Larchmont entrepreneur embraces the style in contrast
Louise Fischer is in the business of delivering a piece of her homeland to other people”™s homes. The former advertising executive, who grew up in Denmark and now lives in Larchmont with her family, started an online store selling imported Danish home goods.
Fischer named the store Kontrast, Danish for the word “contrast,” because she chooses home accessories that create a contrast in homes with all types of interior design, not just modern themes. The word also represents the shift in Fischer”™s career within the past year, which brought her closer to her Danish roots, challenged her to apply her skills to a new industry and turned her home into her office and product warehouse.
“It was really a combination of heart and mind,” Fischer said of starting the store, which had a soft launch in October. She said she had been looking for a unique business opportunity she would be capable of running.
Fischer received her graduate degree in business at Copenhagen Business School. She began her career in advertising in Denmark and moved to New York to pursue it in 1993. During her 20-year career in the industry, Fischer held senior positions at advertising agency SS+K and international firms TBWA and Anomaly. She resigned from her job in June as managing partner at TBWA to work on Kontrast full time.
As an advertising executive, she worked with Coca-Cola, H&M, Unilever and Starwood Hotels & Resorts, among other large brands. Fischer said that while she enjoyed her career, after two decades she felt ready for a change and a new challenge.
“Somebody had been my boss for all these years still,” she said. “I had the urge to really create something on my own.”
Fischer found the inspiration for the business on a trip to Denmark last winter. She discovered new designs while shopping in home stores and had the idea to promote and sell the Danish products in the U.S. She said Danish design is known for its style and functionality.
There are online stores that sell Scandinavian goods, but few are strictly Danish. Those that are strictly Danish focus on furniture rather than accessories or are too modern, she said. She curates a variety of down-filled decorative pillows, candleholders, lamps and other goods she said she believes will fit in with any home.
“Obviously there”™s a lot of competition, and who needs another company that sells pillows?” she said. “I have to believe that there”™s a certain group of people that are always looking for something that”™s really unique that you can”™t get at all the usual suspects.”
Fischer said she wants to avoid being a gift site and become a go-to for people decorating their homes. She wrote a business plan to make sure she has the potential to make a profit on the venture, which is currently self-funded.
Her background prepared her to assess her target audience and identify customer segments. Because she frequently worked with designers, she also honed her aesthetic eye, which helps her choose merchandise. She incorporated her business, Fischer Design, in May.
She researched how to handle the crux of her business ”” importing and shipping merchandise. She uses DSV, an international transport company, to handle the shipping from Denmark to the U.S. and the customs fees. Danish vendors send the items to the port in Copenhagen, then they ship via DSV to the U.S. in a container. Overseas shipping can take six weeks. She said she will airlift items if she needs faster delivery.
All items are delivered to Fischer”™s home, where she keeps track of inventory then fulfills orders through the Postal Service. Since many orders are still local, she also offers the option to pick up from her home. One vendor of the six she works with has a warehouse in the U.S. and ships items directly to customers.
Fischer pays half the price for merchandise from two vendors, and for the others she sets a price depending on the product. The shipping, customs and marketing costs cut into her margins, she said, so she is open to assessing her cost structure after her first phase of sales.
Kontrast has about 150 different items on its site that Fischer has curated. She said she chooses items she likes and that she thinks will sell. Some of the brands are carried on competitor”™s sites, while others don”™t yet have a presence in the U.S.
“That”™s my risk because I have to actually carry inventory, import it myself,” Fischer said. “But it”™s also my opportunity because if they don”™t have a big inventory here, then it means that they are not readily available for everybody and it means that I have an opportunity to bring them to the U.S.”
Fischer doesn”™t have any exclusivity with the Danish brands yet. She would like to overcome this by developing products in collaboration with the Danish designers that will use American measurements. She also wants to expand nationally, which could entail physically meeting with bloggers and designers in other cities.
Although she prefers to run mainly an e-commerce site, Fischer said she could eventually open a showroom to store and display the inventory, which would move it from her house. She said she would consider opening a store in the Hamptons for the summer, displaying her goods in an empty storefront or creating a pop-up shop.
Fischer said she is adjusting to running a business. She learned how to build and maintain her e-commerce site with Shopify.com and edit vendors”™ pictures on Adobe Photoshop. She has had help from her husband and her friends, especially at the launch party at her home in November. Her former company, TBWA, printed fliers for her event.
“As an entrepreneur you”™ve really got to be scrappy; you”™ve got to put yourself out there and be a bit aggressive,” Fischer said. “And don”™t be afraid of asking questions, because otherwise you”™re not going to get anywhere.”