In this episode...

Note: We use AI transcription so there may be some inaccuracies

Laura Hargrave: Welcome everyone here at Boss It. We would love to hear from you. Join us in our Boss It community by heading over to our website, bossitclub.com, and join our mailing list. As we grow, we will be launching our community of fellow Boss It BFFs, and we want you to be a part of it.

Okay, Sophia Noreen, let's dig into this. I can't wait to tell them all about how we got here.

Sophia Noreen: Welcome to the Boss It Podcast. My name is Sophia Noreen and I took an Etsy startup and launched it in big-box retailers within 12 months. As a creative with an entrepreneurial drive, I left my full-time career in healthcare to find better harmony between career, family, and self-care. We believe you can have it all. Yes, you can launch and run a successful scalable business while maintaining harmony in all aspects of your life. We believe we can learn from each other and draw on many experiences to create the best life possible. During each episode, we will share proven life hacks that will keep you on top and striving every day.

There should be no hesitation. Make a plan. Take action. We are here for you!

Sophia Noreen:  What's up everyone. Welcome to another fantastic episode of the boss at podcast. My name is Sophia Rine. And today I'm gonna talk to you about our 20, 21 story of how we were in Walmart and what happened. So if you missed our episode from the week before.
 
Sophia Noreen: Please go ahead and catch it. We will link it somewhere on this video so you can of course click through and catch that story and then come back here, because this is a good segue for us to understand what it takes to get into a big retailer like Walmart, and then what it takes to actually stay on the shelf and understanding that it is a relationship that we are gonna continue to build with the company.

Sophia Noreen: Be it big or small. And in this case, it's a very big company, Walmart and what we need to do as vendors or as businesses to ensure that we continue to own that relationship and stay well connected with the merchants, the buyers or category managers, whatever you wanna refer to these people as basically in 2021, it was a bad situation in Ontario.

Sophia Noreen: You could probably Google. We're in Canada and our healthcare infrastructure is not as large as our neighbors in the us. And so many hospitals were overrun. We had hit such a dire state in our province that we had to actually shut down, shopping in the store for non-essentials. And what that meant is if it was not food or like products that were essential for life.

Sophia Noreen: You couldn't shop. So for example, even if you wanted to pick up arts and crafts at the store, you couldn't do it. It was taped off. Okay. Like we could not shop and you might be thinking that's ridiculous. And as it stood, we had to do it because people wanted to get out of their homes and they were going to the mall and then with crowd control it wasn't happening.

Sophia Noreen: And the hospitals were over. People were dying and it was a lesser of two evils. So it had to be done. And if you're catching me for the first time, just FYI, I also work in  healthcare system. So I was very much integrated with both sides of the coin, the retail side, of course suffering, because now we have everything locked down on their side, they couldn't sell anything.

Sophia Noreen: And then I'm also in a situation where hospitals are overrun and our team is like dealing. Pandemic response. So again, very interesting dichotomy for me, but today I'm talking to you about what happened to us on the Walmart shelf in 2021. And I'm gonna back up a bit because if you caught our previous week's episode about how we got on the shelf with Walmart in 2020, it just so happened.

Sophia Noreen: It had locked down then as well, but people were still able to access our products. Yes. They were waiting in lineups, outside the store and bless the souls of all of our customers who did it over and over and over again, because they just wanted to see the product on the shelf and they would go inside the store after and be able to pick up the product and purchase it.

Sophia Noreen: In 20, 21, they could not even purchase the product. And so that is a big problem. as a business for not just our business, but also for Walmart. And so what do you do in that situation when you cannot purchase the product off the shelf? Okay. So let's get into that next. What did we do and how were we going to rebound from this?

Sophia Noreen: Cause this is a big problem. All right. We're locked down. What are we gonna do? It was a disaster, really? Because if you think about it, our selling season is really six weeks, maybe eight weeks, depending on how eager the buyer is that year. Like the customers, how eager they are. But we literally only have a small window of time during our year.

Sophia Noreen: To sell the products. It's just like Christmas or Easter Valentine's day, Halloween. Like any of the other holidays, people really do shop closer to the event. So we're now locked down. People can't go into Walmart to pick up their items. And online shopping was the only thing that was moving. And luckily for us, our e-commerce platform, our website also Sophia was good.

Sophia Noreen: So tip for everyone do not rely on one sales channel for your business. That is a big takeaway. Do not rely on only one social media platform do not rely on one sales channel. So. We had our e-commerce backing us up, but we really wanted to ensure that the products on the Walmart shelf moved off. And the reason why is because if we were not able to successfully do that, we were responsible for some of that markdown as it is called.

Sophia Noreen: So something that people don't realize is that when you're working with a big retailer, You have to negotiate how you're gonna move that product off the shelf. And the way we do it is we of course put it on sale, right? So at the end of the season, you'll see all your Christmas stuff marked down. You'll see all of your holiday stuff marked down.

Sophia Noreen: And that reason for that is because they wanna ensure that the product doesn't sit there and Walmart, or these big retailers wanna make sure that they're not on the hook for the full mark. And so we had to of course, go ahead and support some of that. And so a tip for everyone is to ensure that when you're negotiating, make sure you know, what your numbers are, because if you don't, then you could be stuck in a big situation.

Sophia Noreen: And so now everything's locked down and nobody can purchase anything. And what did we do? We quickly pivoted to allow grocery pickup. I don't know how successful that was. But that was what was done. And then we called around to stores to see if they could do anything. And there was nothing that could be done.

