jeff | Jeff Harbaugh

Billabong’s Six Month Report: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

Six months ago, reporting on Billabong’s results for the whole year, I said this was a challenging turnaround, Billabong was doing things right, they were starting to see results, but the market was tough, and implementing their plan was taking longer and costing more (perhaps because it’s taking longer) than they’d initially expected. That’s all […]

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GoPro’s Year and Quarter: Doing the Right Things, But……..

GoPro

Let’s just jump right to a comment CEO Nick Woodman made during the conference call. “I would say that we are more focused on revenue and margin and less focused on volume on a unit basis.” That sounds to me like GoPro is more interested in the higher end of the market. And they should

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Here It Comes; 3D Printing for Apparel

Retail

It was, I think, a couple of years ago when I said, 3D printing of various products is on its way. I suggested maybe getting a 3D printer for a few thousand bucks and experimenting with it. Maybe print some key chains or stuff like that. The responses were along the lines of “Oh, sure,

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Nordstrom is Struggling with the Same Issues All Retailers Have

Retail

Last week was spent in Arizona on an annual excursion with old friends playing golf. In my case, bad golf. There may also have been a cocktail or two involved. Anyway, as I left, GoPro came out with its 10K annual report and, while I was gone, Billabong reported its half yearly numbers. So I’m

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Trade Shows: Can’t Live with Them, Can’t Live Without Them

Trade Shows

Life was simpler when I wrote my first article on trade shows in the mid-90s. We went to trade shows because it was the only place to see, and to make, complete product presentations, and discover new, meaningful, features and products. There were also a lot more specialty retailers. The shows were the only place

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Deckers’ Quarter: More Sanuk Travails and the Public Company Conundrum.

Deckers (Sanuk)

I’ve reviewed Deckers’ 10Q for the three months ended December 31, 2016 and their conference call. The company earned $41 million on sales of $760 million in the quarter, which isn’t bad. But that’s down from net income of $157 million on revenues of $796 million in the same quarter last year. The problem? I’m

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An Analysis of Free Trade

Macroeconomics

I’ve been sitting on this for a while trying to figure out whether or not offer it up. It’s certainly not action sports or active outdoor focused. And, in our current environment, it’s inevitably going to be perceived as having a particular bias. I’d say it reaches a solid conclusion based on the data

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Trade Shows, the Buy/Sell Cycle, and Changing Consumer Habits

Industry Evolution

Over the last months or maybe a year, I’ve watched the trade show discussion as dates have changed, unchanged, and we’ve all tried to figure out the role of trade shows. We agree, I think, on the following: We need some trade shows Right now, there are too many Face time is a primary benefit

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What Will Retail Be Like in Five Years and How Will You Prosper?

Industry Evolution, Retail

That was the question asked at a meeting last week at the Agenda trade show. The meeting was attended by various invited brands and retailers and by me. This meeting has been going for maybe four shows now and has generally been thoughtful and productive. That’s a welcome improvement from the larger group meetings that

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The Impact of Demographics on the Active Outdoor Industry

Industry Evolution

I’ve just finished reading a book called The Methuselah Effect, by Patrick Cox. As I’ve said, I often get intriguing business ideas from non-business books. This is one of those times. I really recommend this book. The trouble is, it doesn’t seem to be on Amazon, which I’ve never seen before. Anyway, the book is

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