Fractions
Four out of three people have trouble with fractions.
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When Your Company Books Travel For You
Them-”By the way (since your time means nothing to me), I have booked you out on Sunday morning at 6 am, even though you don’t have an appointment until Monday mid-morning. However, we were able to save $50 on the airfare.
Them-”Your rental car has been booked for you, but it’s not a company you’ve heard of. There is no Gold Service, so it’s probably a good thing that you are getting there so early on Sunday. It will be 6 pm before you get out of the rental lot.”
Them-”Your hotel has been booked for you. The travel agent says they have recently installed new bars on the windows. But don’t walk anywhere except directly to your car and have your car keys jutting out between your fingers in case you have to take a swing at someone.”
Them-”Rather than rush to get to your flight on Thursday, why don’t you just stay over and catch a morning flight the next day. By the way, even though that means you have to get up at 2 am California time (5 am on the east coast) to catch that 6.30 am flight, I still will be very disappointed if you don’t come into the office upon your arrival. But go ahead and go home around 4.30 pm, if you are a little tired…”
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Most Uncomfortable Airline Seats
Continental. Has the CEO of the company ever sat in coach? I wonder what lumber yard provides them with the padding for the seats. Additionally, they have the magazine pockets that are held on by some wire coat hanger contraption that adds to the discomfort.
I have flown great distances twice in these unbelievably hard, narrow and cramped seats. In 2006, I flew from San Diego to Newark to London Gatwick and flew the family from Los Angeles to Maui in the 90’s. If you are wondering why I would do that, it was due to the price of the airfare when the tickets were purchased.
However, in fairness, they are one of the LAST airlines to provide you with actual food for free. On my last trip, I was treated to a warm cheese pizza and a warm cheeseburger. While they weren’t fine dining, they were a lot better than the $5 snack box of other airlines.
But I’d rather them save that money for some comfortable seats.
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Best Restaurant
Il Cortile, 125 Mulberry Street, NYC. In the heart of Little Italy.
Best appetizer…Spiedini alla Romana (fried mozzarella…and get the anchovy sauce!)
Best entree…Ragu’ del Macellaio (Sundays only). Meatballs, ribs and sausages!!! Outstanding!!!
Best Pecse (Fish)…All of them!!! This is the best Italian restaurant for fish.
Other Great Dishes…Pork chops, veal chops, gnocchi (my personal favorite pasta), any dish with pancetta, and brocolli rape (an absolutely incredible vegetable).
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Worst City to Drive
Seattle…The fast lane on freeways pokes at around 40 miles an hour. Don’t even get in the slow lanes, which are parking lots.
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WSJ 18 Jan 2008 - Gloomy Retail Forecast
Have you read today’s Wall Street Journal? The sub-headline states that the “recent sharp drop in sales prompts gloomy forecasts of worst slump in years”. According to the article, this equates with fewer store openings and cut backs on inventory. Cut backs on inventory…cut backs on inventory.
This is the smart strategy. Can you do it? Will you do it?
OR DO YOU NEED HELP???
My typical client will reduce their inventory investment BY A MINIMUM OF 15%. Some will reduce even more. If you have $100,000, at cost, in inventory, then I will get you down to $85,000. That will mean BETTER CASH FLOW and FEWER MARKDOWNS!
My typical client will also gain profitability BY A MINIMUM, 3-5 percentage points. At the bottom of the list, you can gain $3,000 in profits for each $100,000 in sales!
So if the gloomy retail forecast is true, then do you want to be prepared for it? OR do you want to find yourself in a WORSE POSITION THIS TIME NEXT YEAR?
BEFORE YOU THINK THIS IS FOR A LARGE RETAILER, THINK AGAIN!!! If you are doing at least $250,000 in annual sales, then your savings will MORE THAN COVER THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS WITH ME.
Call now. Every moment you procrastinate is LOSING YOU MONEY.
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Shrinkage
Wikipedia has a great definition of shrinkage. The author refers to it as “the loss of products between point of manufacture or purchase from supplier and point of sale”. The posting further states that 48.5% of shrinkage is employee theft and 31.7% is due to shoplifting (according to the National Retail Security Survey conducted by the University of Florida). It lists the four major causes of shrinkage as:
- Employee theft
- Shoplifting
- Administrative errors
- Vendor fraud
The survey stated that shrinkage was 1.7% of revenue in 2001 and I find that surprising low. 1.0% is a good target and to find that the aggregate for retailing is close to that number is probably a bit optimistic. Many retailers don’t like to admit to this problem.
In my years of selling retail systems, it was an eye-opener to hear retailers defend their employees of being loyal and incapable of theft. It was also an eye-opener to find retailers who, with a new system, finally could create accountability and identify the cause(s) of high shrinkage. The highest number I ever ran into was a multi-store apparel retailer on the west coast that was experiencing 11% shrinkage on about $15M in sales. $1.65M (at retail) in losses! Read the rest of this entry »
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New Pickles & Ice Cream Open-to-Buy Client
This month, I welcome a new Pickles and Ice Cream maternity store as a new client. The new store is located in McAllen, TX near the southernmost tip of Texas. Click here for a map. The McAllen store is owned by Michele Sparks, pictured to the right, and Cody Sparks. The store location is:
Trenton View Shopping Center
7017 North 10th Street, Suite O-2
McAllen, TX 78504
Phone: 956.373.9516
Retail Business 101 began working with Pickles stores back in 2001. We reviewed sales history, pricing strategies and inventory levels and developed an approach to buying that has proven successful. The experts at Pickles select the merchandise and I set their budgets. Each month, I review their actual sales and inventory against plans and then provide a written report that looks at Key Performance Indicators for each department. The store owners have responded well and many stores have found 5-8 percentage point increase in profits while reducing inventory by as much as 18%! Read the rest of this entry »
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Anti-Word of the Year 2007
Merriam-Webster has selected w00t as its word of the year. Notice that it is a “w” with two zeroes and a “t”, but the purists will call it w007. I am not a purist (geek) who uses 133t speak (elite speak). In fact, if I hadn’t read the article, I wouldn’t know about w007 or 133t.
My favorite from them only placed fifth. It was blamestorm. Anyone who has ever worked in the corporate world can appreciate this. It caused me to recall working at software companies where the sales and support staffs worked hand-in-hand. Well, it was more like hand-to-hand. Support people thought salespeople lied and salespeople thought support people didn’t have enough to do.
I guess it gets boring at the end of the year at the dictionary place and they want to put their name out there just in case someone has absolutely no idea what to give someone for Christmas. Oh, that reminds me, I’ll get them a dictionary.
So I want to name my anti-Word of the Year…Drum roll please. It’s athleticism. It has become the most overused word in sports. Come on color commentators, find something different.
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Evaluating 2007
Retail, like all industries, has taken a big hit this year due to economic conditions. We all have friends, family, maybe even ourselves, who are facing the toughest personal and business financial crises of their/our lives.
So how is business? When I look at customer sales numbers, I see lower sales from a year ago for most of them. But does that mean they are in worse shape than a year ago? NO! More sales does not necessarily translate into better business. I have had several clients who were in difficult positions and we turned the business around with LESS sales, not more.
Some of my clients are in worse shape, but the ones who are not have taken steps over the last year to ensure that they are retail healthy. For these clients, we lowered their sales plans and they bought less inventory. In some cases, clients who have struggled with staying within the buying budget, they really decided to do something different this year by tackling that excess inventory situation. They just decided to stay close to the budget. Read the rest of this entry »
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