Lalonnie Biggar is a veteran merchant with a depth of experience in department and specialty stores. As president of Northern Reflections, she has big ambitions for this iconic Canadian retailer. After leading Northern Reflections through the COVID era and out the other side, Lalonnie is preparing the organization for success and growth with new ownership and a fresh vision. We talk merchandising and assortment opportunities, the critical role of eCommerce, and explore her level of confidence in regional shopping malls as the place for her brand to live.
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.
Lalonnie Biggar is a veteran merchant with a depth of experience in department and specialty stores. As president of Northern Reflections, she has big ambitions for this iconic Canadian retailer.
After leading Northern Reflections through the COVID era and out the other side, Lalonnie is preparing the organization for success and growth with new ownership and a fresh vision. We talk merchandising and assortment opportunities, the critical role of eCommerce, and explore her level of confidence in regional shopping malls as the place for her brand to live.
Thanks for tuning into this special episode of The Voice of Retail. If you haven’t already, be sure and click subscribe on your favourite podcast platform so new episodes will land automatically twice a week, and check out my other retail industry media properties; the Remarkable Retail podcast, the Conversations with CommerceNext podcast, and the Food Professor podcast. Last but not least, if you are into BBQ, check out my all new YouTube barbecue show, Last Request Barbeque, with new episodes each and every week!
I’m your host Michael LeBlanc, President of M.E. LeBlanc & Company & Maven Media, and if you’re looking for more content, or want to chat follow me on LinkedIn, or visit my website meleblanc.co! Have a safe week everyone!
Bruce's article referenced in the interview:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rexile-main-street-bruce-winder-he-him-/?trackingId=lrgK6PcGxYyguUh0wt%2F4tg%3D%3D
About Lalonnie
Northern Reflections’ President Lalonnie Biggar has been with the organization for over 20 years and in retail leadership roles for over 3 decades. Her career in fashion retail began at T Eaton Company, before advancing through senior executive positions at Dylex and Comark. In her leadership functions she is a known expert in product sourcing, contract negotiation and, most importantly, people development.
In her role as President, Lalonnie oversees our product development and design teams, our commercial network of 134 retail locations across Canada, e-commerce business, the sourcing office in Asia as well as our operations, logistics, HR, and finance departments. She is now spearheading major strategic initiatives to significantly grow the company’s ecommerce business and all aspects of its multi-channel retail operation, while implementing a state of the art Point of Sale system. A passionate people leader, Lalonnie is often referred to as the heart and soul of the Northern Reflections brand and continues to be a source of inspiring leadership for our 900 associates around the world.
About Michael
Michael 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. He has delivered keynotes, hosted fire-side discussions with C-level executives and participated on thought leadership panels worldwide. Michael was recently added to ReThink Retail’s prestigious Top 100 Global Retail Influencers for a second year in 2022.
Michael is also the producer and host of a network of leading podcasts, including Canada’s top retail industry podcast, The Voice of Retail, plus the Remarkable Retail with author Steve Dennis, Global E-Commerce Tech Talks and The Food Professor with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois. Most recently, Michael launched Conversations with CommerceNext, a podcast focussed on retail eCommerce, digital marketing and retail careers - all available on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music and all major podcast platforms. Michael is also the producer and host of the “Last Request Barbeque” channel on YouTube where he cooks meals to die for and influencer riches.
Michael LeBlanc 00:05
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 00:11
Lalonnie Biggar is a veteran merchant with a depth of experience in department and specialty stores. As President of Northern reflections. She has big ambitions for this iconic Canadian retailer.
Michael LeBlanc 00:22
After leading Northern Reflections through the COVID era and out the other side. Lalonnie, is preparing the organization for success and growth with new ownership and a fresh vision. We talk merchandising and assortment opportunities, the critical role of eCommerce and explore her level of competence in regional shopping malls as a place for brands to live.
