Up Close - Building relationships in Greenville, S.C.

USA Baby wows with personality

By Lisa Casinger -- Kids Today, 7/1/2007 12:00:00 AM

Taylor and Ellison Welton went into business with Taylor's brother Scott in August 2000 when they opened their USA Baby Greenville, S.C., store. A few years later, in 2004, Scott realized retailing wasn't for him and the Weltons bought him out.

"At that point we started talking about what each of our roles would be," Ellison said.

Ellison has a master's degree in counseling and was a bereavement coach for children and Taylor had been in sales. She took over the responsibilities of marketing, bookkeeping and buying the soft goods and accessories and he took over the buying of furniture and supervising employees.

The Feature Room near the front door is offset by an arbor to spotlight collections like this from Munire. A Best Chairs glider and bedding from Cotton Tale Designs complete the look.

"Anyone who knows Taylor knows he's a relationship person," Ellison said. "People like him. He's honest and he makes connections with the customers and really encourages our employees to do the same."

Ellison says Taylor's personal touch is one of the things that sets their USA Baby store apart.

The store carries everything from youth and juvenile furniture to accessories, gear, textiles and more. The top selling categories are infant furniture and upholstered gliders and rockers. Ellison said they've noticed a decline in their metal sales, though, which she attributes to the Internet.

"People come into the store to get an explanation of the product, find out how to use it and then they shop the Internet," she said. "We're used for the education. The Internet also has made us drop our bedding prices significantly; we can't compete. I'd rather be lower than the Internet prices and keep the customer."

USA Baby Greenville has a Web site, www.usababysc.com, that is informational only. Ellison said they had the option to sell online but that would require stocking more items and the Weltons don't want to do that. They do use the site to connect with their consumers, though. The site features an e-Mom rewards program. Moms sign up online to receive email notices of upcoming sales events and special offers. There's also an online registry and a place sign up for a quarterly product flier and coupons.

Ellison said the store does offer design assistance, which started with offering Pine Creek custom bedding.

This vignette features Capretti case goods, Best Chairs gliders, Kelly B. Rightsell Designs wall decor and bedding from Cocalo.

Ellison Welton said this citron green sells well not only in this Phil & Ted stroller but also in linens and accessories.

The Weltons personalize their store by working with local artists. Each artist sets the stage with a mural; they get free advertising and USA Baby gets customized vignettes like this one filled with Sorelle furniture, a Best Chairs glider and Glenna Jean bedding.

The green on the Best Chairs glider is picked up in the Kids Line bedding draped across Stanley's Cottage Cove crib.

"Our manager, Mitsy, has been able to create beautiful sets," Ellison said. "Now people ask for her design help as well as the bedding, and it's given us an added service and it's given Mitsy a creative outlet."

The store works with a third party to offer delivery, which the customer pays for.

Four times a year USA Baby Greenville hosts a one-day sale, which, Ellison said, allows the store to shed its clearance items. Customers have come to expect the sales and it's a great way to boost cash flow.

USA Baby Greenville uses a mix of radio, direct mail and local magazines to advertise and market the store. Initially Ellison used an Atlanta-based agency but found she knew the demographics of her local 350,000 consumers better.

The Weltons compete with a Babies "R" Us as well as a few specialty stores. Ellison said they match prices so as not to lose a sale but fortunately the Babies "R" Us doesn't carry the same furniture lines.

When it comes to vendors, Ellison says one of the biggest issues is the lack of communication that's a result of so much overseas production.

"There's a black hole of communication," she said. "When a line has production issues we don't know until we call. Some vendors are super about having reps call customers directly, which takes us out of the middle as the bad buy, but with other vendors it's a problem."

Ellison said not being told up front that there are problems with a collection or order puts them in a predicament with consumers who see manufacturers as an enigma to begin with.

"It's a challenge, too, because Taylor and I take that home with us because we want to make good on what we've promised our customers. We quote generous lead times but sometimes that's not enough," she said.

Taking their work home is another challenge Taylor and Ellison face. Balancing work and family life — the Weltons have three children ages 9, 8 and 5 — requires a lot of effort.

"When something goes wrong at the store it's hard on Taylor," Ellison said. "He's such a relationship guy; it affects him when he can't get furniture to the customer on time. It's a strength and a weakness — a strength because his caring nature and genuine desire to serve our customers gives our store a personal touch, but it's a weakness because he can't just turn that off."

Being in business since 2000, the Weltons have implemented some good ideas and overcome some bad decisions. The best idea was laying off a "complacent and lazy" staff when they bought the store from Scott in 2004.

"That staff didn't want to try new ideas, they didn't care," Ellison said. "It was a hard decision but we would rather live here ourselves than have a bad sales staff."

Ellison said replacing the staff was a great idea because they immediately saw results in the sales figures from the new staff that was eager and willing to try new things and make changes.

Between 2002-04 when Scott had mostly stepped out of the picture but the Weltons hadn't actually taken over as owners, Taylor was handling everything associated with the store and Ellison was staying home with their children. They didn't have a lot of oversight with their accountant and bookkeeper and later Ellison discovered things were not getting done or not getting done correctly.

When they actually took over the business, Ellison stepped in, learned bookkeeping and basically had to recreate data and systems that should have long ago been in place.

"That taught us to not blindly trust people to do what they say they will do without any management from us," she said. "It's our money, our blood, sweat and tears and I want people to explain exactly what they're doing. Now I do the bookkeeping and have put in place my own systems and that's worked out better for us."

Though Taylor said their best decision was when Ellison took over handling the advertising, they both agree that the secret to their success comes from Colossians 3:23 — "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

"The money isn't what motivates us," Ellison said. "It's doing well at what we do and doing it with good character."