Faire Game: How Indies Can Level the Playing Field

[00:00:07] You're listening to retail disrupted, a podcast that explores the latest industry developments

[00:00:13] and the trends that will shape how we shop in the future.

[00:00:17] I'm your host, Natalie Berg

[00:00:46] There are new ways that you can get in touch with me.

[00:00:49] So you can email me on Natalie at retaildisrupted.com, but you can also leave me a voice note,

[00:00:56] which I think is very cool and I'm excited to test out this feature.

[00:01:00] But yes, you can record audio head over to retaildisrupted.com, you can record an

[00:01:04] audio message that will get pinged to me and the team.

[00:01:07] I'd love to hear what's working, what I can improve, what guests you want to hear from,

[00:01:13] what topics you want to hear about.

[00:01:15] And also if you have any feedback on the website, I'm all ears.

[00:01:19] So please do either send me an email or test out this voice note feature and let me know what you think.

[00:01:31] Okay, on today's show we are talking about independent retail and how an online wholesale

[00:01:36] marketplace is breaking down barriers disrupting the status quo and making it easier for

[00:01:43] to connect with brands and makers around the globe.

[00:01:46] Charlotte Broadbent is the UK General Manager of Fair.

[00:01:50] She joined the US founded business in 2022, which was an exciting time because the company

[00:01:55] was starting to pivot to focus on international expansion.

[00:01:59] During her time at Fair she has led major category expansion, go to market strategy and partnership projects.

[00:02:06] Prior to this, Charlotte served as the CEO of an International Financial

[00:02:11] rebrand and retailer to Mara Kamali.

[00:02:14] Before that, she worked in private equity where she assessed and delivered new investments

[00:02:19] focused on the retail and consumer sectors.

[00:02:22] It was during this time that Charlotte came to the realization that she wanted to roll up her

[00:02:26] sleeves to become more involved in the operational side of the business.

[00:02:30] And that eventually led her to her role at Fair today.

[00:02:34] Let's welcome Charlotte to the podcast.

[00:02:42] Charlotte, welcome to retail disrupted.

[00:02:44] It's great to have you here on the show.

[00:02:46] Thank you for having me, Natalie. Really looking forward to the conversation.

[00:02:50] Yeah, me as well because we're going to talk all about Fair and we're going to get your views

[00:02:54] on independent retail so we have a lot to talk about.

[00:02:57] But first, can you tell us a little bit about yourself in your background?

[00:03:01] Yeah, absolutely. So I lead fairs operations in the UK and we'll talk a bit in the moments

[00:03:09] who Fair is. I've been with the company for four, three years but for me,

[00:03:14] joining Fair was actually a pivot from a first part of my career in finance and specifically

[00:03:21] in private equity where I was investing in retail and consumer businesses which is really where I cut

[00:03:27] my teeth and sight to understand but come to love retail businesses.

[00:03:35] I've moved in 2020 from being on the investor side to the operating side and became

[00:03:42] COO of one of my portfolio companies which was actually a jewelry brand in retail,

[00:03:47] based in Germany but with shops and wholesale relationships globally.

[00:03:54] And it was that experience and it helped me pivot into Fair at a really exciting time in 2022 now

[00:04:03] when the US founded businesses business was starting to pivot and focus on European expansion.

[00:04:12] So let's talk a little bit more about Fair because if Fair is a relatively new

[00:04:17] entrant to the UK market and a lot of listeners will probably be familiar with Etsy but maybe

[00:04:23] don't know that much about Fair so can you tell us a little bit more about the business?

[00:04:27] How it all works? What you've done to disrupt the industry and how you're helping small businesses?

[00:04:33] Yeah sure so Fair is probably the biggest retailer that your listeners have maybe never heard of

[00:04:42] and the reason for that is that we are a B2B retailer. We sell products to retailers who then

[00:04:50] sell themselves onto the end consumer. We were the first and we're now the largest global

[00:04:57] B2B marketplace and we connect brands who want to sell wholesale to specifically independent retailers.