Lalonnie Biggar 00:41
This we don't see huge change, we are still very much focused on bricks and mortar it is the, the, the definitely the powerhouse behind the volumes that we do. We're not seeing a change to move away from that. In fact, we're looking if wherever possible to increase the number of stores that we have. We are really focused on ge-, getting awareness out there to get the best kept secret of Northern Reflections out into the marketplace.
Michael LeBlanc 01:12
Let's listen in now.
Michael LeBlanc 01:15
Lalonnie, welcome to The Voice of Retail podcast. How are you doing this afternoon?
Lalonnie Biggar 01:18
I'm doing just great. Michael, thank you so much for having me today.
Michael LeBlanc 01:22
Well, I've been looking forward to this for a long time. It was when was it, I think it was a press release announcing some executives that, that got my attention. I'm like, wow, what a great opportunity to speak to someone so steeped in the retail industry running such a such a brand. So, I'm really happy that we could get you on the microphone.
Lalonnie Biggar 01:39
Yeah, I'm excited to, to talk to you.
Michael LeBlanc 01:42
All right, well, let's jump right in. For those who may not know you or know enough about you tell us about yourself, your, your personal and professional journey and what you do for a living.
Lalonnie Biggar 01:51
Okay. Well, I have I've had an incredibly fulfilling career in retail for almost four decades, that part's really hard to believe. Right out of university into a junior executive training program at Eaton's. And this, starting out in women's fashion, in an iconic department store, it was a dream come true for me. The opportunities and the learnings that I had there, it was fast paced, it was exciting. But most importantly, it really gave me a strong foundation in merchandising, which became my life passion.
Lalonnie Biggar 02:34
You know, after the department store time or during that time, a lot of new opportunities came my way. And I finally moved to the wonderful world of specialty retail. And it was opportunities for leadership roles in, in businesses like Comark and also in Dialect. And it was always a focus on private brand building. You might remember Daniel Hechter Day licensee that we had at Fairweather. All of this gave me an amazing opportunity.
Lalonnie Biggar 03:10
I got to travel the world, source fabrics and design and develop product. And it was at that time, a focus on serving that growing women's wear market with the need for fashions to wear to work. During that time, Michael, along the way, I had phenomenal mentors, phenomenal leaders who prepared me for the role I have today as President of Northern Reflections.
Michael LeBlanc 03:37
Well, it sounds like you know, sometimes I talk to people, and they would frame it as retail is an accidental career. But it sounds any, it sounds anything but for you. I mean, you, you launched into it right out of right out of school, was it, you know, if you take a couple of steps back, was it always a love of retail? Or did that just one of several choices kind of appear to appeal to you at the time? What, what was it like at that point in your life?
Lalonnie Biggar 04:00
A classic story I was a, a sales associate on the floor at Eaton's in back in the day while I was at university. So, I had my little part time job. But I was planning to go into law. The, the Eaton's team was very aggressive in sourcing work, a potential workforce in universities. And they established this junior executive training program and they I got, got into the junior executive training program, fell in love. And it was fast paced. I mean, I was as a very young person out of university I was holding a pretty senior role in the company and I got to do amazing and exciting things. My parents were a little disappointed that I didn't go into law but I think that they felt good in the end where I landed.
Michael LeBlanc 04:52
Yeah, well, I mean, you can say one thing about, you can say many things about retail but one of the things is it is a meritocracy, right? The, (crossover talk), the harder you work like that old saying the harder you work, the luckier you get. But you, you are able and you're, proof in able to move up an organization based on your capabilities and, and accomplishments rather than tenure, for example, right? Right, -
Lalonnie Biggar 05:16
Exactly, -
Michael LeBlanc 05:17
Right on. Well, let's talk about let's talk about Northern Reflections. So, you know, I can't imagine many folks listening to the podcast wouldn't know of the brand, but we're going to tell, talk a lot more about the current state and the future state, but just lay the groundwork for us. Tell us a bit of the scope and the scale of the business, where you trade and what makes you remarkable?
