Guest Blog by Funlayo Alabi of Shea Radiance
(Anne-Marie note: When I saw Funlayo’s story at the Indie Beauty Network site, I was impressed with the business lessons she imparted and hope that her story will help many Soap Queen readers when they are planning for the upcoming 2010 Holiday Season. Thinking about renting a mall kiosk? Read this first for practical real-world experience and advice).
Like most Indie businesses, I am always looking for ways promote my brand and get our products into more hands. In a quest to achieve this goal we decided lease a booth during the holiday season at Columbia Mall. Columbia Mall is about 10 minutes from my house and I know the Mall demographics fit perfectly within our target market.
As you can imagine, mall rents are ridiculously high especially during the holiday. We estimated our revenues based on how much we did at farmers markets, festivals and other shows and thought we would make a pretty decent profit being in a mall 7 days a week, 10 hours a day.
We signed the dotted line and loaded up our kiosk with product, banners and sales material. We hired 2 wonderful young ladies to work during the hours I couldn’t be there. We were ready for business. The first day, we made $75.00, the next day $50.00 and on the third day we made no sales at all.
All I could see were dollars slowly draining out of my account for rent and wages and no commensurate revenues coming in. What did we miss in the course of our decision making process and how could we turn things around quickly.
We learned some quick lessons that I believe helped turn our failing venture around.
Lessons # 1 You have to put yourself out there and hussle
There is no way around this in the mall. You are competing with several other vendors and shoppers who do not want to be bothered. Unless you are an established brand, you cannot survive the mall without standing up and inviting people to try your products. The mall shopper has a very different shopping mindset from the shopper who purchases from Green Festivals and Farmers Market type outlets. The typical mall shopper is in the Mall for with a particular store in mind and is trying to get in and out very quickly.
There is no way around this in the mall. You are competing with several other vendors and shoppers who do not want to be bothered. Unless you are an established brand, you cannot survive the mall without standing up and inviting people to try your products. The mall shopper has a very different shopping mindset from the shopper who purchases from Green Festivals and Farmers Market type outlets. The typical mall shopper is in the Mall for with a particular store in mind and is trying to get in and out very quickly.
What we did.
Years of doing markets gave us the confidence to know that once a customer sampled our shea butter product, they would be inclined to buy it, if not immediately then later. We came up with several ways to get the busy and distracted shoppers to stop and take notice of our kiosk by doing the following:
Years of doing markets gave us the confidence to know that once a customer sampled our shea butter product, they would be inclined to buy it, if not immediately then later. We came up with several ways to get the busy and distracted shoppers to stop and take notice of our kiosk by doing the following:
- Big vivid signage that told part of our unique story
- Audio visuals showing the shea butter making process in Africa
- Free product samples
- Smile, greet and invite people into the kiosk without being pushy and overbearing.
Managing the Costs
There are costs associated with selling in a Mall kiosk that go beyond the kiosk rental.
There are costs associated with selling in a Mall kiosk that go beyond the kiosk rental.
- Payroll – you may have to use a payroll service to ensure that tax and other withholdings are done correctly
- Liability Insurance – The Mall required that we carry higher liability limits than what we had.
- Workman’s Compensation Insurance is required by my State
- Other State Licensing and Registration fees required to sell in the mall.
- Cost of Product Samples
- Equipment such as a Credit Card Machine and Cash Register
In addition to this Mall hours are long especially during the holidays. Plan for additional staffing costs to keep booth open for 12 hours when needed.
What we Gained
There were lots of wonderful benefits we gained from having a kiosk at the Mall this past holiday
There were lots of wonderful benefits we gained from having a kiosk at the Mall this past holiday
- Increased sales revenues – As we did demos and handed out samples we got a loyal following that came back to buy gifts during the holidays. The repeat business increased our confidence. Customers were now coming to the mall looking for us.
- Increased exposure – We got featured in the Specialty Retail Report – Carts Across America which has led to more interest in our company. Another magazine editor based in the Baltimore area contacted us to do a feature on our products
- Contacts from local businesses in my area wanting to network with us
Some final thoughts on the Mall.
The two months we spent at the mall were very valuable, they were also very tough. The hours are grueling, and when an associates call out sick or doesn’t show up you can end up working some real long hours. We manufacture our own products, so we stayed pretty busy between the mall and production. The cost of kiosk rental and wages really ate into our bottom line.
The two months we spent at the mall were very valuable, they were also very tough. The hours are grueling, and when an associates call out sick or doesn’t show up you can end up working some real long hours. We manufacture our own products, so we stayed pretty busy between the mall and production. The cost of kiosk rental and wages really ate into our bottom line.
It was a great experience, but I don’t recommend it for everyone. If you are thinking about it, please feel free to talk to someone who has done it in order to fully understand all the potential pitfalls.
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Hi Everyone,
I'm so glad that you are liking this post. I really found a lot of value in it as well. Amy, I had the same question! =))
We're considering doing an Otion show at the local fair for the week – a 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. shift – but definitely are doing our homework around how to staff it first! =)
Thank you for posting this. I had put some real thought into setting up a booth at our mall in Mobile. They have a special area where they let crafters set up booth like I would a at craft show or festival, not a kiosk. I wasn't able to do it this past Holiday season…but plan on doing it this year. The hours are going to kill me! I'm hoping that a few family and friends will be willing to help out. I'm one of those that wouldn't feel right if I wasn't there most of the time.
Very interesting.
Thank you for the insight! A question- Funlayo, are you going to do it again this year?
I love Shea Radiance and it is so nice to see BB and Shea Radiance working together on a blog. I am relieved to hear I didn't miss out on much this last holiday season. I saw another soaper at the mall only to find out she was hired by a bigger company that makes the soap. I felt like I was doing something very wrong and couldn't understand how she was making it on $2.50 per bar. Maybe volume? Anyway, thank you for this post. It is nice to know I didn't miss the boat.
Thank you ladies, for posting this.
I have been encouraged to rent a kiosk at my local mall, and last time I heard they were around 4,500per month. That fact ALONE scared the heck out of me enough to know I am not quite ready for that step just yet.
But knowing about the increased liability ins. workman's comp etc etc etc. has assured me of this.
I would like to know more about how you may have calculated any increases in your price tags to accomodate your cost of goods sold.
I have admired your company and I love your graphics and how you have the African harvesters in your promotional material! That alone makes you stand out amongst the myriad of other seller. You have a beautiful product, concept, and the whole Fair Trade aspects sends it over the top!
Best wishes to you and thank you again!
Great post!
Thank you for this.
Thanks for reposting this. Good insights. Very informative.
as we said in Spanish "Buenisimo" i think it was really helpful !…I learned a lot! 😀 (was better that my last maketing class LOL )
Great article and so very true. I do Mall Kiosk sales as part of my year-round business and I man the kiosk myself. There are some huge hours involved but also some very real benefits of being there. It has helped me establish my business in my area and I have a lot of repeat business. Sampling of lotions and butters are critical to success, but then so is patience. There are days I really wonder what I am doing there, then I remember that I am doing "future sales" and that people do come back.
If you are going to do the mall Kiosk thing you need to know you have to be consistant and be in that same mall at least once a month to really see the benefits. This past Christmas season was successful for me, but only the month of December and even then most of my sales occurred after the 15th. The fall was "future selling".
This is a great post as I've thought of doing this before but after reading I gained a lot of insight into this kind of market.