On this special episode I am thrilled to be sharing an excerpt from a recent episode of my popular Remarkable Retail podcast, where my podcast partner & best selling author Steve Denis and I welcome Rachel Bentley and Carly Nance, the co-founders of Dallas based The Citizenry, the fast-growing, thoughtfully designed, ethically crafted, home furnishing company. We dig into the inspiration for the brand, the "white space" they seek to address. and how social impact is at the center of what they stand for.
Welcome to the The Voice of Retail , I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, and this podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
On this special episode I am thrilled to be sharing an excerpt from a recent episode of my popular Remarkable Retail podcast, where my podcast partner & best selling author Steve Denis and I welcome Rachel Bentley and Carly Nance, the co-founders of Dallas based The Citizenry, the fast-growing, thoughtfully designed, ethically crafted, home furnishing company. We dig into the inspiration for the brand, the "white space" they seek to address. and how social impact is at the center of what they stand for.
We also delve into the challenges of ethically sourcing products from all over the word, discover how they make their unique leadership partnership work and explore the role of customer-based analytics in growing their brand. Lastly we get a peak into their strategic growth roadmap.
About
Carly & Rachel met in 2004 at university. They led multiple organizations and founded a conference that’s still impacting lives today. After careers on different coasts, they reconnected over a frustration with the mass-produced goods and soulless brands in home décor. Together they created a vision for The Citizenry: a brand that could stand for quality craftsmanship, transparency, and social responsibility.
CARLY NANCE
Carly spent her early career in brand planning & global marketing strategy, helping leading brands connect with their consumers in a more meaningful way. During those travels, she was inspired by the design and stories of the people behind the products she purchased abroad. Carly earned her Masters from Northwestern and her Bachelors in Marketing from Texas A&M. At The Citizenry, Carly leads product design, brand strategy, marketing & ecommerce experience.
RACHEL BENTLEY
After years in strategy consulting, Rachel wanted to establish a business that would make an undeniably positive impact. While at Bain, she spent time in the private equity and retail practices before finding her calling: helping companies launch and redesign consumer products. Rachel earned her MBA from Columbia, her Masters in Finance, and Bachelors in Accounting from Texas A&M. At The Citizenry, Rachel leads our artisan partnerships, production & planning, operations, and finance.
About Us
Steve Dennis is an advisor, keynote speaker and author on strategic growth and business innovation. You can learn more about Steve on his website. The expanded and revised edition of his bestselling book Remarkable Retail: How To Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption is now available at Amazon or just about anywhere else books are sold. Steve regularly shares his insights in his role as a Forbes senior contributor and on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can also check out his speaker "sizzle" reel here.
Michael LeBlanc is the Founder & President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company Inc and a Senior Advisor to Retail Council of Canada as part of his advisory and consulting practice. He brings 25+ years of brand/retail/marketing & eCommerce leadership experience, and has been on the front lines of retail industry change for his entire career. Michael is the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus Global E-Commerce Tech Talks , The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois and now in its second season, Conversations with CommerceNext! You can learn more about Michael here or on LinkedIn.
Be sure and check out Michael's latest venture for fun and influencer riches - Last Request Barbecue, his YouTube BBQ cooking channel!
Michael LeBlanc 00:04
Welcome to The Voice of Retail. I'm your host Michael LeBlanc. This podcast is brought to you in conjunction with Retail Council of Canada.
Michael LeBlanc 00:10
On this special episode, I'm thrilled to be sharing an excerpt from a recent episode of my popular Remarkable Retail podcast, where my podcast partner and best selling author, Steve Dennis, and I welcome Rachel Bentley and Carly Nance, the co-founders of Dallas based The Citizenry. The fast-growing, thoughtfully designed, ethically crafted, home furnishing company. We dig into the inspiration for the brand, the "white space" they seek to address and how social impact is at the center of what they stand for.
