A Chat With May’s Profile, Suzanne Vlietstra, president of Hobby Horse Clothing Co.

CS: Would your Web site, where you offer sidebars and information to the consumer more than just the product offerings, be an example of a forum where you like to write?
SV: It’s what I call “vegeducation,” the education of vegetables. Which means, “If you water things, they will grow.” So if you give people information, you empower them to make a purchasing decision. You empower them to make a buying decision. And whether or not it’s your product, you help educate them in a category and it makes them better customers for the entire business. So the more information that we can pitch out there the better. Plus I like to do it. It’s fun. I get hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of e-mails, and I answer every single one. Because I learn as much from them as I’m able to kind of guide them. And I type pretty fast.
CS: Is there a mistake that you made during your career that stands out to you?
SV: Not understanding the value of the right kind of consultants, the right kind of guidance at the time. And I wish I had perfect vision at the time. In hindsight I let so many opportunities go by because I was too cautious. At the time, probably overly cautious. I think our biggest missed opportunity probably in terms of product and stuff is we should have had a lot bigger catalog. More comprehensive products for the horse as well as the rider. We probably should have done that a long time ago. But I was just afraid to commit to the money and the infrastructure that that would take. But we’ve kept our catalog very “nichey” and probably shouldn’t have.
CS: Considering you only mail your catalog once a year, is it a really thick book with a lot of pages?
SV: No, it’s 40 pages. We don’t have any kind of economies of scale. I guess you could title this story, “We Do Everything Wrong.”

Joe Keenan is the executive editor of Total Retail. Joe has more than 10 years experience covering the retail industry, and enjoys profiling innovative companies and people in the space.