Lalonnie Biggar 05:37
Okay, well, a couple of things are just (inaudible). The company today has 133, store locations, were in traditional malls, power centers, community, malls, and street fronts. And we were in all provinces across the country, with the exception of Quebec, and we're not in the territories. And that's our bricks and mortar size.
Lalonnie Biggar 05:59
We have a very exciting growing eCommerce business. And we'll talk a little bit more about that as well. But I wanted to just share something with you about when I joined the company, my first role here was as Vice President of Merchandising, and boy, we had a lot of work to do at that time to revitalize, what had been a very successful and very well known brand of casual clothing. Everybody knew of Northern Reflections to a point it, it, was, it was in all malls and in at the 50-yard line center court, if you please, in malls are very well known. And it was the place to go for fleece and casual bottoms and denim.
Lalonnie Biggar 06:42
In that time, though, there was this influx of, of new retail entering Canada, we had so many new retailers and the growth of, of stores and growth at malls period. We had to really take a look at where we were in the marketplace and redefine our position. And I have to tell you, it took a lot of time to figure out where we needed to go and there was trial and error for sure, along the way.
Lalonnie Biggar 07:14
You know, the junior markets and career dressing was really crowded, and they were crowded with great brands. And we, we really had to what we recognize really was that our customer as well was entering the workforce. So, what did we really need to do to continue to maintain our strong position? How did how much do we have to change?
Lalonnie Biggar 07:40
So, there was months and months of surveys and analysis and focus groups testing. And as I said before, a lot of trial and error. But what we really began to learn was that there was a specific underserved market, and that, that target was not being serviced by the junior retailers, it was not really being serviced well enough for that career dressing crowd. And what we learned then, and what is still important to her today is simply easy to care, good quality, versatile clothing that fits her body shape. And that's, that's kind of what where we trade, what we do and where we are today.
Michael LeBlanc 08:31
Talk, talk a little bit about your experience, just at that moment where you, you came in, in charge of merchandising, the different, how I would say this, the different perspectives or the different, if any different ways you'd approach, as versus a department store, right, which would look at a broader set of good, better, best and they would look at a broader set of customers but still would try to address pockets of opportunity. Now you're in a specialty retailer with a with a focus. So, was that a different experience for you? Or, or was there more skills for you to leverage from that broader experience in a, in a department store?
Lalonnie Biggar 09:01
Well, it was it was different for me from the department store era, but I had spent a lot of years in specialty and in specialty it's all about focus groups, talking to your customer, assessing the marketplace, who's doing what well. And as I mentioned, mo-, most importantly, was identifying what was underserved because were we actually prepared or strong enough to change everything that the company had stood for at the time on casual and move into servicing career wear and what really was needed in the marketplace. So, it was similar to what I had been to before which is just a lot more intense. And we came to a bigger conclusion and better conclusions for Northern today.
Michael LeBlanc 09:45
Right on, right. So, I guess it set in some ways, set the groundwork for, for where you are today. So, let's get to it. Let's get the current events.
Lalonnie Biggar 09:52
Okay, -
Michael LeBlanc 09:53
You know, you've been with Northern Reflections for, for some pretty tumulter-, tumultuous years. It's Interesting when I when I page back a little bit, you had a huge, you know, you had Target coming to Canada, which I'm sure shook up the category a little bit. And that came, came and went. But let's talk about it. Let's talk about the COVID era. Now you had a, and this business went through a restructure, or restructured in 2021, right, in the heart of the COVID era. And let's talk about where you are today and, and what that looks like, you know, what, what the business looks like, structurally and, and talk about what solid ground looks like. And then we'll get into kind of how you're feeling about the about the (inaudible) and where you think it's going to go?