[00:05:08] We were born out of the insight they're actually if you add up all of the independent retailers

[00:05:14] in the world and it's just an enormous market. It's more than the combined value of the war

[00:05:21] and the Amazon's many times over and the independent retailers I think were really the original

[00:05:29] influences in many ways and continue to push innovation as far as the high streets and retail market

[00:05:38] goes. But they were underserved in terms of access to technology, access to financing and some of

[00:05:46] tools that we know all of the big players have in bucket loads and what we're doing as fair

[00:05:54] is helping level the playing field by bringing the collective power of all of those independence

[00:06:01] to bear. To give you a sense of scale and why I think we're listening to should be hearing about

[00:06:09] us is that having just been in the UK for three years now we already have over 50,000

[00:06:16] independent retailers shopping with us in the UK alone and many hundreds of thousands globally.

[00:06:23] So it's really a silent revolution that's been happening in the world of wholesale.

[00:06:31] I guess this is a sector that had up until recently been operating mostly offline.

[00:06:37] So how have you really disrupted the sector? What are independent retailers getting today?

[00:06:43] I mean, I know you've just alluded to access to technology and democratizing that which is huge.

[00:06:48] How was it working before? Yeah, you're absolutely right there. It's in industry that

[00:06:54] until recently has largely operated offline and in truth it still does today because we're

[00:06:59] still quite new and believe that we've just reached the kind of tip of the iceberg in terms

[00:07:05] of the opportunity but this is an industry with a lot of middlemen between the retailer

[00:07:12] and the manufacturer of brand or producer of products at retailer are selling to consumers.

[00:07:20] And those range from distributors, sales agents, trade shows, all of whom were taking their

[00:07:28] cut and creating in a efficiency in the market and what we do is directly connect the independent

[00:07:36] retailer with the brand to supplying those products in an online way so that they have a direct

[00:07:44] relationship and bringing that online. A lot of wholesale buying was traditionally done twice a year

[00:07:51] at buying moments around trade shows so typically in January just after Christmas whenever

[00:07:59] they had sold out and about now actually in September when retailers were thinking about buying

[00:08:05] Christmas and what that meant was retailers were having to make big bets and cash outlaze on what

[00:08:14] what was going to fly of their shelves for that season which is quite scary as a retailer actually

[00:08:20] because if something doesn't sell you've got a stock room full of it you're either having to discount it

[00:08:26] or worse, fair it away which obviously all goes to margin and business sustainability. By bringing

[00:08:32] that online and what we specifically do at fair to help independent retailers is wholesale buying

[00:08:39] can happen 365 days of the year in fact some of our retailers that I speak to love to share with

[00:08:47] me that they are stopping for their store on fair in the bath on their iPad or in bed at night

[00:08:54] with a cup of tea so it's happening all the time and we also because we're aggregating

[00:09:03] orders from many independent allow them to buy a much smaller quantities and value

[00:09:09] you see top up little an orphan which we know reduces risk in that system of buying so

[00:09:16] they can be more agile, respond and react to what's selling and what's not and that they're

[00:09:24] not going to have that stock room full of things getting dusty that the end of the week.

[00:09:32] That's so interesting because that very much feels like the direction to travel within retail

[00:09:36] looking outside of independent retail and just looking at kind of the she-ins and the tea moves

[00:09:41] of the world and being able to ramp up production if you know that something selling

[00:09:46] and you're reducing waste and you're giving customers what they want so so yeah that's it's

[00:09:51] just so fascinating that we're seeing this trend permeate throughout the wider sector.

[00:09:56] And independence actually are much better placed to be more agile in that sense than the

[00:10:02] big players because you know it's typically the owner who is also the buyer they don't have

[00:10:09] long long lead times like the you know the John Lewis's of this world we have 12 18 month buying

[00:10:17] cycles and they can react to trends consumer demand and be more agile in this market.

