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Modern Retail Interview: Lilly Grace Crafts

Lilly Grace Crafts

Company Name: Lilly Grace Crafts

Interview Contact Name and Job Title: Alan Eves, Director of Lilly Grace Crafts

Website URL: www.lillygracecrafts.co.uk

Social Media Links:

Facebookfacebook.com/lillygracecrafts

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lillygracecraft

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lillygracecrafts/

Pinterest: https://uk.pinterest.com/lillygracecraft/


Number of outlets: website, Facebook Shop, Google Shopping, and soon Amazon

Location(s): UK

Market(s): Craft

Other relevant info: Huge portfolio of leading craft products and brands

Modern Retail talks to Alan Eves, Owner of Lilly Grace Crafts, the only place you’ll ever need to go to get all your craft needs! With a special deal every week you’ll be spoilt for choice on what crafting activity you can pursue!

 

MR: How do you aim to stand out as a brand?

AE: Our brand is all about our approach to the customer – we aim to offer a service second to none, whilst maintaining market leading prices on our product offering.

MR:  How would you sum up your target customer?

AE: Anyone who has an interest in craft, whether that be the paper craft, soft crafts, food craft or anything in between, either professional or novice.

MR: Why should people shop with you?

AE: Where do I start? First off is product – Lilly Grace Crafts list in excess of 15,000 products on our site across over 40 leading brands and this is growing constantly.

Secondly pricing – I know what kind of prices are being charged by some of the main retailers. All of our products are priced to offer our customers great value for money every single day. Pricing starts from as little as £0.99!

Thirdly our customer service ethos – we aim to make sure our customers get the best possible service they can receive from us, and take a personal approach to each and every customer.

MR: What do you want to do differently to your competitors?

AE: Offer great products without the big price tags!

MR: What challenges do you face as a business, and how do you aim to overcome them?

AE: Marketing – trying to compete against some of the bigger companies can be a bigger challenge when you are trying to get people to visit your site. That and time – being a small company means you have to wear many hats, and trying to squeeze everything can be difficult at times.

MR: How do you use technology/media/eCommerce to improve your offering?

AE: Our site is integrated with a number of different platforms. For instance, if you are a Facebook user, you will get notifications regarding your order delivered straight to your Facebook Messenger inbox, and you can communicate with us instantly through there.

We also have Amazon Payments integrated as well as Paypal at the checkout, which is great as it gives the customer a number of different methods with which to pay. Amazon payments uses your Amazon payment details to process the payment, similar to how Paypal processes payments.

We are also looking at different platforms through which we market our site, but that is still in development.

MR: What do you love about your work/business/brand?

AE: Exceeding customer expectations – it is such a great feeling when customers feedback how happy they are with the service!

Also it is great knowing that you are being completely honest with the customer, offering genuine low prices with no hidden strings. It is one of the things that always bugged me about working for large firms was how much they squeeze both suppliers and customers to get the maximum return on what they sell.

MR: What advantages/disadvantages does your location bring?

AE: Being an online business means I can be totally flexible with where I work. The downside is sometimes it is nice having a “regular office” where work/life balance can be maintained.

MR: What are your growth aims for the next 12 months?

AE: Get as much exposure as possible for the site, build on the customer base and move forward with our ethos of providing top brands at amazing prices and with an amazing service.

MR: What advice would you give to a new retail start-up based on your experience?

AE: Sometimes it can be hard to remain motivated especially when you launch and the traffic is not what you hoped for. Keep at it, do your research – there are so many ways to build your customer base, and in time they will find you.

Scurri