Lalonnie Biggar 10:35
Okay, terrific. As with most retail companies, obviously, there was just massive change to all aspects of the business coming out of that, that first year of COVID. And we were a pretty nimble team, a pretty flexible team, we just had to also think differently. And the very first thing that we had to do was find investors that recognized the value of this brand. And were able to envision what the future growth opportunities were. And I have to say, we're very fortunate because we have just that with Gemco. They, they really are an extension of our team. They trust and allow Northern Reflections leadership to run the business. But their great value is how they motivate and inspire us by offering strategic guidance and ideation, which is very inspiring. They, they truly understood what was remarkable about Northern Reflections.
Lalonnie Biggar 11:42
And you know that we, we talk a lot about what's remarkable, with Northern Reflections, pre-COVID and now as we are coming out of COVID and moving forward, and it does go back to the it's really (inaudible) things, it goes back to the heritage of the brand, comfortable, easy to care, clothing. With all that research, I talked about everything that we did to learn about what was important to the customer, it, it always remained the same.
Lalonnie Biggar 12:06
We also have product design and development process and a team here in Canada and Asia, that are truly amazing. They understand what our this, this demographic wants, what's important to her and what she needs. And the last piece that is really important is, it's the loyalty of our customers, and the dedication of our employees. And this is going to be very interesting. We have a lot of people who have been with this company for many years. And just a quick statistic that would be interesting is that the headquarters, we have 16 years is the average tenure.
Michael LeBlanc 12:41
Wow, -
Lalonnie Biggar 12:42
And even bigger than that or more exciting than that is the average tenure in stores is 10 years. It's pretty amazing.
Michael LeBlanc 12:51
It's huge, that's huge,
Lalonnie Biggar 12:52
Yeah, it's huge (crossover talk). So, you know, thinking about post, as you said about your question about where are we structure coming through COVID. 2022 has really become an investment year, building on our, our foundation, and making important investments and that the big one includes building a world class executive team. We needed people who would bring diverse experience to us and be culturally aligned to help us drive the strategic initiatives that are going to accelerate our growth.
Lalonnie Biggar 13:27
Recent hires, let me talk to you about that. It's pretty exciting. The hires that we chose really signify that opportunity for us to shift into growth mode, again, where we weren't obviously during COVID. We're making investments in key areas and these areas are supported by the, the roles that we filled and the, the skill that we brought in.
Lalonnie Biggar 13:49
So, we have a new Senior Vice President of Planning and Logistics, Maryann Darling, she comes to us with tons of experience in, in the Canadian and in some global workspace as well. A new CFO to the company, Hanspal Jando, who has again, years of experience in Canada, and in the kind of marketplaces that we're in. And then really exciting is a brand new role for the company.
Lalonnie Biggar 14:18
We did not have this in the past, Senior Vice President, Customer Experience, Chief Marketing Officer, and that's Carolyn Coles-Devine, who brings a tremendous amount of operational experience in the digital field which is critical for us. So, this group, in addition to the unbelievable executives that we have today, dedicated, loyal, smart people, is going to help us get through what we need to get through to growth, come up with the ideas and build on the strengths that we have today. Just one more little tidbit that may be of interest. to your to your listeners is over 80% of our leadership is female, (crossover talk), a strong female team, -
Michael LeBlanc 15:08
Yeah, fantastic. Let me let me pull on a few threads from what you're describing.
Lalonnie Biggar 15:11
Sure,
Michael LeBlanc 15:12
You know, you've been in this industry, not unlike myself for a long time. And, and I've seen, you know, domestic manufacturing very strong, moved completely off shore are you, are you any way considering giving what's going on and what we what we know now to be an ongoing challenge with supply chain? Does it give you any second thoughts about where you source your product from? Is there any? I've talked to executives and many would say yes, yes and no, maybe there's a continental strategy, but it's a little difficult because it's hard to get away from source materials, for example, but, -
Michael LeBlanc 15:47
Are you giving pause or are you giving thought to these days, even just how you buy like, you know, more safety stock less, you know, less just in time, there's so much uncertainty. So, just talk about that it must come up around the table more than once, (crossover talk), more than once an hour, (crossover talk), -
Lalonnie Biggar 16:04
Exactly it does. We, we are constantly revisiting the approach. And we have quite a, a solid balance of how much is the core product, what amount of the assortment is core that is ongoing, that's basic with fabrications that continue but we're, we'[re constantly updating color, we're updating shape and style as, as the trends change. But core product is a big piece for us. The what I will say to you, though, is we are definitely as one of our gro-, key initiatives is looking to increase our position in Canadian made product, we've always had domestic manufacturing, but it has decreased over the years, for sure. But we are rebuilding, we're reaching out to manufacturers that we've worked with in the past, we've also met with new people, we are looking to grow Canadian made, it is important. Our customers recognize and our customers ask for, is this made in Canada?
