Countdown to Independent Retailer Month: 6-weeks to go! #IndieMonth #IndieRetail

This coming Monday is the beginning of the 6-week countdown to Independent Retailer Month. This is a great opportunity for individual retailers, small groups or even whole towns to create fun and engaging promotions, activities and events that will attract new and existing customers into the store, and the area, to celebrate their local, independent retailers throughout July.

What is Independent Retailer Month?

Since its UK Launch in July 2011, Independent Retailer Month has grown rapidly, engaging 1000s of retailers and consumer-facing businesses UK-wide. It highlights the important role that smaller, independent retailers play in the communities they serve, the local economy they contribute to, and in the retail sector as a whole.

By encouraging independent retailers, groups of retailers, and even whole towns, to create fun and engaging promotions, activities and events during the month of July, the campaign tackles the very real issue of declining footfall in towns and village centres.

Independent Retailer Month UK is a key annual activity from the year-round “Support for Independent Retail” campaign. This campaign offers support, advice, ideas and inspiration. Its aim is to help independent retailers and those who serve consumers to get, and stay, open for business! The campaign receives no government funding and is reliant on sponsorship and goodwill. In 2013 the campaign is urging people to pledge to support independent retailers by diverting just 20% of what they spend elsewhere to their local, independent retailers – for more on that see Article: Pledge your support for Independent Retail

If you want to get involved with Independent Retailer Month you are very welcome! From your own, unique instore activities, to working with other retailers in your area, to getting the whole town involved, you can find out more about things you can do via http://www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/get-involved and, when you’ve decided on activities, we can promote them via http://www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/events/2013. To help you along we’ve made a number of FREE resources available, see http://www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/resources and don’t forget you can also promote your shop, free via www.independentshops.co.uk

To find out why we believe it’s critical that consumers support local, independent retailers see http://www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/about.

What is available to you to help you make the most of the campaign?

If you are already planning to get involved with Independent Retailer Month 2013 it is surprising how quickly it will be here… Just 6 weeks on Monday!!! To help you to get ready I’ve provided the following:

A webinar to introduce the campaign and share ideas as to how it can be used by a single store, a group or stores, or by a whole town, to increase consumer engagement throughout July – you can watch that via https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/791490110
A downloadable guide – “how to make the most of independent retailer month” which is ideal for anyone thinking of taking part in the campaign – see http://www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/resources/how%20to%20get%20the%20most%20out%20of%20independent%20retailer%20month.pdf
Artwork for the 2013 campaign – there is an “Indie Month 2013 – Materials” Dropbox folder from which you can download artwork for the campaign – posters, thank-you cards, logos and the “I “heart” Indie Shops” window sticker – see https://www.dropbox.com/sh/hrxx2tey7jms770/sqUMsHLUDA?lst
An events page – details of how to get listed on our events page are via www.independentretailermonth.co.uk/events. As we populate this page with more and more of the activities we’ll add a UK map that will highlight all the areas participating during July – this will help people to find out more about what’s going on near them

Don’t forget, it doesn’t matter if you are a single store, a small group or a whole town – if you want to get involved with Independent Retailer Month you are very welcome! If you need any further support, please contact us!

Thanks for reading; We look forward to celebrating with you, and your customers, throughout July!

About Clare Bailey

Clare Bailey, The Retail Champion (formerly Clare Rayner), is one of the most well-known and respected retail experts in the UK. With unrivalled knowledge in retail, high streets and consumer matters, she offers unbiased, independent content – whether engaged as a professional speaker, for broadcast media, or for a written feature. Clare is a business woman, entrepreneur and founder of several small businesses. Having been born into a family of successful business owners, it was inevitable that she’d eventually jump off the corporate treadmill and step out on her own! Today her brand portfolio includes The Retail Champion, The Retail Conference, the Future High Street Summit and the Support for Independent Retail campaign. In addition, she is co-founder of Mobaro Retail UK and a non-exec director of Beed Virtual Assistant Services. Having started her career as a fast-track store management trainee for McDonalds, she went on to work with leading retailers such as M&S, Dixons and Argos. She moved swiftly into management roles before being headhunted into senior consulting roles with global software giant SAP, and international management consulting brand, Accenture. Her corporate background in senior retail, consulting and technology roles, coupled with her experience of creating and running her own business, has enabled her to be equally capable whether consulting to global brands or micro businesses. This unique blend has not only positioned her as a leading expert in all things retail, but has enabled her to add meaningful commentary and insight to the debate around the future of the high street, and, how technology is driving fundamental change in the way consumers, and businesses, interact. Clare has become an influential voice in her field, which has resulted in her becoming a regular media contributor and sought-after conference speaker. Often seen on Good Morning Britain, BBC Breakfast, Sky News, and Chanel 5 (to name a few), Clare speaks on a myriad of retail, high street and consumer issues – but is particular adept when it comes to explaining the context behind retail trading results, newly released data, and government stats, in a palatable and informative manner. In addition to broadcast and conference speaking, Clare is the proud author of two best-selling business books published by Kogan Page - The Retail Champion: 10 Steps to Retail Success, published July 2012 and How to Sell to Retail: The Secrets of Getting Your Product to Market, published February 2013. She has provided contributions to various academic texts, including Retail Marketing Management (published by Pearson). With an engaging, conversational yet informative style, Clare writes for press and content agencies, providing features, articles, blogs and opinion pieces as well as contributions to white papers and reports. However, when the situation demands a more serious style, Clare can deliver - In 2016 she wrote an extensive report for a major insurance and risk law firm, as a retail expert witness, to support a public liability suit. She found that project particularly enjoyable as it played well to her strengths – assimilating large amounts of data and information, identifying the key points and articulating that in an understandable manner. When not on TV or speaking at conferences, Clare’s “day job” sees her supporting consumer-facing businesses through her consultancy services. When asked to describe what she most loves about retail consulting it is typically the opportunity to “dig deep”, getting “under the bonnet”, in order to leverage the business data to uncover the insights that lead to “lightbulb moments”. She also loves working on business change programmes that centre on improving the processes and systems to increase profitability by supporting more rapid, better informed decision making, improving the customer experience, or simply by become more efficient and streamlined. In this respect she considers herself a “business engineer” with a brain that works like a relational database! Due to her years of experience, her logical, objective approach, her quick, rational thinking, she is known for being able to cut through complexity, seeing right through to the crux of issues, finding creative solutions that others may have overlooked. As if all that wasn’t enough, Clare is a working mum, juggling a home life in rural Lincolnshire with her partner, their 5 kids, 4 cats, and geriatric Labrador! For all enquiries, contact Clare directly on 01727 238890 or email champion@retailchampion.co.uk.

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