Well, it appears I’ve done it again. After having published just this morning an article in which I said, “Billabong would be better off as a private company, but I don’t see a path to privatization that makes sense to Oaktree,” Billabong has received an offer to have its outstanding shares acquired for $1.00 each […]
A few weeks ago, you no doubt saw the reports that Billabong (which would mean Oaktree Capital Management– the controlling investor in Billabong) was doing due diligence on Rip Curl as a possible acquisition. Oaktree, of course, is also a major investor in Quiksilver. When Oaktree invested in Billabong, there were some rumblings about combining […]
Personal Note: “Okay Diane [my wife], I give up. We’ve been trying to find a smaller house for two years in this stupid Seattle real estate market. It ain’t happening until next spring and I’m buying the cord of wood we need for our fire place to get through the winter (along with some red […]
So, I don’t know what’s going to happen this afternoon, much less five years from now. Without comment, I just want to direct your attention to this article/presentation by the BBC. Just go to this link, hit “TAP HERE” and start reading, scrolling and watching. I’m sure some of this is going to happen. I’m […]
Perhaps I bring the most value to the industry when a reader sends me something they think is important but that they don’t want to be directly associated with. And they figure, “Send it to Jeff! He’ll publicize anything.” Most of the time, they’re right and this is one of those times.
We believe in the power of brands. We have to. In action sports/active outdoor, there are very few “moats” around products. That is, there are few distinguishing product features not based on marketing that are sustainable and even long-established brand names run into difficulties holding onto their market positions. Witness Nike’s current struggles. Years ago, […]
During the last couple of years, I’ve written some articles pointing to the emergence of 3D printing, urging you to at least be aware of the trends even if we agreed it wasn’t going to rock your world today. I wrote about it here, here, and here.
Roots, a Canadian retailer, has filed a prospectus for a public offering. Here’s the link to their web site. As usual, the initial prospectus is missing a lot of key numbers, but I’ll do the best I can. Roots has been around since 1973, so they must be doing something right. “As of July 29, […]
A reader sent me this article discussing how retail seems likely to evolve. Why don’t you go and read it before I offer my comments? The author (Doug Stephens) and I are, in general, in violent agreement about the direction and speed of retail change. We further agree that if you, as a retailer are […]
In my travels, I’ve come across a few articles describing some new retail ideas. I don’t know which might turn out to be “right” or “wrong,” but it seems incumbent on us to be aware and consider whether any of the ideas might apply to our businesses. I guess this is my way to help […]