Sophia Noreen: So the 2021 was my test year and I wasn't sure if we would ever come back to the store after that, because to take such a big hit two years in a row was not a good sign for me. And I'm always about thinking if the universe is trying to spin me a story and I was thinking, maybe this is just bad luck.

Sophia Noreen: But I still wanted to serve the community. I had started the company for a reason. And if you are new, then you'll know that I started it because we had no products on the shelf. And back in 20 17, 20 18, I couldn't find anything for my young girls at the time to really elevate the celebrations. And so I just went ahead and created more products and scaled them because I realized other families were in the same situation.

Sophia Noreen: Not everyone can go to Michael's and DIY. Their homemade banner. It's just not feasible when it comes to time and money. So the products were really made for a customer who really was struggling with time and money and they just needed to grab it and wanted to elevate the celebration in their home. So that was a really bad situation.

Sophia Noreen: So now what, what did we do next? Okay. So now we're in a situation. Products are not moving off the shelf. We've had two terrible years with Walmart and in Walmart, you will have a scorecard as a vendor. All these big retailers will likely have some form of a scorecard for you to be assessed by. And our scorecard was terrible, right?

Sophia Noreen: Naturally we've had two years of a lockdown in a pandemic, and now this year, In 2021, they've lost money on the books now. Right? Because the product had to be discarded and marked down and everything. So it was a, not a good situation. So I literally said, okay, that's it. Our Walmart run is over for now.

Sophia Noreen: And maybe you've. Fate be had, it will be able to get back into it again. But I had decided inherently that that was the end of the Walmart run and we would just provide our e-commerce platform, the best bang for its buck by providing all the products on that platform. And that is another big takeaway for everyone who is looking to build a brand.

Sophia Noreen: I talked about, of course, having a distribution network of different things. So like maybe big retail, you have your Amazon play and then you have your e-commerce play. I would never, ever, ever pick only one. And even when it comes to big retailer, you need to try to diversify your plan. Don't have one big retailer, if you can.

Sophia Noreen: And I'm talking about your strategy. Coming years. Of course, as you start, you might have one retailer and then you add a subsequent, but your overall plan should be too diversified because if one says no to you and you are relying on them for your orders, then you're in trouble, right? Because now your entire business could be cut in half or by 80% or whatever it.

Sophia Noreen: So make sure that you always have many players that will help you distribute your product. So that's one takeaway. And basically now we're in a situation where I said, I think we're done with Walmart and that's fine. Because as a seasonal business, we don't hold a lot of inventory relative to many other companies and it was fine.

Sophia Noreen: The website had. Community support. And that's my second takeaway for you is to build your own community because now with a community like ours, that is willing to get behind us and support us year over year, it's not as dire for us to leverage the onsite shopping experience. We have a community. Looking forward to seeing their new product releases every year and referring their friends.

Sophia Noreen: So if you can take the time and energy to build a community, and I have different strategies, I'll share with you in the future on how to do that. So of course, hit subscribe and follow if you have not done that yet. And yeah, like, just keep in mind that those are the two things that really did save us.

Sophia Noreen: The third thing that probably saved us now, this is where the universe did something strange. We had a few stores that refused to remove the products off the shelf even after the season was done. And so that was a store's discretion. I suppose they kept the products on the shelf and because I love packaging and I had provided an eye catching display.

Sophia Noreen: It served its weighting goal because. Another Walmart corporate member saw it and found us again. So remember our relationship with your category manager or merchant or buyer is very important. It doesn't matter what retailer you're with. It's that individual that will help give you opportunities. And it's unfortunate that in 2021, that all went down and that relationship was not the best.

Sophia Noreen: It was okay. It was not bad. It just, it was what it was. And because the packaging was so eyecatching and the stores really wanted to keep the products there, because to be honest, there was a second season coming up. The way our holiday works is we have one holiday Eid, and then we have a second Eve that follows about two months after.

Sophia Noreen: So technically, even though it looks like the product may not have any value or was less valued, the community still knew that there was another holiday. And so the store manager there decided to keep it up, cuz they said we can still. So there you go. The universe did some funny plot twist there, and all of a sudden there was another category manager that was knocking on our door.

Sophia Noreen: And lo and behold, we are back. 4 20 22. And that is the best story. And so I'm gonna share that one with you guys again next week. So make sure you do hit subscribe and follow wherever you're catching this podcast. And remember, these stories are meant to help you take the lessons and apply it to your own situation.

Sophia Noreen: So we've shared some few gems here and it's a very candid conversation I'm having with you. So if you do have a question, you can always follow us on Instagram and send me a DM happy to. And remember you can make a plan and take action and yes, you can have it all. And I will tell you about 20, 22 next week.

Sophia Noreen: So my fellow Bosses, did you enjoy that episode? Now, it's time for you to make a solid plan and take action. But first, remember to subscribe and follow the Boss It Podcast so you receive a notification whenever we drop an episode. Remember to leave us a review on iTunes. Take a screenshot of your review and share it on Instagram as a post or a story, and tag us at Boss It Club. If Instagram is not your thing, no worries. Email your screenshot to [email protected]. As a massive thank you, we will be sending you our top 50 tips for starting and scaling a business. This list is exclusively for podcast reviewers so don't miss out. Now, remember Bosses, make a plan and take action in all aspects of your life. Yes, you can have it all.