Internet Related Issues for Retailers and Brands to Think About

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I wouldn’t quite characterize this as an article as much as random musing about some internet experiences I’ve had.  I can’t wait to see what I write.

My microwave broke.  Not so much broke.  The door wouldn’t latch so I couldn’t use it unless I stood there and held the door closed.  Not particularly practical.  I thought to myself, “Damn, it’s either a $150 service call or a new microwave.”

But for some reason, I went to YouTube and searched under “microwave door won’t close.”  And the very first video that popped up was exactly that for my model.  Literally 15 minutes later, I’d taken out a screw, popped part of the door away from the gasket, reinserted the stupid spring that had come lose (probably from the kid slamming the door too hard- unless it was his father who was doing it) and it was fixed.

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Why Did The Great Recession Happen?

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Why Did The Great Recession Happen?

If you’ve ever looked at the suggested reading list on my web site, you know that I read some stuff that’s not related to business and certainly not to our industry.  Not directly that is.  But I think it helps me understand the environment we operate in and perhaps get a perspective I wouldn’t otherwise get.

William R. White is an economist who was recently awarded the apparently very prestigious Adam Smith prize.  He presented a lecture when he accepted the prize called, “Ultra Easy Money: Digging the Hole Deeper?”` Read more

Billabong’s Annual Meeting: The Future’s Still Coming

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Billabong held its annual meeting on November 22.  Back in August, I reported on Billabong’s results for the year ended June 30.  Here’s the link to that article.  The headline numbers then (all numbers in Australian dollars) were revenue from continuing operations of $1.10 billion and a net loss after tax of $23.7 million.  I started that article with these points which seem just as relevant now as they did then.

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The Shape of Brick and Mortar to Come?

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I like to characterize a sudden good idea as getting whacked on the side of the head by a two by four.  Today, I got whacked by a lily.  My wife’s birthday is tomorrow and I walked into a convenient florist to order some flowers.  Except what I walked into was a little café.  Quite nice really, with people sitting on casual, older comfortable furniture eating, reading, drinking coffee.

For just a couple of seconds, I was a bit put off, thinking calling the place a flower shop was some kind of clever marketing I wasn’t cool enough to understand.  But the flower shop was in the same space, but towards the back.  I cannot believe I didn’t take a picture.

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Finally, a Sign of Life at Sanuk: Deckers’ September 30 Quarter

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Deckers, as you know, owns Ugg, Teva, and Hoka as well as Sanuk and some other smaller brands.  Their second quarter kind of reflected the economic and competitive conditions we’re seeing as most companies report their results.  However, Deckers is making a solid overall profit.

Total revenue at $485.9 million didn’t change much.  It was $1 million higher than last year’s quarter.  Contrary to what we’re seeing in other companies, U.S. business rose $312.3 million, up from $301.5 million.  International fell from $185.3 to $173.7 million.  Wholesale revenues were $400 million and direct to consumer $86.0 million, both down very slightly.

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The Same Old Competitive Conundrum: GoPro’s September 30 Quarter

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I like GoPro’s strategy.  Or at least, I don’t know what other strategy I could choose to pursue as a public company in their space.  Here’s how they describe its evolution in the 10-Q for September 30.  “What began as an idea to help athletes document themselves engaged in sport, GoPro has become an end-to-end storytelling solution that helps the world share itself through immersive and engaging content.”  I’ll quote President Anthony Bates at some length, because it’s important to understand their concept.

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We’re All in This Together: Things to Think About from VF’s Quarterly Report

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We’re All in This Together:  Things to Think About from VF’s Quarterly Report

VF’s 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30 showed up last week.  As usual, I’ll look at the numbers.  But I want to focus on several statements and action VF highlights in their conference call and 10-Q.  They highlight the extent to which we’re all dealing with the same economic and business conditions, and how we’re mostly dealing them in the same way. There’s also a couple of good ideas in here and maybe an “AHA” moment.

I’ll start by quoting CEO Eric Wiseman’s comment on the business environment.

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The Wallons and Skate Longboards

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I want to talk about taking a long term perspective, unforeseen consequences, not learning from history and maybe confirmation bias.  A couple of things have serendipitously come across my desk as the same time that made me renew by thinking on these issues.  I seem to find my best business lessons everywhere but in business books.

As you may have read, the European Community has just spent 7 years negotiating a trade pact with Canada.  But it collapsed because the Wallons voted against it.  The Wallons represent the French speaking part of Belgium.  The other part speaks Dutch and each part has its own parliament.

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Growing Snowboard Brand Revenue; the Active Outdoor Market and Year Around Resorts

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There has been much ringing of hands and gnashing of teeth around the subject of snowboard participation and what to do about it.  Studies have been done and programs implemented.  What has their impact been?  Hard to know, because we don’t know what things would look like if they hadn’t happened.

SIA reports there were 17.1 million snowboard visits to U.S. resorts during the 2004-05 season.  That number was 14.5 million in the 2014-15 season, down 15.2% over that period.  Participation during this period peaked during the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons at 18.9 million.

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My Farewell to PacSun as a Public Company

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It was a couple of weeks ago that PacSun finally released its year end financials for January 30, 2016.  Arguably, nobody cares given the time that’s passed, the bankruptcy filing and the fact that they’ve now emerged from bankruptcy.

But a brief review of the numbers tells us something about how the company deteriorated to the point where a bankruptcy filing was the only real choice.  It’s also good information to have as we take a look at how they came out of bankruptcy.

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