Michael LeBlanc 17:12
(Crossover talk), you know, I was going to say I spent I spent a bunch of years at Hudson's Bay. So, you know, we would debate often the, the relevance, you know, differentiation of relevance on a matrix, the relevance of, of Canadian, made in Canada or being Canadian, and, and you know, we would watch, you know, global companies come in and be quickly adopted by a consumer. So, we would always debate that. Do you think, do you think that's been maybe somehow accentuated by the times? Or how are you thinking about that?
Lalonnie Biggar 17:39
No, I do believe it has been accentuated by the times. And then there is the other point of view, which is with all the length of time getting things across the ocean, -
Michael LeBlanc 17:49
Pragmatic, yeah, (crossover talk), -
Lalonnie Biggar 17:49
The domain is with, yes exactly is our we are identifying what products can be best made in Canada, how I can't really tell you how much of a shift there is going to be into Canadian made, but it is top of mind for us. We will still be for the most part, sourcing out of Asia.
Michael LeBlanc 18:10
Sure, sure, -
Lalonnie Biggar 18:10
And let's see how that evolves over the next number of years.
Michael LeBlanc 18:15
Yeah, yeah. Right on. All right, so we're, we don't want to dwell on this whole COVID. We're kind of in the post-COVID era of retail, we're certainly past, let's all hope, lock downs and other constraints and, and the intensity, but it's still around a little bit. Our Prime Minister would probably tell us that today. Now have you had time, do you and the team at the time such an experienced team to sit and, and reflect on the impacts to the retail structurally like, I, I perceive, you know, there's a lot of changes we as consumers and consumers made during the COVID era that were just accommodations. But as you sit back and think about okay, what just happened? And have you noticed did you do a lot of research, did you notice any different perspectives we've talked about Canadian made anything else come to mind and, and how you're thinking about the, the consumer today and, and the structure of retail today?
Lalonnie Biggar 19:06
We don't see huge change, we are still very much focused on bricks and mortar, it is the, the, the definitely the powerhouse behind the volumes that we do. We're not seeing a change to move away from that. In fact, we're looking if wherever possible to increase the number of stores that we have. We are really focused on ge-, getting awareness out there, to get the best kept secret of Northern Reflections out into the marketplace, we know that we have a huge opportunity to expand further awareness of our brand to both you know, just to engage our existing customer and to really get into new communities that we're not in today and build on our iconic heritage.
Lalonnie Biggar 19:52
We aren't seeing major changes other than the ongoing growth of eComm. So, even though we are firmly rooted in bricks and mortar. The customers are shopping differently, there is no question about that. Our customer has totally embraced digital shopping. And we're very, very fortunate with our new CMO, because she has got a tremendous amount of experience in that field. So, we need to improve our some of our store experience. We really, (crossover talk), -
Michael LeBlanc 20:27
what does that look like for you, when you when you say improved store experience is that a, is that a service level is, (crossover talk), -
Lalonnie Biggar 20:33
Its a seamless opportunity (inaudible). We did a lot of this during COVID, where we became experts at curbside shopping, buy online pick up in store, really, all of those things came out of COVID. There, they were there were just growing it, for example, new stores will be built with more space for packages, more space for receiving inventory, being able to fulfill from stores, so that the customer doesn't have to wait we want we're working hard to make it seamless. And the opportunity of all that was what we experienced through the tough times in COVID. It gave us new ways of looking. So, those are the things that we really see as, as change for the better opportu-, or improved store experience.
