There’s nothing quite as wonderful as getting to share my story of entrepreneurship with the world – I am so proud of the business we have built. So when I had the opportunity to interview with The Ledger, I was thrilled to chat about the business and the lessons I have learned along the way. If you haven’t had a chance to catch my interview, here are a few of my favorite highlights and for the full article, click here.
Loren Ridinger: An Interview with “The Ledger”
Q. Regarding your Market America journey, when did you and JR know this was going to be really big? Was that the vision from the beginning or did it evolve?
A. JR has always had that vision, to be honest with you. He’s always been a great leader. Even prior to 1992 when the idea was forming, he was a strong believer that the world was fast changing, that technology was fast changing, and people would want to shop at home.
Q. Market America was ahead of its time and has stayed ahead, but that can’t be easy when e-commerce trends change so fast. How do you stay relevant in this changing world while at the same time continuing to innovate?
A. That’s the key, being relevant all the time with technology changing so fast. … It’s about staying ahead of the curve. JR has always been very connected and taught us to be very connected as a team to who our customers are. We know who she is, we know what she likes, we know what she likes to buy, we know how many children she has and what kind of pets she has. … Being connected in that fashion to your customers — even for 6 million of them and we have been constantly collecting data about them — we have been able to gear who we are toward her. It’s him too, of course, but generally, the shopper in the house is the woman.
We’ve always been so connected to our customers, we can’t fail. By knowing what people want, we are always creating technologies that can work alongside. If people want to find better deals or want to know when the price drops, we have technology to do those things. You really have to be moving at the speed of sound, and that’s what we do, what we have done for 26 years. It’s been an incredible journey.
Q. What do you see as a few of the key trends out there driving e-commerce?
A. Mobile shopping is a huge trend and where things are moving. We are seeing massive growth, that is how young people are shopping. Another trend is lifestyle merchandising: They can visualize it on someone they love, maybe a celebrity, and they want it and they can easily purchase it. We are going to have to be constantly on top of what our customers want … and we have the technology to be ahead of the game. Mobile shopping is a whole new world that we have been involved with for years now, but it’s constantly evolving.
Building Market America and Motives Cosmetics has been a true lifelong journey – and it will continue to be. We’ve had a lot of up and downs – as any true journey should. And, I am thrilled to be part of that ongoing journey every day of my life. What I didn’t expect when we started the company is that would become so much more – an extension of our family and our heart and soul.
I can’t encourage you enough to make your passions your reality, to go after something if you really want it and to not be afraid to get out here and change the world – because there’s nothing quite as exhilarating. Have you thought about getting out there and building your own business?
