you know,I'm not somebody, I think probably
the most salesy I've ever been likethat is if you go and buy a car, for
example, and don't do that very oftenwhere you're actually being sold to.
And he's not selling me, trying tosell those things because they're
(20:42):
the right thing for my business.
He's trying to sell them becausehe wants to get the sales to get
his commission or what have you.
I've been much more bullish.
I've been able to be firmer with him andlike, send me through what is outstanding.
And I said, right, takethat off the order.
I don't want that.
And actually I had anothersupplier who was less bullish.
Yeah.
But whose products Iactually preferred that.
(21:03):
I wasn't ordering from becauseI wasn't getting the same push.
Yeah.
So now actually I met up with thatsupplier at a trade show a couple
of weeks ago and I'm going to goback to getting the products from
that supplier because I prefer theirproducts and there isn't the same push.
So I have learned my lesson, I promise.
(21:25):
And have there been any specific,because I also remember when we were
first working together or when youfirst joined the program and it was
also about identifying, okay, this isthe stock that you've got, so you've
got it now, so you got to push it.
Did you find that was helpful duringthe peak season last year as well?
Yeah, definitely.
(21:46):
So identifying, so one of the thingsthat I had a lot of from this previous
horrendous delivery in the beginningof last year was rugby balls.
We have beach rugby balls and footballsthat have Fowey stamped on them.
And I don't know what I'd done, butI'd literally ordered twice as many
as we had sold the previous year.
(22:07):
So it meant that I was able to say tomy staff, we have got lots of these.
I added them on the website to makethem as something that people could
buy online, either inflated or flatand that it didn't shift a lot.
But it shifted morethan it otherwise would.
And it meant I could say to the top, theteam in the shop, right, this basket that
sits at the front of the shop, that'sgot these balls in, this needs to be
(22:31):
filled full to the brim at all times.
And if it starts to empty.
Get the pump out, get somemore balls and then push those.
And that has made a real differencein terms of me just going, we need
to sell these, we need to sell these.
There were some other things as well.
Like we had some little metal spadetool set things like a set of three.
A little spade and a rake and thingsthat were wooden metal and they
(22:53):
were lovely and on this, but theywere on this cardboard packaging.
And everything was getting dustyand bent and wet in the rain
and they just looked rubbish.
So we took them off and put them in abasket and sold them individually and
they sold like they sold brilliantlyto the point that I thought, "Oh,
do we need to order some more ofthose?" And I went no, we're not
going to order some more of those.
But that was the thought process.
So it's definitely having a betterawareness of what I've got and what
(23:19):
the sell through rate is likely to be.
In order to manage the decisions,the kind of operational decisions
day to day in the shop with as in,we've got this, we need to sell it.
Also from a merchandisingperspective as well.
So doing that whole supermarketthing of, right, we've got lots
of this particular beachy braceletthat I shouldn't have bought.
(23:42):
Let's put them at the till.
Let's reduce them and putthem right at the till.
So people come in and buytheir coffee, they go, oh yeah,
I'll pick one of those up.
Whereas they might not have seen itwhere it was elsewhere on the display.
So that whole merchandising thinghas been really valuable as well.
That's the kind of crux of, I mean,it's great to hear because that
is exactly what, you know, StockDoctor is kind of two principles.
(24:02):
One, which is, you know, making surethat you're really clear on how much
you should be buying and what you shouldbe spending your money on and avoiding
kind of costly purchasing mistakes.
And then the second being, okay,well, when you've made that investment
already and you've spent the moneyon the stock and it's sitting there
in your shop You know, do you knowwhat you've already invested in?
And are you pushing that enough?
So that, yes of course, sometimes you haveto take discount action against something.
(24:27):
You have to reduce the price.
But actually sometimes it's about, likeyou said, identifying, okay, well, I've
got this pocket of stock, I've got thesetool sets where I'm just sitting on this.
It's just money that I've spentthat I'm not getting back.
And then you can start being alittle bit more creative about,
right, well, how can we shift it?
And yeah, it's brilliant thatthat's, that's worked well.
And I think that definite mindset into,you know, how can we get this going?
(24:50):
There was a quite a lot of, particularlywith these beach goods, there's quite a
lot of, if I buy, I don't know, let's sayI buy some cards or prints or something
from someone, they're quite clear onwhat the suggested retail price is.
They'll say, Oh, we buy it for 6 pounds.
Retail price is 12.
And it's very clear on the RRP.
With these beach good things,it's a lot less fluid because
there's a lot of variation.
(25:11):
So if you're in somewhere like Newquayand you've got three beach shops in a row.
Yeah.
They're all going to haveto adjust their prices.
Now, I'm not saying that I over inflatemy prices to be because of where I
am, because I try really hard anddo a lot of research not to do that.
But it just means that the suppliersdon't give you any indication of what
they suggest you sell things for.
(25:32):
So I get my things that there'snothing, there is no suggested
retail price on any of these things.
So I'm literally using my gut andgoing, well, you know, I'm a parent
who takes my kids to the beach.
If I took my kids to the beachand they wanted to buy a bucket
and a spade, how much would itpay for a bucket and a spade?
And you know, these beachbracelets that I've got loads of.
My boys are obsessed withthese sorts of beach bracelets.
(25:54):
Everywhere they go, they'll knowthey've got bracelets up their arm.
How much would I pay for one of those?
And sometimes I think I would getthose pricing decisions wrong.
And then go, actually that's overpriced.
