Janet Freeman, owner of the small but well established women’s snowboard apparel brand Betty Rides, has a problem. On October 17th, she told me, “It’s weird but Betty Rides has ALREADY been getting lots of re-orders for snowboard jackets and pants. We cut to order, and are sold out on most things.” Naturally, I was sympathetic to […]
Inventory Risk and Inventory Management; Our Own Version of Musical Chairs? Read More »
Rick Brooks, Zumiez’s CEO and CFO Trevor Lang held a half hour question and answer session today at the Thomas Weisel Partners Consumer Conference in New York. Previously, Zumiez had announced on September 2nd that “…total net sales for the four-week period ended August 29, 2009 decreased 2.9% to $51.7 million, compared to $53.2 million for
Zumiez’s Fireside Chat Read More »
Nike put out a press release on its quarterly earnings two days ago and held a conference call on their results yesterday. This has all happened before the actual 10Q with all the detailed information and footnotes is available. So on the one hand, I’d like to be timely and have this done before everybody loses interest,
Nike’s 8/31/09 Quarter, Their Impact on the Industry and Quips on Conference Calls Read More »
So let me see if I understand this. At a time when economic conditions are leading us to fewer brands and fewer shops and consumers spending fewer bucks, and those brands and retailers that are left want to spend less money and send fewer people to trade shows, we have more trade shows. Will somebody please
Trade Shows. There Can Be Only One? Read More »
I’ve read the press release and listened to the conference call, and here’s what I found out. Quik’s total revenue for the quarter fell 11.2% to $501.4 million from $569.9 million for the same quarter the previous year. Their gross profit margin fell from 50.4% to 46.7%. Selling, general and administrative expense was down 9.1% to $211.8
Quiksilver’s Quarter and Nine Months Ended July 31, 2009 Read More »
When a brand said, “We’re just going to open a few flag ship stores to build the brand image and collect some good consumer information,” I was okay with that. Made sense. When it said, “We’re just going to open a few outlet stores to keep stuff that didn’t sell well out of the wrong
The Post Recession Role of Company Stores Read More »
I grew up spending all my summers on Long Beach Island, New Jersey. That’s where I learned to surf. And just before anybody makes the comment yes, the surf is generally lousy and for anything really good we have to pray for hurricanes and a change in the prevailing south winds. We still have a family beach
A Tale of Two Surf Shops. Kind Of. Read More »
I’m supposed to crunch a bunch of numbers when I do these things, but first I’d like to highlight Billabong’s Operating Principles from its Corporate Governance Statement. There are eight of them and they are: 1. Lay solid foundations for management and oversight. 2. Structure the board to add value. 3. Promote ethical and responsible decision
Billabong’s Annual Report for Year Ended June 30, 2008 Read More »
Volcom filed their 10Q in the last couple of days. There’s some good news here, though of course Volcom’s income statement for the quarter and six months reflects the impact of the recession. And the issue of how to manage their PacSun business is an interesting one. Let’s start with the balance sheet. The filing includes balance sheets
Volcom’s Quarter Ended June 30, 2009 Read More »
If you read this http://www.nbcnewyork.com/blogs/the-thread/Swimsuit-Vending-Machines-to-be-Stocked-in-Hotel-52089002.html you’ll see that Quik has partnered with Standard Hotels to sell cobranded swim suits at boutiques and poolside vending machines for $75 a pair. I’m not writing this to express an opinion (though I’m usually not loathe to do that) but just to let you know it’s happening and to
Boardshorts from a Vending Machine Read More »