[00:10:25] Yeah and I'm glad you mentioned agility because I wanted to touch on the fact there was no

[00:10:31] secret you know independent retailers retailers generally have had a really tough few years with

[00:10:36] Brexit the pandemic cost a living crisis. And these were three very different but also very

[00:10:43] interwoven forms of disruption that required retailers to change very quickly to pivot

[00:10:48] to almost overnight digitally transform their businesses and and I think one thing that was

[00:10:54] interesting from an independent retail perspective was just seeing how quickly independent

[00:10:58] retailers could get online because they had to it was it was out of necessity and I think we've

[00:11:02] also seen the resilience of independent retailers certainly shine through but there are still a lot

[00:11:08] hurdles some of these are perennial hurdles things like business rates and I'd love to I know

[00:11:14] there's a lot to unpack here but I just love to get your take on the current state of play so what do you

[00:11:19] see as the biggest challenges facing independent retailers today? Look there's no denying as you said

[00:11:25] that it's been a tough period of what was felt like omnichrisis and independent retailers

[00:11:34] have shown incredible resilience and ingenuity and it's one of the best part of my job

[00:11:40] it is going to spend time with them and hear about how they're overcoming those challenges

[00:11:47] and I'm not really not a fan of being kind of super gloomy and saying oh it's going to get

[00:11:54] worse before it gets better and I really like to focus on the optimism that we see in the sector

[00:12:03] I think a challenge actually remains embracing digital transformation I think there's a lot

[00:12:10] that's been done in terms of independent retailers embracing all-many channel strategies with

[00:12:17] no from our customers that pre-pandemic only a third of them had an online presence today that's 90%

[00:12:25] to possess this initiative and those retailers are combining in-store experiences with their online

[00:12:32] sales to reach a wider audience and getting really innovative with how they use social media to

[00:12:40] engage their local audiences. I mentioned that we see independent retailers as the original

[00:12:46] influences and that's really true because they have that close connection with their customers

[00:12:54] being local as they are and actually particularly with the ship to at home working a lot of our

[00:13:00] retailers are seeing football midweek that they didn't see in the past which has kind of changed

[00:13:07] buying patterns and the amount of newness that they need to bring into store which I find super

[00:13:13] interesting so keeping up with that pace of change is definitely one of the challenges.

[00:13:20] I also think competing on value is a challenge for independent retail they're not only

[00:13:27] do they need to be delivering on experience and product selection but they do need to compete on value

[00:13:35] and that's something that we really try to help with that fair because we're giving retailers

[00:13:43] access to a much wider selection. We have over 100,000 brands that are selling on our platform so

[00:13:51] retailers can really compare and contrast and brands sell at their best prices on fair as well so

[00:13:58] helping retailers compete but in the fight for consumers' pockets they need to show value as well

[00:14:10] and you mentioned rates and I think it's top of mind but when I check with retailers rates is one

[00:14:17] of kind of 50 issues that they face and will be watching keenly for the budget next month

[00:14:27] and what's going to be put in place for retailers in particular independent.

[00:14:34] Yeah and you just touched on the breadth of range that you offer being a marketplace

[00:14:39] and I wonder if there's any insights that you could share around specific categories.

[00:14:44] I had a look on your website earlier and I noticed that you sell everything from far-be-cuse

[00:14:48] to engagement rings. So it is a range. Yeah I guess anything you could share around

[00:14:57] around categories and maybe where you're seeing growth and if there's anything that has

[00:15:02] surprised you over the years. Yeah I loved you had a good look around the website

[00:15:08] and I encourage you all listeners too as well. We are the one stock shop for wholesale in many

[00:15:15] senses and we now have millions of products available globally and that can seem a little overwhelming

[00:15:23] to retailers on first glance but what we've invested in a lot particularly in improving the experience

[00:15:32] in recent years is on helping retailers filter down to the things that are most relevant for them.

