Based in Norfolk, 8 Retail Consulting is a brand and retail consulting company, with satisfied clients in the UK and across the globe. Proven business experts offering strategic business and personal mentorship programs, 8RC helps companies and individuals be better tomorrow than they were today. They specialise in optimising profits, launching new brands and products online, eCommerce, retail marketing and PR. Putting their expertise to the test, 8RC recently launched their own apparel brand.
At 8 Retail Consulting, we believe in helping brands maximise their potential. Our founder and CEO, Stephen Balmer-Walters, is an experienced director and retail guru, having previously worked for brands such as Jaegar, Mothercare, and Ecco. We believe eight key points can be applied to all retail businesses to increase profit.
These are:
1. People: Customer needs and empowering team
2. Product: Sourcing and retailing
3. Performance: KPIs and strategy
4. Presentation: Visual merchandising, customer services and journey
5. Place: E-commerce and social media
6. Planning: Critical path, tools, and processes
7. Promotions: Marketing and brand stimulation
8. Profit: Return on investment and delivering profit.
We are passionate about what we do, and take a hands-on approach to deliver new ideas and new ways of doing things. We stay always relevant, and make sure our clients get a strong return on their investment. Alongside strategy, we also offer marketing, photography, videography, and more to our clients, with fantastic results. We worked with Norwich City Football Club, assisting them with their retail strategy, plus kit design and launch. This was a huge success — kit sales increased by 50%. We also helped One Route, a growing who wanted to diversify their business. One Route went from purely selling equipment such as skateboards, bikes, and kites, to also offering clothing and footwear ranges. With our expertise, they grew sevenfold — opening 20 new stores, rebranding and launching a new website, and becoming more social media savvy.
In 2019, our founder Stephen — who has worked with some of the UK’s biggest retailers — decided to combine our wealth of professional knowledge with his passion for quality clothing that inspires… and 8Apparel was born. 8Apparel celebrates individuality; built around the #UBU® philosophy (pronounced “you-be-you”), we are breaking the mold that says athleisure is only for one type of person.
After a successful round of funding through Crowd2Fund, we launched 8 Apparel with previously unseen fabrics generating on-trend products, including sportswear and casual wear. Behind the scenes, all 8Apparel clothing is designed and manufactured in the UK, supporting local artists, garment technologists, pattern cutters and more. We also have a guaranteed ethical production line and a reduced carbon footprint. We’re looking to raise a second round of funding to invest in the digital marketing and SEO of the 8apparel.co.uk website — which is now live — to drive footfall and conversion.
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