Spotlight on independent retailers: The Dressing Room

The Dressing Room in St Albans has won many accolades as a prime independent retail destination and continues to lead the way as one of the most innovative and customer-centric stores in the country. It was launched by Deryane Tadd, whose retail career started on the shop floor as sales assistant, advancing to store and area manager to running French Connection Franchises as buying and operations director for seven years, before she took the plunge and opened her own boutique in 2005 - and never looked back. The business expanded quickly, moving into a larger high street location just 18 months after opening, and its website was launched three years later. Almost 14 years into trading, the store is going from strength to strength and Tadd is widely recognised not only as one of the key retailers in the UK, but also as a champion for independent business. FashionUnited finds out what drives the success of the store.

How would you describe the USP of your store?

It is all about personality. I think this is key to any successful indie – it is about developing the personality of your business and recruiting a team that share your vision and will help you to portray this to your customers. My business values are: honest, progressive, friendly, driven and passionate, and I aim to apply this to everything that I do.

The whole mix of the shopping environment, the friendly team of trained stylists, the unique product edit with exclusive collections, social media with personality, a website with bespoke styling options and styling videos – these all add up to a business that is always putting the customers at the forefront of every business decision. That is our USP.

Who is your typical customer?

It really is anyone who loves fashion and style and enjoys trying out new brands and collections that they have not previously heard of. For us it’s about helping women to discover and develop their personal style – that is what we are here to do. We have a more casual/dressed down element to our collections, but this is in line with current trends like dressing a beautiful silk dress with trainers. There is no age limit, however the contemporary level price points do put the minimum age range at around the 30+ mark.

Do you tend to swap and change labels season after season, or do you try to work with them long-term?

In general I like to work closely with my brands so that we both get the very best sell-through; the majority of suppliers are very supportive and will offer stock swaps in-season on styles that are not performing. I like to help build new brands up and help to nurture and develop the range alongside them. It is important to always have new and fresh brands added to our mix, so I am always seeking out the next great collection for my customer base. I would only ever drop a label if it was underperforming for a couple of seasons, despite doing whatever we can to make it work, or if the brand introduced some unreasonable terms of trade.

How important is exclusivity to you?

It is important to have exclusivity in our area and we also work with some brands to create our own exclusive ranges now. This helps us to stand out from our competitors and also gives customers another reason to shop with us. It also ensures we have a point of difference from the brands own collection on their website as we now often have to compete with our suppliers for online sales, which is difficult sometimes.

How important is your transactional website to the overall business?

We have developed our online presence hugely in the last 10 years since launching the website. It now accounts for a third of our overall turnover and is a key reason that the business has gone from strength to strength – it drives footfall and traffic to the store, as well as providing strong turnover as a stand-alone site.

How do you ensure you keep engaging your clients and build and maintain a loyal clientele?

We use social media as our main marketing tool and it works very well to keep us in touch with our customers and to help new customers discover us – used in the right way it is a fantastic tool that we really have fun with. We don’t take ourselves too seriously and our customers can relate to us. If you check out our social media channels you will see what I mean. Youtube is also a great platform for The Dressing Room, our styling videos really help to bring the collections alive for our customers.

What have been the key milestones for your store?

There have been many! The expansion after 18 months was the first, followed swiftly by our first industry award in 2006 for best new business – that still goes down as a key milestone for me. Since then I am proud to say that we now have 6 industry awards, plus we have been voted in many top boutique lists such as Vogue, Glamour, The Independent, plus many more. Being made an Everywoman Retail Ambassador was a personal milestone for me, as I am passionate about encouraging girls and women to build careers in retail, as it is often overlooked as a vocation. It is difficult to single out too many more as each year the business develops and grows and there is always something exciting and new happening. However, this year I have been invited to the House of Lords as an ambassador for Small Business Saturday which is a pretty big milestone.

How are you finding being an independent boutique in the digital age?

It adds a whole new dimension to retailing and we have embraced it. It adds challenges, particularly when you have to compete with your own brands for market share online, however it also opens us up to a much larger audience that we would not have had access to beforehand. Our customers are now all over the world and many people will now make a substantial journey to visit the bricks and mortar store after a great online experience or through discovering us on social media. This wasn’t possible 15 years ago.

What are your key challenges as an indie?

Certainly competing with our own brands for online share – in the past a brand would be happy to be a wholesaler or a retailer but now everyone wants to be both, which is a challenge, particularly when they impose restrictions. I understand why brands do this, but it is difficult for a mutli-brand retailer as our margins are tight and we need to be able to use all avenues to promote our product. Other than that, it’s always recruitment – retail is a notoriously difficult sector to recruit in – especially when you are looking for dynamic and passionate stylists that are not afraid of hard work and are happy to work at our busiest time at the weekend! We have a fantastic team at the Dressing Room, but we are always looking for more great people to join our team.

Do you feel there are advantages to being an independent in today’s economic climate?

Yes, always. It is easier to adapt as a small business as you are master of your destiny most of the time. Every time I face a challenge, I look at how I can improve other areas of the business to ensure we are not damaged. I think this is the only way to survive in this climate.

What in your opinion constitutes a successful indie today?

It is the same as always – know your customer and put them at the forefront of every decision you make. Passion, drive and being progressive, along with developing and nurturing your team is the best way to remain successful. I have mentioned social media – embrace this and make it your own, and this will ensure your customers engage with you and want to visit you. It is all about personality and putting this across to your audience – people much prefer this to a very polished account.

What’s your view on the high street and how do indies fit in there?

A great high street destination needs a strong mix of both indies and chains – this will ensure footfall is high and people have a reason to visit and dwell in the town. There is room for all of us, but only if the high street chains stop the discounting culture, which is so damaging to the retail landscape.

What are the key lessons you have learned since running your shop?

There are too many to mention! The main one is the old cliché – always trust your gut instinct. Whenever I have gone against this, I have lived to regret it!

Where do you see the biggest opportunities for independents going forward?

People will always want to shop – it is a hobby and a lifestyle for many women. If we continue to create a shopping experience that brings people pleasure and excitement, then there will always be a place for the bricks and mortar store – however the digital age has changed this and we just have to adjust and adapt to how we work.

Do you plan more store openings? What are your plans going forward?

I intend to keep the one store and continue to develop the business through the current bricks and mortar presence, plus the website. We are a multi-channel business and the growth is strong, so I don’t intend to weaken this by opening more stores. We are a small business with a big reach and I’d rather keep it that way! There are always developments and plans in the pipeline, but for now I will have to keep them to myself and you’ll just have to watch this space.

Photo credit: The Dressing Room