Exhibitions. Online. Marketplaces. Shop-in-shops. Window Display. International Online. We’ve been one busy team these past 18 months! Alas, never to shy away from a challenge—no matter how great—we decided to take the full offline plunge. Our first ever concept store.
We opened the fourseven Boutique at Galleria Market on March 28th, 2017. Galleria is the number one high street market in Gurgaon and attracts top brands and customers from all around the world. We are nestled in a quaint store next to Revlon and The Body Shop and across from Crocs and Super Bakery. It’s a great location!
I’m so proud of our team. It’s not like we didn’t have enough on our overflowing plates! Each of us wears at least 5 or more hats and adding on the mammoth task of designing, stocking, staffing and managing our own store 7 days per week may have seemed crazy to outsiders. It sure did to us! But we knew if anyone could do it, we sure could.
Because we knew customers would want it and we are always driven by our customers.
In fact, when we were brainstorming about the grand opening event, external agencies recommended that we get famous personalities to come and cut the ribbon for our retail concept store launch. But we thought differently.
It is our customers who have helped us to get this far, and we wanted to celebrate with them. We asked our top customers in the area, many of whom had hosted us in their homes for private exhibitions or supported us in other ways, to come and cut the ribbon with us and celebrate this next leg of our onward and upward journey.
It was a lovely afternoon however hot it may have been. We dressed up for selfies with all things purple for fun, then cut the purple ribbon and then went out to lunch to relax and talk. There was a bit of shopping in the mix too! Our customers went home with a goodie bag full of surprises, a purple balloon and lovely purple orchids to thank them for their support and to celebrate them on this very special occasion. It was a day of great memories!
Now that we have the store, customers walk in and tell us they have seen us online many times and they are excited that we are open. They love our jewelry but may prefer to try it on before buying. That’s ok. That’s why we opened the store. Some who were comfortable buying online love the fact that they can come in and get advice or talk it through with the team before deciding. Others who never bought online before now feel comfortable to buy online having seen the quality first-hand. Either way, it is a win-win for us and for our customers! We love to have the deeper connection with customers, talking with them directly and getting their feedback, hearing their suggestions and helping them make decisions.
The fourseven team truly pulled together to make this happen and I couldn’t be prouder of us. We were a team optimized for e-commerce. We had never designed a retail store before nor had we set up a Point-of-Sale system or managed a store.
We had to think of the major tasks like how to utilize the space, how to display the products, how to manage the inventory and so on. But there were also a thousand tiny things to think through. For example, carry bags. We did not have a need for them for online sales because we ship in boxes. Price books. Barcode scanners. Visual merchandising. Retail staff hiring and training. Managing cash and change on a daily basis. Incorporating store customers into our email and social marketing groups. Should customers be able to sit down? Should we have music? Outdoor signage, indoor shelf talkers and so much more!
For the first month, it was like having a new baby. It required our focus 24×7 so we could work out the wrinkles and create smooth, effective and repeatable processes. Now it is a natural part of us, as if it had always been there. We love how different it is to use our marketing skills online and offline. The palettes are different, but the objectives are the same. Help customers make the right choice.
We may be a small team and it may be a small store. But we sure do know how to make a big impact!
I hope you will come visit us if you are in the area. Store timings are 11:00 am – 9:00 pm everyday. Get map and directions to the store here. If you can’t make it to the store, please visit us online at https://www.fourseven.com.
We would love to hear from you! You can reach us @tellus@fourseven.com
Wishing you much happiness.
The post Another Great fourseven Milestone: Our First Concept Store! appeared first on fourseven.
