Volcom’s Quarter and Nine Months Ended September 30 Back on October 29th Volcom released a press release with its third quarter results and hosted a conference call on those results. Everybody read, and listened, and analyzed, and wrote stuff. On November 9th, with no press release, they filed their 10Q for the same time period. Nobody seems […]
Volcom Quarter & Nine Months Ended 9/30/09 Read More »
I’ve been chanting for the last few months, and maybe longer, that our current economic environment represents a great opportunity for new and smaller brands. At an ASR seminar in September, somebody actually, finally, asked me, “What do you mean by that exactly?” My answer was that if you were a specialty retailer, and were still
Opportunities for new Labels and Small Brands. What, Exactly, Should You Do? Read More »
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 »