Billabong management told us at least six months ago that 2011 would be a “transition year” and it is. But the strategy they started to tell us about a few years ago remains intact and they continue to pursue it. As I’ve written before, I generally agree with that strategy and my experience is that companies that […]
Billabong’s Half Yearly Report; A Consistent Strategic Approach Read More »
Before my friends at SIA get too cocky over the title, they should know I’m referring to our industry’s current business environment as well as the show. Granted, I was a bit of a slow convert to the move from Vegas to Denver, and I still miss playing blackjack with friends, but overall I’m glad they
Thoughts on the SIA Show in Denver- It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This Read More »
It’s always interesting when a company in the industry decides to go public. They’ve got to drop their drawers and provide you, in their S1 filing, with information you could only speculate about previously. If you want to see it, the whole thing is here. As of last week, Skullcandy’s drawers are well and truly dropped. Since I
Skullcandy Going Public; What We Can Learn From Their SEC Filing Read More »
SIA was kind enough to feed me a nice breakfast this (Friday) morning before the show opened. While I ate and drank coffee, people from the various industry organizations that are and have been involved in the industry’s programs to convert first time snow sliders talked to us about what they’ve accomplished and what more needs
Inventory Management and Customer Conversion/Retention in the Snow Sliding Business Read More »
Back in early December, I bookmarked an article I wanted to write about then promptly forgot about it with the holidays and other intriguing stuff going on. It was a short article in Stores News about Sports Authority starting to open stores called S. A. Elite. Like the story said (read it here), Sports Authority has
Another New Retail Concept. Just What We Need. Read More »
Last week, Quik filed its’ annual 10-K report with the SEC covering the quarter and year ended October 31, 2010. They announced their earnings by press release and held a conference call back in December. I’m not going to reanalyze their financials. I did that last month and you can read it here. But the north of 100 pages
Quiksilver Files Its 10-K for the Year Read More »
The other day I was reading Vanity Fair. That’s a little weird. But my wife gets it, and one of the highlighted cover stories was “Surfing the World’s Giant Waves.” I enjoyed it and learned a little more about surfing history. Still, I was a bit surprised to find the story there. The mag was full of high end fashion
Accidental Encounters with Two Magazines and Market Evolution Read More »
Apparently, if you get a whole bunch of retailers who need to buy stuff together with the brands they want to buy from there’s still every reason to have a big old trade show. Maybe, in fact, the bigger the better. The more brands and retailers, assuming they are the right brands and retailers, the more
Surf Expo; The Report of the Death of Trade Shows is Greatly Exaggerated Read More »
A friend of mine who wants to remain anonymous (I get quite a few of those) sent me an email the other day and had an interesting point to make about gross margin for brands who owned retail stores. When a brand opens retail stores they do it at least in part because they expect
Gross Profit Margins; How to Think About Them for Brands with a Big Retail Presence Read More »
Quiksilver continued to improve its balance sheet over the year and quarter, and this conference call is the first in a while where I’ve gotten a sense of where some growth might really come from. We’ll talk about that. But first, I thought some of you might actually want to know how much Quiksilver earned for