
Over a period of 10 years, the Riverdale family business has grown enormously. By now there are 1,800 sales points in the Netherlands and far outside. Commercial Manager and retail insider Edwin van Oort: “We are on top of the trend, which makes our home accessories stand out.”
Entrepreneurial family Ten Bos, owners of the Riverdale trademark, switched from wholesale to a brand for the consumer market in 2006. Riverdale is mainly known for home accessories and now has its own furniture collection. Van Oort: “It is a true family business. And each product we sell now fits in with our values and stands for that family atmosphere. They are products that we want to have at home ourselves. I am doing everything I can to promote Riverdale, the innovation, trends and passion, to the consumer and the retailer in the right way.”
Perception
Van Oort once owned several perfume shops and knows the importance of perception like no other. His mission: making sure that retailers present the Riverdale trademark story in their shops in the best possible way. “We have noticed that the entrepreneurs who really see us as a trademark with related collections achieve better turnover compared to retailers who simply purchase a few loose products from us. We collaborate intensively with retailers. If someone buys something from our webshop, it can be collected from an affiliated store in the client’s neighbourhood. That retailer receives a fee for the online sale. And the pickup obviously brings more visitors to the shop.”
Research
“We choose the current trends,” says Van Oort. “We do this, among other things, by listening closely to trend watchers, such as Lidewij Edelkoort. She advises us on the future when it comes to lifestyle. We use this knowledge to look for suitable accessories and furniture all over the world. The next step is for our design team to translate those designs to our own collection. Only then does production start. In this way we create three collections per year, allowing us to supply new products to our clients 6 to 8 times a year.” He is expecting another acceleration in the years to come in terms of innovation in the shops, just like in the fashion world. “Examples are chains like Zara, which add products to their collections every few weeks.”
Copycats
Success also attracts copycats, Van Oort confirms. For example, a Riverdale post tray was copied in detail. “It eventually resulted in a settlement. Very often Riverdale products are copied, but the fact that we often renew our collections makes it less and less interesting for copycats to copy products. We keep some products in our collections for longer and we then protect the design rights through V.O.”