[00:15:40] I think we sell more candles than anyone else in the UK to stores but we also have

[00:15:48] hugely growing categories in food and drink and clothing. But in terms of trends I think what's

[00:15:56] interesting because we're at the wholesale end of the businesses we have and making millions of

[00:16:02] connections and sales between brands and retailers is we have some foresight on what's coming

[00:16:08] the market and what retailers are looking for. So last year for instance we saw a huge spike

[00:16:16] in demand for barbie related products or just pink in general which was wonderful to see

[00:16:23] and we could see that well in advance of the movie being released in the summer but actually

[00:16:31] taking us back one of the biggest trends that we see in our data is the trend towards

[00:16:38] values based shopping. Part of retailers kind of delivering on the promise and building trust with

[00:16:47] their consumer is connecting with them on a values base and we help retailers filter down our

[00:16:55] millions of products by the values that are most important to them something I love just that not

[00:17:02] on Amazon is actually our most popular and used filter and I think what is that really saying

[00:17:08] well it goes to the core of why independent and so important is because they need to be truly

[00:17:17] independent if they have products in a selection that looks like everywhere else then they're not

[00:17:24] kind of living up to their reason to exist and why they deserve to be there or on our high streets.

[00:17:30] So making sure that they've got a kind of completely differentiated product selection which is

[00:17:37] something we really help with I think is crucial and super important to them.

[00:17:45] It's so interesting that he said that because I interviewed the opaphetus last year for the podcast

[00:17:50] and his main point I'm sure he said it at least three times through our conversation was that

[00:17:55] retailers have to have a reason to exist and I think for independent retail that's even more relevant

[00:18:01] right it's even more important and I'm glad you brought up value based values based shopping because

[00:18:08] I did want to mention it and in my and my night's book about Amazon our advice for other retailers

[00:18:16] was to focus on what we refer to as WACD so what Amazon can't do and at the time this was things like

[00:18:24] human touch community curation discovery inspiration all those things that an amazing website

[00:18:31] as you know it's amazing as it is it's still very transactional and there's an opportunity

[00:18:36] there for retailers to come in and serve that need and I just I found it so interesting that

[00:18:41] you were explicitly promoting exclusive finds that aren't on Amazon and other things like

[00:18:46] he said women owned black owned LGBTQ owned I mean all this is so important so important for

[00:18:52] retailers to ensure that their values are fully aligned with the stuff on their shelves and

[00:18:58] also to take a stance on issues and to not you know to to be transparent about that and

[00:19:04] for independent retail I totally agree with you I think it's so important because shop you know

[00:19:10] shoppers will be able to see through it they they need to know that you know you're you're actually

[00:19:14] living and breathing the brand and the messaging that you're communicating totally I love what Amazon

[00:19:21] can't do I'm going to take that acronym away with me and it's something that when I chat with

[00:19:28] our retailers that they have to live in breathe all day I think this is clearly a huge

[00:19:36] and permanent place for Amazon and in all of our lives for the commoditized product and the

[00:19:43] commoditized experience and that convenience when when you need it but I think where other

[00:19:49] retailers and independent particularly have a unique advantage is as you say it offering something

[00:19:56] really distinct and personal and they need to lean into that as much as they can and because

[00:20:02] you can see it was actually expect that from going beyond and have not just the product and

[00:20:08] the selection which which fair helps with but also providing level of recommendation personalization

[00:20:16] connection and authenticity amidst a kind of mass market that can seem quite bland I think is

[00:20:25] a real place where the independence can stand out and and that's kind of part of the community

[00:20:31] on their high streets often you know there's so many of our retailers that are passing over

[00:20:38] part of their space to host events in invite people in and it's not just a football driver

[00:20:46] but it's a way of kind of really becoming embedded in their communities.

[00:20:53] Now earlier on in the conversation we talked about the democratization of tech so I wonder if

[00:20:59] you can elaborate on this in a little bit more detail and talk about some of the trends that

[00:21:04] are excited about and maybe some of the successes that you're seeing within the independent retail community.

