My wife sent me this article from the New York Time’s Fashion and Style section. For some reason, I don’t read that section regularly. Not enough graphs, charts, and numbers to get me excited I guess. I played around a bit with the application at the web site. It was a bit jerky and slow, but I could […]
Cyberboutiques. I Don’t Know if this is a Great Idea or a Waste of Bandwidth. Read More »
It’s not like I look to the New York Times for all my good industry advertising and promotion ideas. Still, once in a while, they come up with something that gets me thinking. Their “Presto Instant Playground” article is one such idea. You may have to register to read it, but it won’t cost you anything. “During a
Popup Playgrounds; An Intriguing Marketing Idea 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 »
My youngest son and I went out to get our Christmas a week or so ago. I headed towards our usual lot, expecting to pay something like $60 for a tree when we spotted a sign that read, “Christmas Trees: $29.95.” Never one to turn down a deal, I followed the signs to the lot where, indeed,
A True Christmas Retail Tale Read More »
Sometimes I do my best work with a glass of wine. The secret is to never post what you’ve written until the next day, after you’ve read it again. I put “independent” in quotes (there, I’ve done it twice) because as I think about retailers and their relationships with brands I kind of wonder what independent means.
“Independent” Retailers; Are They Still Independent? And What if They Aren’t? Read More »
It’s a nice leather chair. I’ve had it less than two years. So I wasn’t happy when it started tilting side to side as much as it rocked from front to back. It felt like it was going to leave me on the floor any day and, besides, it was practically making me seasick. The nice people
My Office Chair, Customer Service, and Expense Control 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 »
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 received The 2008 SIMA Retail Distribution Study (highlights only) about the same time I got yet another phone call from another snowboard focused, core retailer that had been around a long time and was in trouble. I hate those calls because these are shops that I would like to see do well. My little accidental,
Blowback From the 4th Quarter; The SIMA Study and Snowboard Retailers Read More »
The issues that smaller retailers are facing haven’t changed much. There are too many retail stores, pressure from chains, brand stores and big boxes, a tough financial model, the challenge of keeping margins up, lack of product differentiation, increasing costs, over distribution. That’s a cheery environment, isn’t it? You’ve got a choice. You can bemoan the unfairness
What Forward Thinking Retailers are Doing: Trends That Probably Won’t Surprise Anybody Read More »