July is Independent Retailer Month, which celebrates small businesses throughout the country. The prevalence of “big box” stores such as Target and Wal-Mart often hurt “mom and pop” stores, frequently putting them out of business. Independent retailers work hard to compete in today’s market, looking to superior customer service and higher quality items to compensate for more expensive prices. We took some time to interview Suni Gargaro, founder and CEO of Styleinvyte.com. Styleinvyte.com is a fashion and accessories ecommerce site, with an emphasis on featuring top designer brands and labels at affordable prices. Read the full interview below!
What was the inspiration behind your business?
I had previously owned a brick and mortar boutique that I put my heart and soul into. That business was my “baby” before my son Mason came along. It was a creation that I literally invested blood, sweat, and tears to make happen, and I really cherished those years as an independent retailer. I retired that business to start a family, but have been itching to get back into the game ever since. This time, I made the strategic decision to start with ecommerce first, and then later expand operations – the exact reverse order of what I did the first time around lol! The idea being, this approach will allow me to build my new business presence with minimal up front risk, and in theory, will save me time, money and headaches.
What does it mean to be an independent retailer?
It is what drives every entrepreneur. Starting with a unique concept of what your business will be all about, and then working hard to breathe life into the concept. In many ways, the answer is present within the question, in the word “independent” and what that word stands for. It’s what all of us want, independence and freedom to do business as we see fit to do it, to fulfill our vision of what that means, what we will contribute, who we are. There can be no dream more fulfilling than to accomplish that – creating the life that you want doing the work that you love, on your terms. It gives me a rush just thinking and talking about it. I think I better calm down now lol!
What is the greatest challenge in being an independent retailer or working with one?
On the topic of “independence” – you know the expression, “…with great freedom comes great responsibility.” Whether retail or any other business, as an independent entrepreneur, you are on your own. Your success and/or any failure, is absolutely yours to live (and own) up to.
What is your process for attaining and selling merchandise?
Well, with ecommerce, everything is done online, and this includes obtaining and selling. We have suppliers with inventory data that is accessible to us online so that we can plan and roll out inventory. And of course, sales are all online, and we use Organic Search and Social Media primarily to drive traffic and sales. We will be augmenting that with both paid Search and paid Social in the near future, and possibly offline i.e. traditional media advertising thereafter.
How will you be celebrating Independent Retailer’s Week?
Quite honestly, we have a lot of work to do on our latest venture, so most likely I will be spending much of the week working on things like researching vendors and working on ways to give our customers the most positive shopping experience possible. But it is wonderful having this reminder, that people have set aside time to honor independent retailers like us. It feels great to be a part of that.