[00:21:11] One of those successes that kind of connects with this digital transformation piece we've talked

[00:21:17] about is the way that small businesses are now getting access to more tools that previously

[00:21:24] were only available for or the big players AI in particular I think has been a success that this

[00:21:31] year where we've seen lots of the tools that small businesses were already using being sprinkled

[00:21:38] with the magic of AI and becoming available for them. There is just part of an ecosystem

[00:21:45] of SMD focus tech that is leveraging the power of AI to help small businesses and thinking

[00:21:53] of canver magic which lots of our retailers use to hone their marketing using GPT for

[00:22:03] getting emails out and making a sales plan has been really interesting and exciting to see the

[00:22:10] way that they've embraced these tools and changes hard in a small business particularly when

[00:22:18] since COVID I've seen many of our independent retailers sadly have to let go of staff they're perhaps

[00:22:24] working in the shop floor again when perhaps they hadn't in the past and all of these tools

[00:22:32] helping them save time which they can then put back into the customer experience which I think is

[00:22:38] really exciting. Another one that I've seen is there's been a lot of talk about they can see

[00:22:44] on the high street but we're actually seeing a lot of new retailers coming into the market and

[00:22:53] embracing fair we have a program called Open with Fair which specifically helps new retailers

[00:23:00] so we have an advantage point home that's on who's entering the market and opening stores

[00:23:06] and I think there's been a lot of press around store closures and gap toothed high streets in

[00:23:12] the UK but actually I'm really seeing some green shoots from our vantage point of the hundreds

[00:23:17] of brand new retailers who have been inspired to open a shop perhaps as part of a career change or

[00:23:24] perhaps as their their first careers which is is really exciting. That's really exciting and

[00:23:31] as you say probably doesn't get the press that it deserves it's usually the doom and gloom that

[00:23:36] dominates the headlines but it's nice that we can talk about things like this I just wanted to go

[00:23:40] back to something that you were mentioning about AI I mean that was so interesting what you were

[00:23:44] saying about how small businesses are probably a little bit also probably a little bit more

[00:23:49] willing to embrace that technology because I know a lot of big businesses are still they see the

[00:23:55] potential but they don't want to dive right in and it's you know all of these things can just take

[00:24:00] longer in a large organization. Yeah for sure and we'd see at every level so as fair we have this

[00:24:09] incredible depth of data when you think about the over 700,000 retailers that are buying from us

[00:24:17] from brands on our platform and we're using machine learning tools to make better and better

[00:24:24] recommendations to retailers about what do we think is going to work for your shop and their

[00:24:31] customers which is super interesting and is only going to get more powerful and it helps them

[00:24:39] then with finding that kind of unique product selection and as you say going back that all goes

[00:24:46] that thing into the customer experience but they're absolutely it's not AI is not the reserve

[00:24:53] for global businesses and board rooms actually there's this really exciting ecosystem of

[00:25:00] tools that are specifically designed for us Emmys and to help them in extraordinary ways.

[00:25:08] Yeah and again a phrase he said earlier which I totally agree with is leveling the playing field

[00:25:13] which is great news for customers and for small businesses. Now it's surely I wanted to ask you

[00:25:18] question this is me just being curious here but we are now in the golden quarter and I would guess

[00:25:23] that a lot of buying has already happened for you know the big retailers but you said earlier

[00:25:28] on the conversation that one of the advantages of independent retailers using fair is that they're

[00:25:34] able to purchase things closer to the event and that they're not tied in you know six months

[00:25:39] 12 months ahead of time so I wonder if looking ahead to Christmas and black Friday and all the events

[00:25:45] to come over the next couple of months is there anything that you can share with us today

[00:25:50] on the podcast? Yeah definitely you're right through the start almost the start of the golden

[00:25:58] September was traditionally trade show season and in fact I've spent a good part of the last

[00:26:05] couple of weeks at shows meeting customers in real life which is great. I think how buying has changed

[00:26:12] just rather than retail as buying for the season at those shows they are perhaps doing research on

[00:26:20] fair or in combination with visiting shows and making those in person connections and then buying

[00:26:27] much more little and often towards the season. I think there's a lot of anxiety probably more

[00:26:33] certainly the US than there is here still on what that black Friday week is going to look like

[00:26:41] something that we've thrown our support behind is actually more of an anti black Friday movement

[00:26:49] I think these super deep discounting that the major retailers do around that time just before Christmas

[00:26:59] is something that it's just not sustainable or realistic for most independent retailers and

[00:27:05] actually finding a way to rally against that and just provide value year round and throughout the season.