Michael LeBlanc 21:27
And that's a hard thing, right, retrofitting, particularly mall based. community mall based stores, you don't have a lot of room in the back. Like, they're, (crossover talk), they're not designed, you know, many of us spent a lot of our careers trying to eliminate the back of the house as much as possible. Now we find this whole, you know, integration accounts for, for more space than less. Let's, let's follow that thread a little bit about consumer behavior. So, you know, browsing versus shopping, but from your perspective and your CMOs perspective, when she gets to the store, you know, I think about social media, I think about the influencers, you're on Instagram, Facebook, for example, how, how big a role is that starting to play in your marketing mix, then, than it was before, do you, do you perceive a an increase in commitment to social media and influencers and Instagramable images and all that stuff? Like what kind of resources are you thinking about putting towards that?
Lalonnie Biggar 22:18
Short answer, is a, a resounding yes, it’s going to be much bigger. The, you know, adding the role CMO was definitely an important part of strategy to ma-, really maximize a broader array of tactics, we have been very email driven and social, for sure, but to the extent that we are going to be. It’s a huge opportunity for us were going to be in addition to more, more resources, adding more resources to our marketing team, to be able to do as many as possible posts and, and communication on Instagram, Facebook, and so forth.
Lalonnie Biggar 23:21
We're going to do a creative redesign of the brand, we're going to redesign the Northern Reflections website with more omni-channel features, just a couple of examples. A, a new merchandising system that will, it'll allow us to showcase personalized prodo-, products to our customer. Enhanced photography would be another one and we haven't done it yet but we're moving forward toward, we're experimenting right now with video, a little bit of that is going to maybe narrow the gap between an experience in store versus an experience online, bring it to life in a way. So, that, that requires people and systems and we're, we're investing in all of that. We're also, -
Michael LeBlanc 23:42
It's also it's also cultural, do you find as well, right? I mean, there's a there's a cultural element to things like social media and, and hybrid retail that really I mean, you know, you've got store associates that would basically work in a store for the for, as you said, for like a decade now, you know, how do you how do you inculcate that modern culture, I guess COVID, in some ways, you know, say, Hey, we've got to change. So, I guess if there's anything to come out of COVID, it's, it's the impetus for change. Is, is that how you, you know, talk about it from a cultural perspective with the people?
Lalonnie Biggar 24:14
Yeah, our when, when our store teams, fully embrace being able to even post themselves and have store groupings, do posts on Facebook and they absolutely embrace using mobile, a customer's shopping, coming in and shopping with them. Pre-browsing goes on. And you, you touched on, on, you know, what have we seen in terms of behavior, it's int-, interesting. It's during COVID and when customers were actually able to come back into stores, it was interesting to watch those quick visits. There it was very clear that they were browsing online before they came in and they really knew exactly what they wanted to buy when they entered into the store. And their interaction with the store associate, they knew we're in this, they knew what they were looking for, they were able to call it by the name, the description, the collection, it was really interesting. They were coming in, they were very, very focused. And the good news is, the average sale was much higher than what we were experiencing pre-COVID per customer, because she knew what she wanted before she even came in, then she got into the fitting room and the associate starts to show her more product. And it's just a great, great experience for everyone.
Lalonnie Biggar 24:54
But what we also noticed, which was extremely encouraging, is, we saw a big increase in our, that customer shopping across multiple channels, we have a shop by phone opportunity as well, for our customers its a great service for her, shop by phone for her is another way of bridging the gap of online only, no personal interaction, and personal interaction all the way to being in the store. It's, it's quite a, a fantastic service for our customer.
