Retail and Wholesale Apparel, The Silver Lining...

There is a silver lining in this tough economy. It is not easy to see, but if you look deep enough and with your eyes wide open it is there.

I don't like to see misery in other people, but....business is business, let the strong survive.

With all the store closings and layoffs over the past year, there is a remake of the retail playing field.

What does this mean to you? Well if your reading this there is no doubt that you made it this far. Have your competitors?

In the who's who of store closings there are direct competitors gone as well as indirect competitors. There are less stores fighting for the retail dollar.

This is great for those that are left standing. It doesn't mean that you can raise prices, or that your sales will suddenly increase.

What it does mean is that you have a "do over" a chance to capture sales that were not easily available before.

The Country was way over retailed. Like the stock market that is way over bought, there was a need for a reckoning, a pull back or even a crash, to right the ship.

Retailers need to look at the positives, like the Great Fire of London in 1666 there are silver linings. It was the end of the Bubonic Plague, and London rose with wider streets, better and safer building codes, minus the unsanitiary housing that was a propellent of the plague.

In the same way that the Great Fire actually saved lives, the closing of many retail stores will save retailing.

While the retail landscape is being repainted, this near term debacle will lead to a better business climate for the next generation.

Retailers will learn a lot from this, and we will rise, with this knowledge to build better, more profitable establishments.

Only if we bury our heads and blame the economy for our troubles will we fail. We saw signs, but did not react, we got complacent thinking that we could build store after store, mistreat the consumer, and they will still buy.

We are learning that customer service is not just a term, but is a crucial fact, and imperative to success.

We are learning that data is important, and is not just for the large chains, and big box retailers, and that data is just that data, and if it is not used in the proper way, or used at all, it is of no value.

We will learn that employees need to be valued, and employees will learn that they need to value their jobs. That jobs are not to be taken for granted, and that if you look at a job like a job, and not like it is "your business" it will likely be just a job.

We are learning that controlling your wholesale apparel inventory, and being open to new resources are vital to survival.

That traditional means, whether it is purchasing, employees, customer service, should be left to the ages, more inventive albeit less traditional means are needed.

There is a lot to learn from this changing of the retail world. If we keep our heads about us, our eyes open, and a good old American work ethic, we will not survive, but prosper.

Happy Retailing!

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