Michael LeBlanc 00:38
We also delve into the challenges of ethically sourcing products from all over the world, discover how they make their unique leadership partnership work, and explore the role of customer-based analytics in growing their brand. Lastly, we get a peek into their strategic growth roadmap.
Rachel Bentley 00:53
I do think there are rhythms to that right like this, the year and a half period that we are in right now post Series B is really a building period for us. And, we may not be chasing sales at the same level, because we're playing some of the infrastructure and some of the foundational building blocks within our team to be able to handle that ground.
Steve Dennis 01:16
Well, Michael and I are excited to welcome Rachel and Carly the founders of The Citizenry, to our podcast, fellow Dallasites. Maybe not originally from Dallas, but anyway, we're not too far away from each other. But welcome to the podcast. How are you guys today?
Rachel Bentley 01:32
We're great, Steve thank you so much for having us.
Carly Nance 01:35
Excited to be here.
Steve Dennis 01:36
Well, thanks. We've actually been chasing you for a little while. But you were, you were busy building your business and raising some money and things like that, which we'll get to in a minute. But, what we would like to do when we start off the podcast is just have each of you share a little bit about your, your background, your professional journey and kind of how you guys came together to found a company together. So, Carly, would you mind kicking off on that?
Carly Nance 02:00
Sure. So, my background, I am a brand strategist by trade. I got my master's in integrated marketing right out of undergrad where I met Rachel which we can talk about a little bit later. And, and then went on to have a career at ad agencies in New York helping some of the biggest brands in the world endear themselves to consumers like Oreo, Fisher Price, Jamaica Tourism Board, that was a fun one. But, I was getting to the stage in my career where I wanted to put my money where my mouth was, go build a brand that shaped consumer culture for the better and a brand that was a combination of a number of my personal passions for travel, design, doing something good in the world. And it was conversations around those passions that led Rachel and I back together.
Rachel Bentley 02:48
Hi, this is Rachel and I started my career on, on finance. I did my undergraduate and accounting, my master's in finance, and then jumped into the world of strategy consulting at Bain & Company, working with companies on a wide variety of issues, but then ultimately ended up focusing on private equity backed companies within the Bain practice, and, but it was actually spending a decent amount of time working in global supply chains in Asia.
And I think that experience really began to give me the insight into some of the biggest issues that are facing our world today around both human rights and the environment and just how significantly global supply chains were impacting those things and how closely they were tied to the global financial markets. And so those two things began to get me thinking more seriously about how I was going to personally use my skills and my time to try to make a positive impact with what I was doing professionally.
Michael LeBlanc 03:58
Tell us about The Citizenry, I'm on the website. I've actually been in the store, wandered in years ago, probably just right when you first opened, beautiful store, and I love the assortment. I was looking at the hinoki wood from Japan. I think you got a few things on my wish list. Tell me about the inspiration and, and the gap you're looking to fill in the marketplace. Not like furniture isn't a, a crowded category, and, and how are you positioning the brand to, to win and, and to stand out?
Carly Nance 04:24
Sure, Michael, that's a great question. So, years ago, Rachel and I were, had just moved from New York and we're furnishing a home you know, more than just a small studio space for the first time. And the two of us just found the home decor shopping experience, you know, to your point, a little cluttered, a little uninspiring, and there was just a lot of mass produced, dime a dozen, you saw the same types of things in the market.
And what we really saw because we both come from some consumer insight background is that consumers were really wanting more premium artisanal things. Particularly the millennial consumer, which we are. And so, we saw that demand shift categories like food with the farm to table movement and fashion with the rise of some independent designers. And, we thought it was only a matter of time before this desire for more premium artisanal, interesting things from around the world would hit the home decor market.
Carly Nance 05:22
And so when you're thinking about the home decor market, at the time, people could either find those things on Etsy, scouring around, or really high end boutiques, and we saw this massive opportunity for a brand in the middle that you know, made these really beautiful artisanal, well crafted things from around the world more accessible to all and did so in a way that was tailored to our generations style, standards and, and values.
