Spotlight on W. A.Green
Top Image credit Claire Worthy at Newton & Worthy
Today’s Blog Spotlight is on Zoe Anderson of W. A.Green, one of my favourite independent stores based in London, but which you can also shop online here. If you want something unusual, quirky, different and fun for you home, then this is the place to visit. Dopamine for the home, is a perfectly apt tagline for the business because everything you can buy will lift your spirits from an interior decorating point of view.
Zoe has a wonderful story behind her business, why she got started and the influence behind the name. I won’t steal her thunder, you can read all about the concepts below. You will also be able to see some of the products styled in her own beautiful and colourful home.
The cushion at the front of the chair is a collaboration between W. A.Green and Silken Favours. The eye is for truth (knowing the providence of our products), the hand is for friendship (with suppliers and customers), the bee for community (local community, instagram community, customer) and the cherries are for a splash of sass.
1. What was the Reason Behind Starting your Business?
The idea for W. A.Green started with my friend’s significant birthday present. She has great taste and I wanted my gift to be unusual - something she’d love but never seen before. I couldn’t find anything anywhere - all the shops in London seemed to be stocking the same edit of ‘design’ products and everything seemed a bit safe and bland. I visited California on holiday and loved the boutique style approach to independent stores, how they embrace local crafts and the positive vibes and the energy you get from 24/7 sunshine. I knew there was an opportunity to bring that ethos to the UK. I ditched the day job (advertising) and away we went.
2. How Did you Start Pp; Kitchen Table, Mum’s Garage, Renting premises?
After quitting my job in October 2017, I started writing a business plan at the kitchen table and began researching suppliers, units to rent, epos and card payment systems, and a whole world of things I had absolutely zero idea about. I really wanted a bricks and mortar store as opposed to just selling online, despite everyone thinking I was crazy. I had to come up with a name, create a visual identity and a brand pack to present to future landlords and potential suppliers. This was really interesting as it really helped to make my plan seem real and helped hone what it was going to be all about.
I wanted the name to sound established but also kind of cool too, so this got me thinking about naming the store after my grandfather. After WWII, he took on a small florist shop called Elizabeth’s and turned it into a greengrocer shop. He couldn’t afford to change the name above the door or the bags he’d inherited and the shop went on to be really successful with Elizabeth’s stores all over East Sussex. I thought it would be really nice to finally have a store with his name above the door and W.A.Green was born. Hopefully it’ll bring me some of his business acumen!
Our tagline is Dopamine for the home which translates as a little hit of happiness which is what I think people enjoy about our edit of products. Whether that’s how they look or how they’re made - everything has to have a positive story.
The Goodnight Kisses Blanket is a W.A. Green own product. It’s 100% New Zealand Lambs Wool and made the EU
3. How Did you Fund your Business?
The business is privately funded. We had money available from the sale of my husband’s business. He was really keen for me to do something I was passionate about and thought our money was worth investing in my idea. He has been incredibly supportive and also helps me from a financial perspective. Not to have the pressure of external funds has been a huge help.
4. What Was the Most Difficult Part of Starting Up your Business; Access to Money, Advice, Finding People to Buy your Product, Marketing etc.?
None of it has been easy. First off, finding a property was really competitive and we kept being passed over for more established brands looking to be in up and coming areas. To secure our store we had to put up 6 months’ rent on deposit. Then you have to buy all your stock up front, invest in systems etc. which is a huge drain.
All of that feels a long time ago now and the challenges of running the business day to day, serving instore and online are the hot topics. Our team is tiny. It’s basically just me with one full time sales manager in Shoreditch and two other part-timers. I think people think we have a huge department. You have to wear so many different hats throughout the day and be very clear about how you split up your time. Social media, PR, stock control and keeping on top of your books has to be fitted in alongside being in the store serving customers, not to mention updating the website with new products and email campaigns to drive sales.
LHS. Goodnight Kisses tea towel.
Middle. The matches are also a W. A. Green own design and were their first ever foray into developing their own product.
RHS. The cushion is a collaboration between W. A. Green and Silken Favours. The eye is for truth (knowing the providence of our products), the hand is for friendship (with suppliers and customers), the bee for community (local community, Instagram community, customer) and the cherries are for a splash of sass.
5. What Help was Missing for You?
From knowing nothing I’ve found that everyone wants to help you. Suppliers are a great source of advice, other traders also want you to succeed and friends already working in retail have been incredibly insightful and open to sharing ideas that have worked for them. I have been on a couple of courses to help with knowledge gaps and would really recommend No Bull School for anyone needing help. There are aspects to running the business that I’m shocking at, but having customers love your vibe encourages you to dig deep and carry on. My team are ultra-supportive and Emily can often be overheard saying ‘You’ve got this Zoe’!
6. What Went Wrong in your First Year? Or Few Months if you Haven’t Been Trading that Long?
We started trading in April 2017 and online in June 2017. I should have started selling online as the same time as opening. I realised I’d invested in the wrong epos system having thought the one I’d chosen was compatible with my chosen online store platform it became quickly apparent it wasn’t. Every time we sold something in store we had to manually update our online store and vice versa. The margin for error was huge. We finally migrated across to the online platform this year which meant ditching an expensive system and having to buy my way out of card payment system contracts.
The council also decided to install cobblestones outside our store which took 3 months of road closures, noise and really affected our footfall during our first few months. This is a good example of where you try and plan for everything, and something outside your control knocks you sideways.
7. What Have you Learnt?
Opening was incredibly exciting and to get a positive reaction from customers who loved our vision was really encouraging. Our success is measured by them but we have to continue to have a point of view and take them on that journey with us. I rather naively wanted to sell furniture but you realise that it’s big and takes up valuable square footage and is slower to sell. I had to lose my ego quite quickly and change my buy to reflect what people were comfortable spending to keep the cash flow running effectively.
Every day is a school day. You’re always learning how to do new things and do them better than before. Anything from improving your SEO on the website to programmatic marketing to instore merchandising. When you have a vision for a store you don’t imagine you’d be getting excited about finding a cardboard box that takes seconds to construct rather than 2 minutes but everything is about learning efficiencies whilst not compromising on quality and service.
8. What is the Most Important Piece of Advice That You Could Give Others Thinking About Starting a Business?
You have to be 100% committed. There’s no such thing as a day off. You’re consumed by making it work. With social media, you’re always on. In this multi-channel world, you have to be prepared for customers and suppliers to contact you by any means available.
Say yes to every opportunity even if it scares you or you think you’re too busy. I learnt this early on and you have to keep pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. For example, at our launch party Laura Weir from ES Magazine gave me an ‘At home with’ feature which meant opening up my private home and telling my story. I was so nervous about it but I’m so grateful as that article launched W.A.Green and has led to so many other editorial opportunities.
9. What Do you Enjoy the Most?
I enjoy it all. I think I’m addicted to hard work and have always been up for a challenge. I love the buy - hunting out new designers and curating our edit of suppliers and brands is so exciting. You get so much out of it all creatively, from writing the copy for the website to deciding how you’re going to merchandise the products in store, online and social. Being with the team is also incredibly rewarding. Seeing them develop and grow in confidence makes me extremely happy.
Image Credit for Home Photos @alexreyto shot for @hunkerhome
