Hermans part of TV series
An iconic Horsham retail business is set to find its way into the national spotlight as part of a Channel 7 television documentary series.
Homeware, kitchen essentials and gift specialist Hermans, trading from Horsham’s Firebrace Street for more than 50 years, is one of six retail stores from across Australia set to feature on ‘Bricks and Clicks’.
David Koch’s Pinstripe Media has launched the series, which will follow the transformation of ‘bricks and mortar’ stores into global e-commerce brands.
Store managers involved in the series will be the subject of hands-on mentoring, including two intensive workshops at International Towers at Bangararoo in New South Wales, to help ‘supercharge’ their businesses through online marketing.
Camera crews have been busy visiting business owners for before-and-after-transformation shoots and Hermans has already been in front of the camera.
Hermans business manager Ray Hermans said a phone call from show producers had caught him by surprise.
“We were nominated by someone who knew our business and I really didn’t know much about it. I thought I was being cold-called by someone selling promotions,” he said.
“It was nice to be nominated, but another thing altogether to be chosen for something like this.
“One of the producers said they had spoken to people in the industry and thought we would be a good match for what they were looking for.
“They were looking for well-established bricks and mortar stores that didn’t have a strong or established e-commerce side of the business.
“While we have a large geographical footprint and a diversity of clients, we don’t service a large population and don’t have an online store.”
Ideal
Pinstripe Media production head Moira Geddes said Hermans was an ideal business to feature in the series.
“We loved the fact it has been in operation and serving the community for more than 50 years,” she said.
“We also loved that it was in a rural community and that the business could be even more successful through e-commerce and the internet. We want to show regional businesses are far from limited by being a rural player. Nowadays with e-commerce, the sky’s the limit.”
Mr Hermans said what was appealing, apart from increasing the business profile beyond Horsham district, was that it would be a positive way of promoting what Horsham and the Wimmera had to offer.
“I thought this was an outstanding opportunity to examine the business from a completely different perspective – to put our business under a magnifying glass, to look at what else we could pursue,” he said.
“We’re always looking to improve, but in this case it’s about exploring something outside what we would normally be doing.
“I’m really happy they have made a point of shooting a lot of local content from the district.
“I’m a little bit nervous, but excited at the same time about the potential it might offer – not only for our business but our community as a whole.”
Ray and his wife Lisa will travel to Sydney in the next few weeks to take part in the mentoring workshops.
He said he expected the series to air some time during February-march.
Ray’s parents Dick and Ann started the Hermans business, initially providing interior-decorating products and advice. Ann is still heavily involved in the business.
Small-business expert and media personality David Koch, who has already hosted Kochie’s Business Builders, will also host Bricks and Clicks.
He said the series participants’ digital journey would provide inspiration for other business owners to follow suit.
“Their experience will show others it’s not that hard, it’s not as expensive as you think and it will future proof and supercharge your business,” he said.
“The biggest barrier to Australian businesses getting online is fear – fear of the complexity, fear of finding someone to trust to help, fear of the high expenses. Our aim is to prove these fears are myths.”