So, creating a supply chain that did good in the world and Rachel can talk about that a little bit more, but also a brand that just made the experience more inspiring. Something like the next best thing to traveling the world and, and meeting these makers and bringing that to life online.
Michael LeBlanc 06:07
Yeah, it's a wonderful product. Rachel, let's pick up on that. So, social responsibility, clearly at the core of everything you do, when I hear things about sourcing around the world, you know, everyone now knows these words supply chain compared to a couple of years ago, where it was kind of an esoteric function. Talk about how you, you, you, it's almost like a, a round peg in a square hole some days is how you put these two words in the, in the same place a, a efficient supply chain that allows you to, you know, put the right margin, get the right product and, you know, sustainability and, is it sustainable? Like how do you, how do you do those two things at the same time?
Rachel Bentley 06:44
It's a tremendous challenge, and you are going to give up something to get something else. But I think the experience that I had, working in global supply chains, and first massive companies prior was that I really began to realize that most of the products we consume today require tremendous amounts of human labor at very low cost. And that's why people have sourced internationally and brought this product to the US for years.
And I think when you begin to see those conditions and challenges that exist, across the supply chains today, begin to realize just the impact that we were having. And so, in order to create a more sustainable supply chain, I think we have to talk about what is fairly paid from a human standpoint.
Rachel Bentley 07:30
And then also you have to think about sustainability in terms of the environment. And I think companies often lean to address the environmental one, because it is I think, a little bit easier, and maybe a little bit more cost effective. But you hear very few people talk about what it means to have fair wages, have fairly paid labor, and what is even considered a sustainable wage.
Rachel Bentley 07:56
And so, it's something that has been foundational to our model from the beginning, is that we work with artisans around the world to create these beautifully crafted home goods. And we are working with really high-quality materials, and really skilled craftsmen in order to do that. And we are also doing our best to ensure that they are making well above minimum wage. Our average is between two and a half and three times minimum wage and that we're really pushing that living wage and that everything we're doing is abiding by World Fair Trade principles.
And I think the only way that is possible is for it to be a core foundational principle of your business and of your business model. And that as you continue, you remain true to that. And then you make trade offs in other parts of your business in terms of we can't pay maybe the highest market rates in terms of our team salaries here, or maybe you can't make the investment into really beautiful you know, brand awareness marketing, like things like that, you're going to make some trade offs when you give up certain margin dollars. But for us, I think that trade off in terms of how the products was, were, are made is, is really important.
Michael LeBlanc 09:21
I just want to follow that thread for a little bit. Talk about the tradecraft of finding those suppliers, because in, in, in any world, not just the COVID era, finding great suppliers, great vendors and you know, sourcing that and working with them, you know, even, even taking away all your great strategies around sustainability and fair trade is not easy. How do you, how do you guys go about finding those diamonds and not even diamonds in the rough but those artisanal products that, that makes sense for you? Because then you got to filter that down too, it's got to be the right product, the right place, delivered at the right time, at the right volume. Talk, talk about that a little bit.
Rachel Bentley 09:58
It's a great question. Everything that we do at the citizenry has been designed and developed for The Citizenry. We're not just going out and finding a product and then bringing it to market. So, I think that's an important distinction.
But then additionally, we're looking for really high potential partners that maybe don't have the experience of exporting their product, but are doing really beautiful things or really beautiful work within their home country. And we are bringing an additional skill set to them to help them around either capacity building in terms of their production, getting ready to export, managing logistics.
I think we have had to take the approach of being much more flexible, much more adaptable, and much more involved in the building process of our artists and partner groups there. I, I don't think there are many of our partners today that we've walked into, and they were ready to go. It has been a building process, just as we have been building and scaling our own business, we've been building and scaling these artisan cooperatives around the world.
