167 – Building a Business With Your Customer in Mind – Rowena Howie

Rowena Howie’s Revival Retro store in central London is a destination shop for fans of her flattering dresses and stylish accessories.In this episode we chat about how Rowena has pivoted her business to online whilst the shop has been closed; how the government could help independent retailers; and how she puts the customer at the heart of everything she does.She’s also got some great advice for any small business that is thinking of working with influencers.Revival Retro websiteDiscover:About Rowena's background and why she set up Revival Retro 02:09How Revival Retro started as a pop-up shop 06:38Why she also decided to launch her own UK-made brand to stock in the shop 09:27How Revival Retro has developed the business around customer demand 10:41How she has overcome the challenges of Covid on her retail business 13:36What can Government do to help support small independent retailers? 15:15Adapting a brick and mortar store to online 21:07How she has used social media to engage with her customers 23:49How she has translated the personal touch that Revival Retro has in store to the online offer 27:30Working with influencers to grow the business 31:24Advice for other brands wanting to offer an in-person sales experience 33:53 Stay in TouchBritish Brand Accelerator - Find out how you can work with me to build your British-made brandMake it British websiteJoin Make it British - become a member of our community and promote your business in our directory or UK-made brands and manufacturersMake it British on InstagramMake it British on YouTube - subscribe to my YouTube channel to watch many of the podcast episodes as videos.Mentioned in this episode:British Brand Accelerator