Nathan Bush: Meter maids, bikies and one of the best dam retail events in the country. That's what the Gold coast is known for. Retail Global is coming up on the 29th to the 31st of March and features amazing speakers from e commerce leaders like Amazon, Kogan and Booktopia. But the best part is catching up with some of the greatest people in e commerce. I'm going to be putting on my Budgie Smugglers and heading down there and I hope to see you there too. Tickets for the three day festival start at $450 and are still available over at retailglobal.com that's retailglobal.com get your ticket, drop me a note. I'd love to see you there. Welcome to the checkout. We catch up with previous guests of Add to Cart where we ask them five quick questions to understand more about them and leave you with a little extra inspiration to get through your Friday. Today's check features Hannah Spilver and Verity Tuck, co founders of gifting business Lovely that's lvly. They share their journey as outsiders to the flower industry and why that has helped them solve problems that others have given up on. They're also slightly sweary, which is always something that we encourage. What is the weirdest thing you've ever bought online?
Hannah Spilva: I would say it's just because it's in the top of my head. A cubby house. That's it. Like a proper big cubby house. Which seems a bit strange. I'd usually think to go and build it yourself or something but I couldn't be bothered and we need to entertain
Verity Tuck: the kids so
Nathan Bush: we did exactly the same. I thought I was being smart by ordering it online and it was so flat packed that it took me two days to put it up because they just disassembled it to try and get into enough little packages to send in the mail. Wasn't very smart.
Verity Tuck: Oh goodness, I love it.
Nathan Bush: Who is your favorite retailer?
Verity Tuck: Oh look, I'm loving all of the small local retailers that are coming online at the moment. I think that's just one of the biggest silver linings of COVID So seeing all of the small names, whether it's retail fashion brands, whether it's in the hospitality industry, but seeing how quickly they've been able to move online and how we can support them has been amazing. But then, you know, like we were saying, the big beauty icons in Australia like Mecca and adore beauty. For me at the moment, I reckon I'm on there. I reckon I get two deliveries A week minimum from those guys.
Nathan Bush: I think they're doing pretty well overall.
Verity Tuck: They're doing pretty good. Yeah.
Nathan Bush: Which retail fad do you wish was history?
Hannah Spilva: Maybe donuts. I love donuts, but you know that, you know, the tricked up donuts I just like. How about a cinnamon or a hot jam donut? Please.
Nathan Bush: Keep it simple, keep it fresh.
Verity Tuck: Yeah, I like it.
Nathan Bush: I like it. Can you recommend a book or a podcast that our listeners should immediately get into? Oh,
Verity Tuck: I'm enjoying a podcast series at the moment called Lady Brains. It's a series that features female founders and it kind of. It focuses on female founders of fast growth companies, but the whole purpose is to basically debunk the myth of overnight success stories. So they're really honest, gritty conversations about what it really takes to succeed. So that's. I'm kind of enjoying the warts and all version of that at the moment.
Nathan Bush: Nice. I think everyone needs to hear that. Hey. That this isn't an overnight success. That there's plenty of getting your hands dirty.
Verity Tuck: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: Yep.
Verity Tuck: All right.
Nathan Bush: And last one I've got for you is. Finish this sentence. The future of retail is. That's. That's a scary face.
Verity Tuck: Like, that's looking. Yeah, looking pretty unknown and exciting for us. I. Look, I think, I think it's just that whatever it is, it success will be about being able to constantly tune into what your customers want and then respond really bloody quickly. So we don't know what customers are going to want, but the point is we need to keep listening and then act super fast to stay relevant.
Nathan Bush: Beautiful. I think that's a great summary of the conversation today. Hannah and Verity, thank you very much for joining us on Add to Cart. We love what you're doing with Lovely and if anyone wants to check it out, visit lvly.com au thanks, guys.
Hannah Spilva: Thanks for your time.
Verity Tuck: Thanks for your time, Nathan.
Nathan Bush: To hear more from Hannah and Verity, jump back into episode 24 where we talk to them both about how they solved the ultimate challenge with flower delivery. We also hear their top tips for keeping the millennial customer happy. How lovely. Thanks for listening. And until next time, keep adding to car.
