Tips for starting a business can make all the difference for the new entrepreneurs. We’ve teamed up with a shopkeeper from Down Your High Street to give you those great tips for success.
Down Your High Street is an online platform that supports local high street shops. You have to be a brick and mortar (real life and not only online) shop to join. They help independent retailers sell products to customers via their online platform.
If you already have an independent high street shop or are starting one up, then sign up for Down Your High Street. Those who sign up typically make up to £500 in their first month of joining and some have made sales as high as £450,000 over a 12-month period. If you sign up now you could also win an amazing prize for your shop.
We’ve teamed up with Down Your High Street to offer this great prize to the nation’s independent retailers. Simply sign up here before November 14, 2021, when 10 lucky winners will be selected at random to each win:
- A year’s free subscription and commission-free sales for Down Your High Street. This means that retailers can make those fantastic sales at no cost for a whole 12 months.
- A fantastic local media Christmas campaign worth £5,000, provided by the company that publishes The Mirror.
You can also sign up to the platform using a 14-day free trial, so you can make sure you like it first. To qualify, you simply need to fulfil Down Your High Street’s criteria for an independent retailer. See end for terms and conditions.
One of the shops that has already signed up with Down Your High Street is Jezabel Boutique, a clothing shop in Boston Spa, Lincolnshire. It was launched in the early days of the covid pandemic, and has been successfully selling on the platform since.
The founder, Isabelle, has given us a few top tips for starting your own independent high street business so that you can make it a success:
Set goals for the short, mid, and long term.
Sell high-quality products that you believe in. You should love what you sell because integrity is everything.
Know who your audience is.
- Stay ahead of trends. At Jezabel, we strive to find pieces that not everyone will be selling.
- Consistently post engaging messages on social media to promote your brand and products.
- Be aware of issues that may impact your business. Keep on top of current affairs, and the weather forecast, for example.
- Have a great tribe of staff who share your vision for the business and put customers first.
- Sign up for Down Your High Street. Selling on the platform has meant that Jezabel has had products on ITV's Lorraine twice. We couldn’t do it without them.
Competition applicants must fulfil the independent retailer criteria outlined by Down Your High Street. To qualify, you must sign-up to Down Your High Street by 14th November 2021 (note, this is an extension to the original deadline of 31st October 2021, existing qualifying entrants remain eligible) and pay for a year’s subscription, which will be refunded to winning subscribers within 21 days of the competition closing. Your account will qualify for zero commission for the 12 months after joining, with any paid post 31st October 2021 refunded within 21 days of the competition closing. Each of the 10 winners will receive a multi-channel local media campaign to promote their business pre-Christmas 2021, to the value of £5,000 (at published rate card rate). The details of the campaign will be confirmed to the winners by 30th November 2021. The media campaign prize excludes design and ad production.