Carly Nance 11:04
And I think, Rachel, that's an important distinction from, you know, for how we started is that, you know, these, Michael, to your point, these products didn't exist at the right price and the right time and the right design. And so, what we do is we go find partners, we go find people with incredible capabilities. And as Rachel said, we work with them versus finding products around the world. And I think that's why we chose the name The Citizenry in the beginning, because we're about a collective of people working together to create and bring these products to market, not just us going sourcing and putting it on a website, because that already existed.
Steve Dennis 11:44
(crossover talk) Well, it's, it's really amazing what I mean, I realize you guys are still relatively early in, in the whole process here. But I was reflecting, in preparation for this interview about when I first met you guys. I, I think it was close to seven years ago, when you were first raising money. And we were introduced by a mutual acquaintance who asked me, I guess you were interested in getting perhaps some advice. I don't know, my I don't know if my advice was very useful, but I do remember being struck by how well thought out and comprehensive and analytically based I guess, for lack of a better term, your pitch deck was and where the state of your beta website was at that point. And it was surprising not to get too in the weeds. But I've certainly seen a lot of pitch decks over the years, and many of them are pretty light on detail and pretty high on aspiration, I guess, I'll say that, but I'm just really curious, what, what was your, you know, you talked a little bit about the inspiration of the brand, but as you approached deciding what this business was going to look like, and how you were going to raise money and build it, what, what was the approach you took, because it did seem like you had a, a really unique angle on this compared to at least most of what I'd seen.
Rachel Bentley 13:03
You are very kind, I appreciate it. I, I do think what you were seeing at, at the point that we met probably a year and a half to two years into our journey from when Carly and I had begun exploring the idea of The Citizenry was a result of a lot of research and a lot of careful modeling and thinking.
But Carly and I both come from a consumer insights background where we need, need to understand who the customer is, what they're motivated by, what their purchase criteria are. And we spent almost a year after beginning to talk about The Citizenry, doing that level of primary research and identifying those sorts of things, and then building out the hypothesis of what that brand and what that company could look like.
And then we went and built a beta with our own money, before we ever went out to really raise any sort of capital. And so, we, we have approached everything about building The Citizenry from a very analytical, even conservative perspective, just as a reflection almost into who Carly and I are. Carly, anything you would add to that?
Carly Nance 14:16
No, I was just reflecting as you were talking, you know, Rachel and I have really different skill sets and bring different things to the table. But, where we overlap, and almost our love language, like how we speak to each other is data strategy.
And so, I'm a more creative person, but I'm driven by data and strategy and she's come from that background, but then has a love for beautiful things and, and creating experiences that breakthrough in the market. So, in many ways, it's the way the two of us align, because our brains think so differently about everything else.
But when it comes to consumer insights, where the market opportunity is and how we go after it, that's where we can get aligned really quickly. So, I think it just manifested in our deck that way seven years ago, early on, and it has just continued to be the guiding light and principles between the organization. (inaudible)
Steve Dennis 15:06
What, that reminds me of a question I was going to ask, I'm kind of curious. Actually, the, a business that I founded a long, long time ago, was the product of a, of a partnership where I think we had very different skill sets. But we did overlap in some important ways. How, how does, how does that work being, being partners and, and sharing responsibility? How, just for other people that may be thinking about their leadership structure, maybe working better with their business partner? How, what are some of the secrets to that over time?
Carly Nance 15:37
Sure, I was going to say, very clear camps, and very deep respect with one another in terms of decision making across those camps. But ultimately, the organization is divided, clearly on which one of us is responsible and has kind of the final say, in, in any area.
So, the way we break out the business is that you know, everything that you see not to make it too simple, but falls under my camp. So, the brand, the marketing, the site, the product design, and everything that makes the business work and run and make money, falls under Rachel's camp, from operations, finance, strategy, supply chain, legal, accounting, all those things, I have no idea how she does all of them.
But, it we have never, it, it's never been a confusion on who makes the final decision about anything because of that. And then you have to still have really deep respect and the ability to collaborate across the things because we're also spread really thin and a lot of things that, you know, our expertise is only deep in a few areas. And so, we also have to work with one another, because we always make each other's thinking a little bit better, I guess in each of our camps. Rach, would you add anything there?
