Underlines speaks to Mary Whatley, owner of Hidden Agenda in Botley (a small village on outskirts of Southampton) which opened in April 2007. Previously working as Sales Director for a data company she learnt selling skills, how to make a business profitable, launching new products and dealing with challenges… perfect for 2020!
Life before lingerie
“I was very much a corporate girl – the first 27 years of my career were working for large business, most latterly as Sales Director for the data company owned by the Thomson Local (remember the directory with the cat on the front?). A very challenging but rewarding career, I learnt skills about selling, making a business profitable, launching new products but nothing about retail. That was all new to me when I decided to start my own business.”
Lingerie retailing
“Hidden Agenda was born because I initially planned to buy some commercial property and one of the premises I looked at had a lingerie business included! Looked like fun, and as a 34J myself (not that I knew that at the time) I had always struggled to buy lingerie – I was always so uncomfortable. In the end result, I did not buy the premises but by then I was hooked on having a lingerie business and set up shop in Botley, just 3 miles from the largest M&S in the country! ‘You are bonkers’ all my friends said, ‘it’ll never work’ but I knew that if I ensured expert fitting and personal service were at the heart of the business, we could differentiate ourselves and be successful. I was right.
“I learned fitting from the brand leaders for larger cup sizes, I whole heartedly believed that the concepts they suggested would make bras comfy, (and the engineering) and styling knowledge soon followed until both myself and my small team of staff became Van de Velde accredited and able to fit mastectomy, maternity, post surgery etc too. Getting tried and tested brands into our portfolio was also an important thing I quickly learned about lingerie retail, along with the secrets of good sell through, stock control, buying to customer profile, marketing and promotion.
Along came COVID-19…
“Our business traded through the recession of the 2010 era and we enjoyed the challenges of how to keep a business healthy as the market changes. Already wondering how to ‘manage Brexit’ and whatever that brought, Covid was something we couldn’t have anticipated. I closed the doors of Hidden Agenda on the 23rd March 2020 with a heavy heart and thought long and hard about what I’d need to do to be resilient in such challenging times.
“The support of other girls in the industry was an inspiration, I am grateful to them for the shared knowledge as we navigated our way in the first few weeks. What grants could we benefit from? What should we do to support ourselves and our staff and whether or not to go in to debt to get through lockdown?
“I decided not to. It occurred to me that improving my social media skills, really providing a 1-2-1 distance personal service for my customers and looking to sell outside the box was the thing to do! Vanilla were making 100% cotton face masks, so I learned all about FPF, or is it FFP filters, and began selling them through social media as a service from Hidden Agenda! The despatch department was located in my spare room (there is a lot of packing to do to sell 14,000 face masks), but it kept me in contact with my customers and got me talking to lots of new ones too!
“I managed this in between Zoom fittings with customers old and new, which I coupled with doorstep deliveries. The feedback was amazing, ladies wanted to take the time they found they had to invest in themselves, and there were a few emergency maternity fittings too as babies don’t wait for lockdowns to finish!! My FB Sale Room was born in this time too, amazing chance to dig about in the garage and sell some bits and bobs that hadn’t seen the light of day for years! I was never quiet, just busy busy busy! It seems like a lot of activity for not a huge amount of turnover, but I have really reaped the rewards since.
And when you opened your doors again?
“We aligned ourselves to dressmakers and tailors and opened on the 15th June 2020, with all the appropriate COVID safe measures firmly embedded into our processes to continue to keep our fitting room open. We have welcomed so many new customers since then, people who might not otherwise have shopped with us, as other larger fitting rooms aren’t open; we have started to see a new customer profile coming to us: younger women, more maternity and so many teenage bra fittings, with poor mums not having anyone else to turn to for advice. We had also gotten to know our new customers drawn to us locally for the face masks and have now started to see them in for lingerie fittings, people who might have never thought to visit in the past!
And how can you future-proof your business?
“I’m now focused on growing the effectiveness of my social media marketing to continue to grow this audience. I have attended several online social media courses, and am gradually learning how to develop my ‘audience’ and appeal to them through Instagram, Tik Tok, Twitter etc! A year ago I didn’t really know my ‘reel’ from my ‘hashtag’ but I think the ‘boomerang’ effect of learning the concepts and how to be effective in what you do rather than just flooding the pages with the same old same old, will benefit me with a whole new customer base that I might never have seen without COVID-19.
“The physical shop is still so critical to what we do! We fit lingerie, and there will always be people who need and want that personal service and the treat of buying a new lingerie set. Just like going to the beauticians! We have adjusted to fitting by appointment as a measure that was necessary at first. A recent online poll with our customers showed that 79% preferred to make an appointment, so I’m sure we will stick with it.
“Looking to the future the next 6 months won’t be without its challenges, but I feel confident that enhancing what we do will ensure we come through with a more diverse, but loyal customer base. We will keep in touch with everyone, try and make them giggle a little and of course always be there when they need a little uplift! I continue to be staggered by the number of customers who arrive in the shop saying ‘this is my first time coming to you…I’ve been meaning to for years’. I must do better and strive to keeping finding them through my innovative new marketing tools!!”
And the upside for Mary – “I’m never uncomfy in my bra anymore.”
