Co-Founder and Chief Rainmaker @ Retail Strategy Group | Tweets about retail, product creation, merchandising.
Toronto, Ontario
Joined February 2022
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Volume 38 of The Merchant Life newsletter is live!
As with the January edition of any publication, you expect to find predictions for the upcoming year.
But, we prefer to eschew casting predictions.
Here's a preview:
#merchandising #retail #productdevelopment #endtoend
Bringing in a new CEO should usher in fresh thinking.
It's like opening a window to bring in the fresh air.
But what if the air is polluted?
Statement Over Story.
Products don't need to be telling stories.
Rather, they should make statements about what a brand stands for.
#retail #productdesign
The process of creating product is a journey from concept to market.
Like taking a train from A to B.
There are many stops along the way. Things can break down.
The journey is delayed....
The trick is framing the product creation process like a subway system.
There are multiple tracks to move people from A to B.
Retailers need multiple tracks of their own...
We talk about the "multi-track" approach in Volume 36 of The Merchant Life newsletter.
themerchantlife.com/p/runthe…
For retailers concerned about keeping up with customer shifts:
The current downturn is an opportunity to improve the product assortment process before economic recovery.
This is the time to catch up with customers while they take a breath.
#retail #footwear #excessinventory
Keeping pace with customer shifts is not:
❌ Sending out generic surveys post-purchase.
❌ Over development of SKU's and hoping one is a winner.
❌ Buying deep into trends too far in advance of the season.
But...keeping pace with customer shifts is:
✅ Getting out of the office and talking to customers.
✅ Weaving customer insights into the product development process.
✅ Treating innovation as a process, not an event.
When you keep pace with customer shifts, the important measures of success are impacted:
⬆️ Full priced sales
⬆️ Gross margins
⬇️ Inventory/sales ratios
#retail #productdevelopment #excessinventory #footwear
Excess inventory.
Losing pace with shifts in customer behavior.
Erosion of gross margin.
Selling on markdowns.
Missing forecasts.
No time for innovation.
What do these have in common?
These are the symptoms of a retailer suffering from a lack of speed.
Speed to market, that is.
Read what we propose retailers should do to accelerate speed in our @MyTotalRetail article.
mytotalretail.com/article/th…
@TheMerchantLife