Business and Creativity

 

I’m fixated of late - obsessed at times - on the relationship between successfully navigating The Village Hat Shop through this current state of affairs and thinking creatively. Whether it be remaining open-minded and experimental in marketing our web site, or creating new ball cap designs, or introducing a community herb and vegetable garden at our headquarters location in San Diego, or pulling out our decades-old, vintage hat trimmings and marrying these wonderful old accouterments/feathers/spangles/etc. with our felt hats for the upcoming season, something tells me - some loud and clear voice from within – that the way through this "thing" is to employ innovation as the guiding principle. Retail business has always been, and will always be, more art than science.

What’s the relationship, one might ask, between a herb and vegetable garden and selling hats. It should come as no surprise to those of you who are gardeners that as I dig a hole in the small plot next to my office and prepare the soil for our four different varieties of tomatos, that some idea, totally unrelated to what I am doing, will "pop" into my head. Eureka!--Break up the Ivy and Newsboy page at the site into micro sites for easier navigation. Or, design a ball cap with . . . .  You get the point.

This imperative for creative thinking is evident; I’m only edifying the obvious. The world - certainly the world of ecommerce - is changing with stunning speed. Last year’s great idea may be this year’s "old hat." Close-mindedness or inflexible business plans are the death knell. Thinking outside the box is a requirement if one is to discover - or catch the wave of - the next big thing.

None of this is to say that the merchant fundamentals of offering the right products along with good customer service will be anything but the very foundation of a good retail business. But, how to get the salient message to the customer that we are delivering these fundamentals in the midst of this very competitive and difficult environment  is the goal that requires the utmost in creativity. 

Fred Belinsky
www.VillageHatShop.com

Comments

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