And I've got lots of them because they'vecome in bulk and I've ordered, you know,
the minimum order is 288 or something.
And actually, the way to get rid of themis, so I'm not making a loss on them.
(26:18):
They're still being sold and they'restill profitable, but I think I just
not got that pricing quite right.
So it's helped me be a bit more sort ofintrospective about what is the right
price for that particular product.
And also to know that actually for mebulk buying that particular product,
(26:40):
it's not the right product for me.
I won't order those again,that they're not right.
But it's difficult when something comesin and it's like, "Oh, actually I might
try that, but you've got to try 288."
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
That's the minimum order on them.
Yeah.
Yeah, and then that's partof it as well, isn't it?
It's like being able to run throughthings through and say, right?
(27:01):
Okay.
Well, what's worked really?
Well, what do we need todo more of what perhaps?
Do we just not have the demandto meet those minimum orders?
Okay, so we've got to then makethose decisions Do we go somewhere
else for this or do we look for?
Do we you know try andget smaller quantities?
Or do we just say right this isn'tthe right product and just being
able to talk those decisions through,I think it's really important.
(27:23):
So just to wrap things up, what wouldyou say if someone was thinking about
working with Stock Doctor, but theywere feeling nervous or hesitant?
Or like they might get.
You know what, in the course of otherdiscussions with other traders in
the town, I have already recommendedthe course to two people locally.
Just in term, you know, I had a chat withsomebody who runs another shop in town.
(27:45):
She was like, "Oh, I've got all thisstock and I can't sell it." I was like,
"Oh my God, this is what you need to do."
So I would hundred percent recommend it.
Because as you said, ittakes that pain out of you.
Because it's such a weight that youcarry as a business owner, as a sole
trader, to think I've got this stuffand I don't know what to do with it.
(28:06):
Particularly if retail is notnecessarily your background.
It's like learning a new skill.
And this is equipping me with thoseskills that you and other people in
the industry have developed over years.
It goes back to that thing withmy friend saying it's just as
simple as buying and selling stuff.
Well, it is to a certainextent, but actually it's not.
(28:29):
It depends what it is.
And that works up until a certain pointbecause it's buying stuff, selling it
on, but it's also having the, makingsure you've got the money to buy it
and making sure you can sell it on.
And then what happens whenyou don't, what do you do?
So yes, I've already recommended you andI would absolutely just for that clarity.
(28:52):
And I did, you know, I sat downand I went, Oh, this is, you
know, this is the cost and chattedit through with my husband.
But actually it's less than it would cost.
It's like having another member of staff.
Basically, it's like having a parttime member of staff who can go in
and pull out all that information.
Particularly if you're a spreadsheetand analytics hater, like I would never
(29:16):
have got all that information out and doall the the calculations and the things.
So I would 100 percentrecommend it to anyone who's
feeling they're not in control.
It's like, I think you say this andwhere you feel like your business is
controlling you, not the other way around.
Whereas this is enabling me topull it back within my control.
(29:36):
Definitely.
Yes.
Absolutely.
And that is the purpose of it is that,I mean, the reason I created it as a
done for you service, as opposed to sayanother course or something like that
was I felt like actually it's about timeat the end of the day as well, isn't it?
It's like if you're not anexpert in something it takes
you so much longer to do it.
Then like you're saying when Paola waszipping around a spreadsheet, I often
(29:59):
it's easy quick just so much quicker forme to do something in a spreadsheet than
someone who's just not familiar with them.
Because it's like anything, right?
If you've got skills and trainingin something, you're going to be
faster at it and it's going to bemuch more efficient, effectively
better use of your time as well.
If someone else is looking at that andsaying, this is what you need to do.
We're obviously in collaboration with you,but rather than you trying to wade through
(30:20):
it and how long that would take you.
And I've learned from that as well.
So, it's not been done for you andI just sit back and let it happen.
It's been really interesting.
I mean, you know, I'll getmy emails afterwards and it's
like so many spreadsheets.
And I'll be like, oh,there's so many of them.
But then in the first sessions,I would say to her, "there's so
many, I'm overwhelmed by them."
She's like, " you don'tneed to understand them.
(30:41):
This is just to gather the data.
I'm pulling it through.
And then as we go through, you'llget to what it is that you need to
understand." At the beginning, it feltquite frightening, but actually now
it's really, you can see the process.
Yes, amazing.
Well, Victoria, if people want to gocheck out Readymoney Beach Shop online
(31:01):
or in person, where should they go?
Yeah.
So the website iswww.readymoneybeachshop.com.
The shop, as I said, is in Foweyon the South coast of Cornwall.
We're open every day except Christmas Day.
It's not just beach souvenirs.
We've got lots of gifts.
It's very gift heavy focus on the website.
So yeah, it'd be lovely to see people.
(31:22):
Thank you so much for listening.
Thank you so much toVictoria for sharing your.
story.
It's always a pleasure to hear moreabout you and your fabulous shop.
If you have listened to this podcast andthought to yourself, do you know what?
I could really use some of the supportof someone who knows what they're doing
to make sure that I'm buying the rightstock and to set me up for success.
Then why not head over toresilientretailclub.com, take
(31:44):
a look at the Stock Doctorservice, and why not book a call?
I would love to hear moreabout your business and see if
stock doctor's right for you.
And of course, if you have a momentto rate and review the podcast,
it makes a huge difference togetting out there to more people.
And if you like subscribe or followdepending on which platform you
podcast, then you'll be the firstto know about each new episode.
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