Her Magazine is New Zealand’s only women’s business lifestyle magazine! Her Magazine highlights the achievements of successful and rising New Zealand businesswomen. Her Magazine encourages a healthy work/life balance.
Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaleditions.com/i/97183
Editor's Note Change is here: Change is now Change: embrace it, as it is here to stay and moving faster than ever. I certainly know that 2013 will not be kind to anyone that is simply waiting for a return to the status quo. As a retailer, I have had to rethink my business model continually but never more than I have at the moment. I would be severely deluded to believe that my customer, that I know is female and approximately 40 years of age, is not internet savvy. Sure, she still prefers to purchase from the physical store once she has made her decision, but she will often in the first instance make that choice via internet so that she gets exactly what she wants and saves herself the time she simply doesn't have anymore. The advent of our Birds of a Feather stores with three to four synergistic retailers working in one supersized store create wonderful spaces that inspire and engage women and are streets ahead of where we were with the single cell browse and transact model stores. The Birds stores turn over three to four times more than the old models and are certainly the way forward for us. We will however have to keep reinventing ourselves within this new framework to ensure that these don't go the way of the traditional models. Change is here and change is now. There are very few companies that can escape what is happening in regards to the digital space. There are no truer words than ���if you are not digital, you will not be relevant���. Google IS the new business card! Believe it. So get digital��� and now. Retail going forward will be and has already become about great spaces to engage and inspire customers; making sales will be secondary. If your business is about fashion then it is time to reassess your "There���s a lot you can do with a fresh set of eyes and a small bit of planning. Fall in love with your business again. Too many have obviously lost the love, which is not great for us as a consumer." environment. There are so many retail stores out there, including some of mine, that haven't revamped their retail presence for years. Get moving. There���s a lot you can do with a fresh set of eyes and a small bit of planning. Fall in love with your business again. Too many have obviously lost the love, which is not great for us as a consumer. Whether we are in recessive times or not, there���s so much that needs to be done to embrace the changing environment around us. Don't wait for change to force you to react. Drive that change and become a leader in your field. Every day I wake up and think about how I can make my boat go faster. There are always elements of our business model that will yield stronger results when done differently. Members of your team will have great ideas, listen to them, work collaboratively in 2013, talk to experts, find mentors, think creatively and differently, embrace change, take risks and try things. In the words of Sir Winston Churchill, ���Success is to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.��� So with 2012 nearly over, and no one feels this as much as me as the year ends with me celebrating (I think) another birthday, I am so ready for whatever 2013 will bring. With a little forward planning, I hope to truly maximize some of my learnings from the year just gone. Enjoy the mag. It will provide some great reading over the holiday break. Merry Christmas. I love getting feedback from our readers, and Letters to the Editor is a great way for me to get your comments and your input to Her Magazine. Email me at: hermag@strettonpublishing.co.nz 6 | www.h e rmagaz i n e . c o. n z