Michael LeBlanc 26:16
Well, you've got that such a tremendous advantage, because you, you I, I have mentioned influencers. I mean, you're the people in your store are the best influencers that you are ever going to have, right? It's how to how to have some kind of force multiplier to get them without, without and outside of those four walls in some way, shape or for, right is, (crossover talk), -
Lalonnie Biggar 26:33
You nailed it, exactly. Just one other thing on that whole, you know, change for us. We're really adding some fund-, as well. We're adding some foundational pieces to marketing that we have not done, affiliate programs would be an example we spoke, you touched on influencers. We've done a little bit of it in the past, but we're really taking that to the next level. And even just something as simple as, as public relations. getting your name out.
Michael LeBlanc 27:00
Right, right, right, right, right. Let's talk, a last couple of questions. You know, we talked about this modern, the modern store, its role, which is now you know, vastly more complex, in some ways. Are you, are you measuring stores, and su-, the success of stores differently. I mean, it used to be, you know, fairly straightforward, you know, sales per square foot or whatever, kind of metrics, but are, are you contemplating different mea-, measurements, influencing measurements, customer acquisition measurements? Are those things kind of starting to percolate around from a, a metrics perspective?
Lalonnie Biggar 27:32
Definitely. I will say though, as a grounding, we still look at store performance. The key factor is store profitability, (crossover talk), -
Michael LeBlanc 27:43
It's the first thing you talk about on a conference call. I mean, that's the first right? (Crossover talk), -
Lalonnie Biggar 27:47
Yeah, exactly. But, you know, the, the tracking that we had on sales per square foot is less critical today, it is more about overall volume, it is about new customer acquisition, we have a, a very mature loyalty program, the Northern Friends Rewards Program was established back in 2000. And it is highly valued by our loyal customer and we are taking it to the next level this year and into 2023 We're going to re, - we're going to build on i,t it's just to enhance it and make it easier for her to shop, easier for her to be rewarded or to earn and then to be rewarded. It's, it's it is really important. That's another measure of success is the growth of the nor-, loyalty program. So, success is measured in new ways but they're still that basic is the store making money?
Michael LeBlanc 28:43
Yeah, we don't want to get too far away from that we've were watching some of these, these newfangled brands kind of try different metrics and eventually it all comes down to you know you got to put the numbers on the wall, right?
Lalonnie Biggar 28:53
So true, -
Michael LeBlanc 28:55
You, you've got a mix of locations you know, as you described and, and as I go through your store locator you're in, in you know, sta-, some stand alone, some in malls for sure are you are you still do you have the same amount of confidence in your, your physical footprint? You've got hybrid work now you know, so less people downtown, more people living where they work, so to speak. You know, how how's, what's your temperature on, on community shopping malls? How's the traffic and, and you know, they certainly struggled mightily. Even the big even the big folks struggle mightily with less commuters. But are you still committed to shopping malls or do you still see them in a big piece and, and talk about that for a little bit?
Lalonnie Biggar 29:35
Definitely we're still committed, committed to shopping malls. We're not in downtown malls, haven't been in many, many years. We're suburban, and community to your point community centers. Our customers really spend time in community centers, and she probably spends about the same amount of time as she would in one of the expensive regional centers. But aren't she really enjoys that convenience of a short drive to the destination, the opportunity to shop and socially visit with our store teams, I have to tell you, we're very proud of that. But many of our store managers know, know our customers on a first name basis. And they know each other, but she'll she uses the time in the communities malls, she might be getting her driver's license renewed, or she could be doing some grocery shopping. Maybe she's having lunch with a friend. So, we still do see for the target customer that we're servicing, community mall, easy access, street front power center are still growth opportunities for us.
Lalonnie Biggar 30:41
Of course, as we expand our shop online and pick up in store and all of those things, we are going to be building that into the stores as we spoke about a mil-, about a minute ago. And that, that model does appear to work best for us in the future. We're also hearing a lot about we've not stepped into it yet. But more community malls that are having large or developments going up around them with, you know, condos and (inaudible) workspace and all those kinds of things. That also is very appealing and very interesting for us. She won't have to travel, she won't have to be spending that money on gas, that we're all talking about too much these days. But we're a community center is still important to us as our suburban malls.
