AGENT PROVOCATEUR Cynical about sales A
s the ‘Sale’ period starts to come to an end, most of you are looking at your left over stock and thinking ‘how am I going to get rid of all this? I have more stock arriving any time now and those blessed agents, suppliers and wholesalers are
phoning to make appointments to sell me even more product for the Autumn/ Winter season, that could also end up in the Sale in another years time!’ For new shops this is mind blowing, they still think of the boxes on their shelves as containing shoes instead of £1 notes, (whoops showing my age - £1 coins). For those of you who have been around a good few years or invested in an ‘all singing all dancing’ EPOS till system, you will be on top of your stock control, assessing what has or has not performed and why, and sitting your staff down to ask them the same thing, confident that although there will be some belt- tightening, you will still be around another year, but ‘newbie’s’ to the trade wont be feeling quite as confident. It is post- mortem time. Just like the Monty Phython parrot sketch where Basil is told ‘this bird is no more, it is deceased, there’s no more life in it’, you are more than aware a brand/line/style is dead, but you had high expectations of it living a lot longer and need to get your head around why it has left you also feeling as sick as a parrot and wondering if there’s someone else to blame that could have prevented this awful feeling. Instead of thumping the parrots head on the counter you are left thumping your own. Maybe there is another way of doing things? Have you ever thought about being able to swop, change, or just sell your “unwanted” stock to another retailer in the same position as you (he might just be able to sell the very shoes you can’t and vice-versa)? There are a few retailers dotted around the county that have “contacts” and are pretty good at creating a Noel Edmunds style Swop Shop and it is just possible to do each other a favour, I believe SSF members can put their needs on the SSF website to network together, so perhaps we need a bit more community spirited projects in these difficult times? One pair of shoes swapped or donated at a busy time can lead to lots of goodwill when you need it most, so perhaps its time for a bit more help and co-operation among retailers, rather than viewing one another as competitors? Methinks that your true competition isn’t a few doors away, it is being beamed into home computers or found next to the tins of soup and baked beans! We are all cynical about Sales thanks to DFS and Dreamland Beds, so why do you think that by knocking £5 or £10 off a line of shoes that has been in your shop for the past 3-4 months which haven’t sold at all, will suddenly shift them? Do you think people have looked and thought ‘I love those, but don’t want them at that price, so I will wait and chance them not having my size and the colour, to get them in the Sale’? Of course not. You have to admit to either making a major buying faux pas or the salesman made you an offer
14 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • FEBRUARY 2011
you couldn’t refuse - but now wish you had! A Sale immediately devalues your stock and your business, so if you can avoid doing so, or make it as subtle as possible, then do. Think outside the box in more ways than one. All businesses are being pushed to have a ‘web presence’ and if there is one thing it is good for, it is getting shot of shoes you cannot normally sell without your usual loyal clientele (don’t laugh), knowing a thing about it. I keep being asked for my best advice, which just shows I have been around a long time. Well all I can say is ‘don’t worry alone’.
One pair of shoes swapped or donated at a busy time can lead to lots of goodwill when you need it most, so perhaps its time for a bit more help and co- operation among retailers, rather than viewing one another as competitors? Methinks that your true competition isn’t a few doors away, it is being beamed into home computers or found next to the tins of soup and baked beans!
Keep lines of communication open. If you belong to a group or organisation that will give you help and support then all well and good, but if you don’t, then make sure your staff stay proactive and informed – it is in their best interests to do so! Be honest with your suppliers and ask them for help too. You never know what might be on offer, but they may not be having an easy time either, so play fair as they could be in the same position on a much larger scale – your debt is their debt multiplied by a lot of others. Accept your strengths and improve on your weaknesses and hopefully you will come through this difficult trading time with a healthy, strong business….which can only be a blessing for us all. But if all else fails just think - it could be worse, you could be one of us on the road, taking out a second mortgage on fuel to visit you, only to listen to you moaning and groaning; hinting at us to spend our hard-earned commission to take you to lunch; or being made to feel guilty and grateful that we are taking an order from you. So please cheer up, the fact is the shoes you order may sell like hotcakes and could be the next deposit on the Range Rover, or trip to the Seychelles… Toes crossed!
www.footweartoday.co.uk
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