By Adam Wakefield
Haralambous, who took the stage at the Sandton Convention Centre without shoes and sporting a colourful pair of the socks he sells – which he wanted everyone to see – began his presentation by encapsulating it in one phrase: “Technology needs to get out of the way so you can do what you do really well”.
“Obviously, you can see I sell socks and surprisingly there is a lot of technology involved in making socks, but it’s all very old technology,” he said.
Haralambous started his first business when he was 18, and over the next 15 years, he started 10 businesses. Many of them failed, with the last one being a mobile technology company where they built technology that was “sometimes good, sometimes bad”. Today, Haralambous makes – in his own words – “a very tangible product”.
“The one thing I’ve learnt in the last four years in making and selling socks is everyone in tech wants something tangible,” he said.
“Everybody in the retail world that’s tangible wants something technology orientated. The grass is always greener, so you think that it’s going to solve your problems but the chances are, it isn’t.”
At the conference, Haralambous had heard everyone talk about “this same thing: story, story, story, story, story” and he understands that and it is true. However, from him and his business, if you don’t have a good product, you’re not in the game.
So, with Nic Harry, he focused on a good product first. Their starting point was R5000 and over the last three and half years, Nic Harry has built up the point where they are selling millions of rands worth of socks every year.
They forgot about e-commerce “because in South Africa, e-commerce is not a thing” and instead focused on what Haralambous called “old school retail”, opening two physical stores in Cape Town. They are about to open a third in Pretoria and roll out more next year in Johannesburg because “real retail, tangible things, matter”.
“Now don’t get me wrong. It’s about integrating technology and that’s what we’re trying to build. That’s where technology comes into this,” he said.
Technology’s first interaction with Nic Harry was Haralambous using Photoshop to add an extra sock to the single sample he received from the factory, supplying only one sock at a time.
The second was him using Wordpress, a free website builder, to make his website, and then using social media to launch the product online.
“The main thing that I don’t mention here is that the number one technology today in all of our businesses is word of mouth. People talking about my product is what built my business for three years. I did no formal advertising, I did no formal marketing for the first three years of my company,” Haralambous said.
“All I did was sell a good product, and talk to people about it at every opportunity. It’s why I’m not wearing shoes today, because you will remember my socks.”
It also comes down to how Haralambous feels about business, returning to what he said near the beginning of this presentation; “Everyone wants the other thing, but for me, business is hustle and technology doesn’t help me make more sales. It just doesn’t,” Haralambous explained.
“The things that help me make more sales are probably the things that are going to help you make more sales in your business: good customer service helps me make more sales hand over fist.”
Nic Harry does not do returns but rather, if there is a problem, they ask the customer to keep that pair of socks and they send them a free pair.
This is because when that free pair arrives, you are either going to keep it for yourself and talk about Nic Harry on social media, or give the socks away as a gift to someone else, who will then talk about Nic Harry on social media.
“That helps me make more sales. I put my bamboo socks in an old school box, an old school wrap and we sent it to people and they talk about my socks and they find my website and they buy. My website helps people find my product. Technology is not helping me make more sales,” Haralambous said.
“My product gets me in the game. If I have a good product, I get to stay in the game. If you have a shi**y product, you don’t get to stay in the game. Apps are not going to save your business. Engaging with people and selling your product is.”