Rachel Bentley 16:56
I, I think the biggest driver for us, both in terms of why the citizenry has been able to be as successful as it has been, and why we are still here today leading it is that at its core, we always wanted to work together and learn from each other. And that we always felt like if you put the two of us in a room, we would learn something from the other and that the end result of what we were creating would be better.
And I think it's remarkable to sit here and look back and think that, that has been true over an eight-year period, without any real major ups and downs in that point. But it's just been a real sense of, I think, steadiness and constancy for both each other, and then also I think the business more broadly.
Carly Nance 17:46
We've also said that our, one of our greatest goals, is to make it out on the other end, still with a deep friendship. And we maintain that even through the challenging times. And I, I think it has to be a goal and a priority to both of you. Or many of you if you're going to go into something like this to say, you know, and you want to work together for eight years that you're going to make it out on the other side, because it's not easy and it's a rocky road for sure.
Michael LeBlanc 18:14
Rachel, let me pick up on the discussion around not just building the company, but growing the company. So, talk about the work you've been doing to grow the company and, and putting the capital that you raised to work. Where you know, where do you start? How do you, how do you approach that from, you know, you got a blank sheet of paper and you have $1 in front of you, and how do you, how do you start prioritizing and building for the future with the resources at hand?
Rachel Bentley 18:37
For us, I think it's been very clear. We started The Citizenry largely focused on decor items that were very statement-making within your own home. But, on the soft good side, right? The rugs, the pillows, the blankets. And, as we are building the business, we are becoming much more of that whole home player, that you can shop any part of your home (inaudible). So, not only can you buy the rug, and the pillow from us that really defines your aesthetic and defines your style, but you can buy the best linen bedding in the world. And you can buy the softest, most durable waffle towels from Japan.
Rachel Bentley 19:17
And we're thinking more broadly as we build out this business and that is even taking us into hard goods and furniture, and we're doing the nightstands, and the sofas, and the beds and, and that world as well. So, I think it's really building the business both from a product standpoint, from a product standpoint into that whole home brand, but then also becoming more and more of an omni-channel brand, right? We have one retail store in New York. It's been incredibly successful for us, continuing to build out both our retail strategy, but then also just our channel strategy more broadly overall.
Michael LeBlanc 19:55
How do you think about the cadence of that growth? You know, in other words, we've used the word sustainable, let's use in a different context, you know, the growth that is sustainable, not too fast, not too slow at the right pace, like do you have a, a framework in mind that you think about how, how and where and how fast we can go based on what, what you think will build a, a company to last?
Rachel Bentley 20:15
I do think there are rhythms to that, right? Like this, the year and a half period that we are in right now, post Series B is really a building period for us. And we may not be chasing sales at the same level, because we're playing some of the infrastructure and some of the foundational building blocks within our team to be able to handle that growth. And so I think they're, they're really, for lack of a better word, rhythms to how a business grows in scales and, and then you hit tipping points where you need to go back and rethink your strategy or invest more deeply behind the scenes, and then points in which you're really leaning in and growing as much as you possibly can from an external perspective.
Steve Dennis 21:02
So it seems, and I, and I know, we've had discussions on and off about this over the years, because like one of my little side projects seems to be getting into, which is, you know, incredibly fascinating, customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, all those kinds of things. But, you seem to have resisted the temptation to do what a lot of the other digitally native vertical brands and I don't know, if you'd like to be thought of in that respect, but in any event, many of them have done sort of this moonshot approach to building a brand where they've raised a ton of money, thrown a lot of it at, at branding, and digital marketing, and, and so forth, and then have kind of woken up with a hangover.
Can you just talk a little bit about how you've, you've thought about the marketing side of it in particular, and how maybe that analytic based approach has caused you to take a, a different approach? I don't know, Carly or Rachel, do you want to take that one on?
