Ivanhoe Lollypotz franchise case study

Susy Vulich is the owner of the Ivanhoe Lollypotz giftware franchise store in Melbourne, a beautiful store in a great location. She bought the retail franchise and began operating in October 2009, opening her store in Greensborough in February 2010.

Susy was probably the best prepared franchise owner across all Lollypotz Franchises for Christmas, and for this reason was able to take many of the orders that her neighbouring territories were unable to service. Susy began preparing for Christmas from day 1 and she was very happy with her results at Christmas and was glad she was so prepared. With her giftware franchise shop now open, she is expecting that she will at least triple her turnover this year during the Christmas period.

Susy plans to start preparing bouquets in September in preparation for Christmas, and will begin wrapping in October. She plans to start ordering her non-perishable stock in the new financial year.

Susy has had a very busy year so far with the main focus being the opening of her store, then Valentine’s Day, Easter and now Mother’s Day and she has been very happy with her progress so far, with sales increasing every week. During this time she has also set herself a target of 1 corporate customer per month, which to date she has achieved. However, she is aware that if it had not been for the opening of the store, she could have focused more energy on the corporate side and hopes to do more corporate marketing following Mother’s Day. She has found so far that she has had much more success on the corporate side with networking groups rather than sending letters. She has joined her local Chamber of Commerce and various other local groups and is finding this a great way to get in front of a number of businesses at once.

Susy feels that the power of donating bouquets to get business should not be underestimated. For example, when she attends a networking breakfast she will donate a number of bouquets to the other members in attendance. She said that last month alone she donated $900 (retail value) worth of products and is confident she will get that back in business - one of her mottos in business being “you have to spend money to make money”. She also made the comment that she will always take a bouquet – usually a Sparkles – when making a corporate visit. She believes that the extra cost over a mini pot or bouquet is worth it for the extra impact.

Susy also said that her retail franchise shop has been beneficial in obtaining corporate clients; people have somewhere to come and see the products.

Susy has not taken advantage of casual leasing so far, with only a couple of days in a local hospital, but definitely plans to do more in the future. She will be taking a casual lease in an A grade centre this Mother’s Day to maximise sales during this highly profitable time.

Susy is very happy with how the giftware business is going so far and says that she has not used any of her own money to run the business, she is covering her costs and not back pedalling – which she believes is excellent for someone who has never run a business before, and who has been running for just over 6 months. She did not expect to be making money this early on.

When asked what her secret was, she replied “Me!” She says that she is very passionate about the product and truly believes that it sells itself but believes that her attitude and passion have made her a success. She believes very strongly in customer service; her approach is to always greet the customer when they walk into the shop, take a minute to ask what they are buying and give them an explanation of the product.

Susy always makes an effort to up sell on the products. She says that 9 out of 10 times the customer will spend $5-10 more on each sale than they expected to when they first walked in simply because they love the products and know that the person they are giving to will also love the product. Susy says that simple things like this really drive her profit and give her more cash in the till at the end of the day.

The location of her shop front is another reason for Susy’s success, existing within an arcade and directly across from Greensborough’s major shopping at Greensborough Plaza. No data has been collected, but Susy believes that approx 500 people walk past her shop daily. “This passing trade is essential for Lollypotz exposure and more money in my till.”

Her other tip is to know when to leave the customer alone, “no one like to be followed around the shop”. She always plays music in her shop so that it is a relaxing and enjoyable environment for her customers to be in.

She advises all other franchise owners to “know your product”, she believes this is so important especially when in a shopfront when customers will rely on you for advice when purchasing a bouquet.

Susy had family members helping her out with wrapping at Christmas and said this was crucial to her preparation; she will definitely be turning to them for help, as well as finding some extra helpers this Christmas.

Susy also believes that exposure = sales. It is exposure that has got her to where she is today. Her sales have increased immensely since she opened her giftware franchise store. She believes that shops sales are about 85% of her sales and this highlights the importance of people being able to see the product rather than ordering on-line.

She also said that a full page ad that was placed in her local glossy magazine was incredible in driving people to her shop – “it just went crazy”. Even 6-7 weeks after the ad went to press people were still coming in referring to the ad.

Word of mouth sales have also been incredible for Susy – she says that she is continually hearing “my friend received one of your bouquets, so I came in to purchase an arrangement.”

Susy believes her reasons for success are her passion, always being open and honest with her customers and always having her shop well stocked.