Michael LeBlanc 30:46
Well, I feel like we've just basically scratched the surface. But last question for you. What's, what's next for you and the team? I mean, it again, it's a kind of a funny question. Because you're everything's next, you're really in a build mode. But, you know, for the rest of how are you feeling for the rest of the year? Or what are your big priorities between now and you know, the next the next period of time, reasonable period of time, as we can see in the future? What is it, is it the growth of eCommerce? Is it kind of cementing I mean, there's a lot you've got a lot of moving parts. What, what rises to the surface for you?
Lalonnie Biggar 31:57
Yeah, I have a couple of things I can share with you. First and foremost very positive, that we're really doing well right now we're very pleased with our customers love of the product that we have in our stores today and her, her enjoyment of being back in stores, but we're still really, really growing on eComm. So, good news on all of those fronts. We touched on a little bit, the expanding the Canadian Made program is definitely something that we are building and we're going to get into in a more significant way.
Lalonnie Biggar 32:31
We're also looking at in an increase of what we would call curated product extensions. That would be examples would be both gender and youth expansions for seasonal periods on limited edition items. You know styles for men's and kids and the kids piece is kind of a natural, natural progression for us because we, we, we were in children's wear I don't know if you remember the Northern Getaway brand back in the (inaudible), in the back it was in the 90s our, our you know, our, our customers have grown up with us many of whom shopped there for themselves and now it's for their children or maybe even their grandchildren.
Lalonnie Biggar 33:12
So, it we're starting limited editions and some expansions and we'll see where it goes. Excited about it though it's exciting and our customers are really responding and coming in and saying wow, this is great I can get this matching PJs for, for my daughter for myself and for my grandson or my granddaughter it's terrific. A lot of passion around that. Talked a lot about the fruit the talked a bit about the Northern Traditions brand it's petite and regular fits. And Northern Traditions is going to allow our customer to evolve with us, through really the, the design and the fit of the, the products to fit a little bit of a more mature woman's body, body shape change, I'd really respecting that as an important need.
Lalonnie Biggar 34:02
We are looking also this is a little bit of a smaller piece we're looking at, excuse me, at featuring more products with our from our heritage, looking at those inspirational favorite styles and most loved designs from our heritage so that's a, a growth opportunity for us.
Lalonnie Biggar 34:22
And last but not least, it's, it's an interesting one to share is talked a little bit we have an, an amazing talented in-house design team. They create unique collections, unique designs, exclusive prints and patterns. And what's next for them is to be able to be comfortable to travel the world again, explore her, get inspired as they their job is to determine the colors and the styles and the collections of seasons to come and whilst you can do a lot of that online. There's nothing that replaces being on the streets and being you know out there, (crossover talk), -
Michael LeBlanc 35:00
Hard to discover new, right? Hard to discover new vendors on Zoom, right? It's okay to manage, (crossover talk). It's well listen to your enthusiasm is certainly contagious. It, it's quite an adventure and, and sounds like some fantastic momentum coming out, coming out of the COVID era. So, listen, I wish you continued success. And thanks so much for taking time out of what I'm sure is a busy day to chat with me on The Voice of Retail. It was a real treat to hear the story and,. and we'll be watching. So, thanks again for joining me on the podcast.
Lalonnie Biggar 35:31
Thank you so much, Michael. Speak to you in future soon.
Michael LeBlanc 35:35
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.
Michael LeBlanc 35:45
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 barbecue show, Last Request Barbecue with new episodes each and every week.
Michael LeBlanc 36:04
I'm your host, Michael LeBlanc, President of M. E. 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
customer, store, retail, opportunity, brand, malls, talk, northern, crossover, Canadian, shopping, growth, reflections, merchandising, years, product, little bit, big, important, experience