[00:27:13] I think it's something I've seen on retailers really champion. Yeah and I think it really

[00:27:22] goes back to our previous point about values based shopping and the need for independent retailers

[00:27:28] to stick to their guns it's a scary thing to do when the rest of the high street is offering very

[00:27:34] deep discounts or at least the illusion of very deep discounts but I think this is realistically

[00:27:41] what shoppers expect from their local independent retailers and I think not succumbing to those

[00:27:50] deals and not joining the race to the bottom will ultimately be a good thing for those retailers.

[00:27:56] Yeah I think Christmas this year is going to be really interesting we've got

[00:28:02] a new government will have had the budget by then there are some signs that inflation has been

[00:28:08] easing and some positive data that could flow through and to how consumers are feeling about

[00:28:16] their pockets this Christmas and I'm optimistic about it versus the last but there's no denying

[00:28:25] that will be on the edge of our seats through through this quarter.

[00:28:29] Charlotte it's been really great to have you here not just to learn about all the wonderful things

[00:28:33] that you're doing at fair but also to get your views as a female leader in this space.

[00:28:39] Now my podcast has been going for about 18 months and I'm really conscious that the majority of my

[00:28:44] guests have been white men. Nothing wrong with white men I think most of my listeners fall into

[00:28:49] that demographic but I am very much on a mission to have more diversity more representation on the

[00:28:54] show I think it's so important and so with that in mind I'd love to switch gears now and spend

[00:29:00] the last few minutes getting your views on this topic. So my very first question to you Charlotte

[00:29:06] is what do you see as the big barriers to getting women in tech? Well I'll heartily support you

[00:29:14] in your mission on this and thank you for asking the question because it's something that's

[00:29:19] top of mind for me. I think as a I'm a new entrance to tech I talked earlier that I spent my first

[00:29:29] 10 years of my career in finance and then pivoted into retail and I think there's a lot of

[00:29:37] myth busting to do about what other prerequisites to have a career in tech that I think would

[00:29:44] I'd help them think would help more women feel comfortable joining. Actually about

[00:29:49] 2,000s of the jobs that we we haven't fair. For people without tech backgrounds you know computer science

[00:29:58] is not a prerequisite for women entering this world. I did a job of feed degree and have absolutely

[00:30:06] no tech experience and will probably never write a line of code but I think myth busting around

[00:30:15] you know what it takes and what is required to join this world I think is one key barrier

[00:30:21] but encouraging and educating women to not be scared or and not shy away from learning the basics

[00:30:32] so that you know when it comes to thinking thinking about and contemplating a career in tech

[00:30:38] it's not an intimidating move. It's funny I had Sarah Welch who's the CEO of retail for

[00:30:45] end brown she came on the podcast earlier this year and we talked about women in retail and she

[00:30:50] spoke so openly it was a fantastic conversation and something I asked her that I'd love to ask you

[00:30:55] as well is I mean how do you improve gender diversity so what what can I guess what can

[00:31:02] businesses do but also what can the next generation of female leaders do? Representation or talk

[00:31:10] is one of the key ones for me but also helping those women extends the hand through the organization

[00:31:19] from whether it's creating internship programs or mid-level career moves I think keeping

[00:31:25] women in the workforce is a challenge that we see in particular and helping women at the top

[00:31:37] be both be role models but have a clear voice in creating career paths for women throughout

[00:31:45] the organizations I think is super important for me it's been mentorship and keeping

[00:31:55] close connections and coaching type relationships with women inside and outside of the

[00:32:02] organizations that have worked for that have helped me get to this phase but keeping the dialogue

[00:32:08] open across the career phase I think is super important fantastic Charlotte it's been

[00:32:14] such privilege to have you on the show thanks so much for coming on thank you thank you for listening

[00:32:24] to retail disrupted if you enjoyed this episode and would like to support the podcast

[00:32:28] please leave a rating review or share it with others it really makes a difference