Carly Nance 21:53
I think we've always been more data driven. And, and that's clear and how we've answered some of these questions. But, we've always built the business around a lifetime value play. And it was never about a single product or a single category, because we knew that, that would just be to your point, chasing an acquisition and having a hangover. But, building the business from the ground up and thinking about CAC to LTV ratios, and how much we could spend at different times based on where we are there, and just thinking about our metrics more holistically in that sense.
Michael LeBlanc 22:28
You know, this has been basically a masterclass of entrepreneurship and, and, and growth. So, it's really been a treat to listen. I have, I have a funny question for given the state of the business growth. What's next? I mean, it seems like lots is happening. You know, would I see perhaps some, at some point, be able to buy your product from here in Canada? Do you envision wholesale as part of the formula? What, how are you thinking about what comes next?
Rachel Bentley 22:51
Lots of exciting things. I think, for us, first and foremost, it's going to be about continuing to build out the products that we offer, and then second, to really be focused on building out our retail presence. So, those are the next two big things. But that's a, three to five year strategy. So, it won't happen overnight. But we're, we're getting there.
Michael LeBlanc 23:12
Yeah, fantastic.
Carly Nance 23:12
We're really on the path to being this go-to destination for modern global citizens. And we know what that means as a whole home offering and an omni-channel brand. And so, we have, you know, Rachel alluded to it. We're building out furniture in all areas of the home and making plans for additional channels and how the brand manifests there to grow into that broader vision.
Rachel Bentley 23:37
And then I think beyond that, there is so much that we're going to be rolling out in the next couple of years in terms of setting new standards for sustainability and for fair trade. And that's, I think, it's a really exciting spot for Carly and I to, to get to be focused on as well.
Carly Nance 23:54
That's a good point.
Michael LeBlanc 23:56
Well, you know, this has been wonderful. And, and when Steve introduced the brand to me, and he said you were truly remarkable, and I have to echo that after listening to both the business strategy and just the vision, the merchandising vision behind it. So, you know, on behalf of Steve, thanks so much for joining us on Remarkable Retail. It's been a real treat, to listen, to get a peek inside, how you think about building business and what you see coming out from the other side of the journey. So, thanks again, Rachel and Carly for making the time to speak with Steve and I.
Rachel Bentley 24:26
Of course, Michael, Steve, thank you very much for having us.
Carly Nance 24:28
It's been fun.
Michael LeBlanc 24:30
If you like what you heard, please follow us on Apple Spotify, or your favorite podcast platform, so you can catch up with all of our great interviews and insights and new episodes will show up each and every week. Be sure to check out our YouTube channel. And last but not least, tell your friends and colleagues in the retail industry, all about us.
Steve Dennis 24:44
And I'm Steve Dennis, author of the best selling book, 'Remarkable Retail: How to Win & Keep Customers in the Age of Disruption'. You can learn more about me, my consulting, and keynote speaking at stevenpdennis.com.
Michael LeBlanc 24:59
And I'm Michael LeBlanc. I'm producing co-hosts of the Conversations with CommerceNext! podcast, The Voice of Retail podcast, keynote speaker, and host of the all new Last Request Barbecue cooking show on YouTube. Where you can learn even more about me on LinkedIn, or meleblanc.co. Have a safe week everyone.
Michael LeBlanc 25:27
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven't already, be sure and click and subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week.
And check out my other retail industry media properties the Remarkable Retail podcast, Conversations with CommerceNext! podcast and The Food Professor podcast with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois.
Last but not least, if you're into barbecue, check out my all new YouTube BBQ show, Last Request Barbecue with new episodes each and every week.
I'm your host, Michael LeBlanc, president of ME Leblanc & Company and Maven Media. And if you're looking for more content or want to chat, follow me on LinkedIn or visit my website at meleblanc.co.
Have a safe week everyone.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
The Citizenry, Rachel, brand, world, building, Carly, business, thinking, product, podcast, retail, strategy, consumer insights, approach, point, remarkable, terms, company, artisanal, home