Tuesday 19 February 2013

PopUp Shops and More

Hello all!  I am back from my two week stint in PopUp Britain's Victoria shop and ready and raring to get going on new items to further my world domination.

PopUp Britain was an exhausting experience!  I don't know a) how commuters stay awake in the daytime and b) how shop keepers keep happy and smiley to their customers on a daily basis.  I salute you!


As well as it being an exhausting few weeks physically, it was tough emotionally too.  Customers seemed to elude us at times and it was quite disheartening.  Perhaps it was the shops location, being off the beaten track a little, or just a sign of this time of year.






I did however get to meet some lovely ladies who were very enthusiastic about bringing the 1950's sex pot look back to lounging at home.  Right on sisters!!





I look forward to hearing the feedback from my new found customers on their purchases, they certainly seemed excited by the prospect of lounging comfortably but glamorously!  And that is what Betty Blue's Loungerie is aaaaaaaaall about.





It was also great fun to watch men surreptitiously take a few postcards, and the droves of panicking men at the last minute for Valentine's Day ;), we don't mind at least they left with great gifts for the ladies in their lives!

All in all the PopUp Britain shop helped me to focus my attention on how to achieve world domination in the future.  I don't think direct selling in a shop location is necessarily the way forward for me.  It is still A LOT cheaper to run an internet shop than a bricks and mortar shop.  And I am far more successful as an internet businesses, so don't fix what ain't broke.  I will however be seeking new stockists throughout the UK so women can try on my garments before buying and see them in the flesh.  So give me a yell if you have a local lingerie shop you'd like to see my garments in (other countries are welcome to suggest too, I am an international company after all ;) teehee).

In other news I am near to making the packaging of my lovely loungerie even more awesome!


I should be getting delivery of 2000 of the above design boxes!  Not sure where I'm going to store them but never mind!  Hopefully by the end of this week, all orders will be beautifully wrapped in tissue and placed in a giftbox.  They are of course free with every order.  The only exception will be with the scarves who already have their own little box and if I ever do a sale, sale items won't be boxed.  I will post pictures when I get them!



The last piece of news is that I have got through the first round of the Local Business Accelerator Competition.  I, and two other companies, will now have 3 months business mentoring from two local businesses, RS Tenon and Lamb Brooks Solicitors.  An invaluable prize as everyone knows it's not what you know, it's who you know.  I am now busy arranging meetings to get as much help as I can squeezed into 3 months.  They also said for me to call/email them any time, something I am sure they will regret saying.  I need all the help I can get!!  Here is me in my favourite publication, The Basingstoke Gazette.

Photo by Richard Garfield (please do not use without permission)
They loved seeing my knickers ;).  I love the Basingstoke Gazette because they keep putting me in their newspaper, so I like to think I am now famous in the Basingstoke area haha.  After the 3 months of mentoring are up, the team then pick one winner to go on to the national competition.  At the nationals, the prize is AMAZING!!  £10, 000 and mentoring for a year from Deborah Meaden.  Obviously I would like to win this!  And we all know from the Start Up Hub competition last October, I am actually quite a competitive person.

Oh and I almost forgot!  The winner of my Valentine's competition over at the Diary of a Vintage Girl blog was announced a while ago.  This was the winning entry


On the surface not too bad, but look a little closer.  Is the jumper meant to be all stonewashed and faded?  Or has it been washed over and over and gone a funny colour?  And then we get to the back photo


The baggy trousers and holes all over the back of the jumper made me feel sorry for the wearer, Rebecca.  And if you look closely her cat is more snappily dressed.  Fur coat, check!  Rhinestone collar, check!  Anyone who's cat is better dressed deserves some loungerie from me ;).  To be honest there were a whole host of people who could have won this competition (a onesie nearly won but its saving grace was it was pink and didn't have holes in it) but I'm too poor to give away Tempest sets to every entry ;).  And it just goes to show that a company like mine needs to be in existence - providing women with glam home wear!  It's OK ladies, I am here for you now!!  Rebecca chose the Black Tempest Set, and I hope she enjoys swanning around her house in it elegantly.  Congratulations for committing the worst loungewear crime ;) teehee.

Anyhoo back to sampling new lovelies.  I think that is all the news I have for now.
Lots of Love
Betty xxx


2 comments:

  1. It is really tiring running an actual phsyical shop isn't it? so nice to get to interact with people but often this is just as easy online. It is good to be able to try things on so looking forward to finding out who is going to stock your stuff :)

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    Replies
    1. It really is tiring! I shall update you on new stockists in the future......hopefully there will be many ;)

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