Innovation in Our World
Happy March! I can't believe it's almost spring. Can you? We've been busy with life and the shop...and ordering gorgeous spring-y outfits! We love to keep our Alaskans happy in new frocks!
We've noticed that one of our competitors has been visiting our store - checking prices, seeing what's in stock, asking questions, etc. That's a good thing - we certainly don't want any duplication between our stores. Frankly, I should probably check out the competition too...but I haven't been shopping (except for baby clothes) in over a year. Even more recently (and randomly) we've noticed that the competitor in question is following our Instagram and asking to follow people who "like" our photos. Okaaaay...it's a free market - go for it!
We never get too fussy about things like this in our retail market - like I tell my sister - "NOTHING is a new idea". It's all been done before and our job is to take inspiration from old ideas into newer ideas - INNOVATION. Innovation, by definition is "the act or process
of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods". We pride ourselves on
using our innovation, imagination, and energy while creating our little
space in the universe. I'm all about "seeing what the other guy is
doing", but your plan should include making it your own...not taking
ideas and passing off as your own.
In fact, our inspiration for Mabel was Anthropologie...we LOVE the store. We originally modeled the store after our favorite Anthro components and threw in a whole lot of Grandma Nonie inspiration. But we made it our own...after many "flops" and "holy crap, that was a fail" moments - we're finally feeling like we may be getting there. Did I mention that we had ZERO retail experience and we decided over a one day e.mail chain to start our business?! Yes, we're notorious for jumping over the cliff without looking - but we took action! You should have seen our first clothing orders...gah, makes me cringe. Thank goodness we had customers who believed in us and kept coming back!
In the meantime, we're going to continue our path of being inspired and creating crazy/stupid/brilliant ideas. Our path doesn't include worrying about what the "other guy" is doing, but worrying about how we can make our ideas better for our customers.
On another note...when do you come up with brilliant ideas? My "brilliant plotting" usually comes to me in the shower or the car. :)
xo
We've noticed that one of our competitors has been visiting our store - checking prices, seeing what's in stock, asking questions, etc. That's a good thing - we certainly don't want any duplication between our stores. Frankly, I should probably check out the competition too...but I haven't been shopping (except for baby clothes) in over a year. Even more recently (and randomly) we've noticed that the competitor in question is following our Instagram and asking to follow people who "like" our photos. Okaaaay...it's a free market - go for it!
We never get too fussy about things like this in our retail market - like I tell my sister - "NOTHING is a new idea". It's all been done before and our job is to take inspiration from old ideas into newer ideas - INNOVATION. Innovation, by definition is "the act or process
of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods". We pride ourselves on
using our innovation, imagination, and energy while creating our little
space in the universe. I'm all about "seeing what the other guy is
doing", but your plan should include making it your own...not taking
ideas and passing off as your own.In fact, our inspiration for Mabel was Anthropologie...we LOVE the store. We originally modeled the store after our favorite Anthro components and threw in a whole lot of Grandma Nonie inspiration. But we made it our own...after many "flops" and "holy crap, that was a fail" moments - we're finally feeling like we may be getting there. Did I mention that we had ZERO retail experience and we decided over a one day e.mail chain to start our business?! Yes, we're notorious for jumping over the cliff without looking - but we took action! You should have seen our first clothing orders...gah, makes me cringe. Thank goodness we had customers who believed in us and kept coming back!
In the meantime, we're going to continue our path of being inspired and creating crazy/stupid/brilliant ideas. Our path doesn't include worrying about what the "other guy" is doing, but worrying about how we can make our ideas better for our customers.
On another note...when do you come up with brilliant ideas? My "brilliant plotting" usually comes to me in the shower or the car. :)
xo
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