This week’s guests are Marshall Frieze and Simon Williams who, for only three weeks a year, run a speciality pop-up shop. Hear why they do it, the unique challenges they face, how Covid turned EVERYTHING on it’s head and what the key is to the shop’s continued year-on-year improvement. INTRODUCING SIMON WILLIAMS & MARSHALL FRIEZE Simon Williams is the owner of SW Retail Consultancy Ltd. Having been in retail for nearly 30 years in various roles, he using his retail knowledge & experience to help grow and develop SMEs and start-ups. As a consultant his aim is to miniaturise everything he has learned in large corporations and provide the SMEs with a template for success in retailing and business. Marshall Frieze is the founder and MD of The One Solution, an award-winning Leeds based supplier of cloud and mobile telecoms, connectivity & IoT to businesses throughout the UK and farther afield. Marshall has been working in telecommunications since the mid-1990s, when he was appointed Store Manager of Phones 4u at their flagship Leeds store. In 2003 he launched Pioneer Communication Solutions, becoming Vodafone Gold Partner of the Year in 2011 and then selling in 2012. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [00:00:10] What is the Passover Pop-up shop [00:03:00] Where the idea came from and how it all started [00:08:40] The challenges faced in year one [00:10:30] Analysing the first year’s performance and then into year two [00:18:30] The problems (and solutions) to Covid [00:25:40] the key learnings and the importance of data [00:31:30] Advice to someone looking to set up a pop up show [00:35:00] How to retain customers [00:39:00] Lessons for the future KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS • You need to ensure that you have no, or little, stock left at the end • Data is key to making better decisions, and the key to success • Open with the offers, rather than the offers at the end • If you get 80% of it right, you should just about be ok • It’s really beneficial to work with a business partner • Be clear on your objectives BEST MOMENTS “We needed a product, somewhere to sell it from and we needed finance” “When Covid happened we had to change the whole business model overnight” “I did around 90,000 steps in 4 or 5 days” “The lockout period is your retention strategy” VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOU Website: www.leedsbusinesspodcast.com LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/leeds-business-podcast/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/marshallfrieze http://linkedin.com/in/simon-williams-616b876 DON'T FORGET THE LEEDS BUSINESS PODCAST ‘FAIR DEAL’ My half of the agreement; Every week I bring you inspiring Leeds Business people FOR FREE. Your half of the deal has two simple steps; 1) Share this episode with just ONE person who you think will get value from it 2) Post a review of the show or give this episode a ’thumbs up’ ABOUT YOUR HOST Phil Fraser went from an accidental kitchen table start up, with no investment, all the way to multi-million pound sale to a PLC 18 years later. He’s travelled the full SME business journey of launch, growth, scale and exit. As well as hosting the Leeds Business Podcast, Phil now works with ambitious SME-owners as a Business Sounding Board (think somewhere between Business Coach and Business Mentor). In simple terms, he’s ‘a pair of ears and an extra pair eyes’ for SME Owners helping them to be better at what they do. Phil’s...