AGENT PROVOCATEUR On the road! I
t’s that busy time again for we ‘girls and boys on the road’, but we are not alone. Those of you in retail still don’t have time to sit too long with a coffee, as you have a post- mortem to perform on the past two months sales, budgets
to set, and hopefully you are already exceeding them buying 2012 stock. Luckily for us the roads are quieter now the holiday season is at an end. Kids of all ages are safely imprisoned back in their educational establishments, students have gone back to university, ‘fresher’s’ are trawling retail establishments desperate to earn extra cash to make up for what they have spent in the student bar on campus in the first 4 days of university life – and those that have just graduated or left college, are sadly competing for the same jobs as those that have burned the midnight oil for the past 3 years! All in all it is a busy time for the trade, but generally calmer (until ‘the old boy in fur-trimmed red velvet starts yo-ho-ho’ing from the TV commercials, and it wont be long!). The shows are nearly over, but stockrooms
The fashions may have changed slightly since you placed
your orders all that time ago and you may have bought conservatively, so a good time to double check everything and order anything you missed as a ‘fill up’ ahead of the game. Forward planning and being pro-active will be vital this
season. Despite what they say on the news it seems to me the recession has never gone away, simply deepened, but there are things to look forward to, so it is not all doom and gloom. The Olympic games in London should make a difference to all parts of the country.
are still taking place all over the country and those of us who show at stockrooms are very grateful to those attending. There is nothing worse than spending a fortune hiring a room and accommodation to see specific customers and then with minimal notice the retailer cancels, having said that, it is worse when we spend hours travelling on what ought to be rocket fuel, only to be told ‘not this season’. For those selling kids shoes in Scotland they have had to get their act together much quicker due to the earlier BTS there. Bearing in mind the long months of snow that kept everyone indoors for weeks at a time last winter, their buying must have been a nightmare in the Spring for this season. Hats off to those still trading, if you can come through that you can come through anything! So what about the A/W goods that are piling in through
your doors in time for the wet and wintery weather – did you opt for total predictability or have you taken a risk this season? Have you checked out what the fashionable colours in clothing are going to be? High or low heels? Short or long boots? Fur or not? Will you pop into the local boutiques to see what they have ordered and if you have the shoes to go with the outfits on sale down the road (and if you have got ‘just the pair’, make sure you show/tell them!)?
12 • FOOTWEAR TODAY • OCTOBER 2011
There is nothing worse than spending a fortune hiring a room and accommodation to see specific customers and then with minimal notice the retailer cancels, having said that, it is worse when we spend hours travelling on what ought to be rocket fuel, only to be told ‘not this season’.
If you read the papers the south of England will not only be
full of competitors, but visitors too, many coming to the UK for the first time. However looking at the price of accommodation they wont hang around in London long, as hotels and B&B’s are cashing in and good luck to them. The clever Innkeeper and hostelry’s will be offering package deals and cheaper rates long distance, offering to transport guest’s back and forth. Unsurprisingly my family wont be there as I applied for 14 tickets and was unsuccessful, even the ‘tiddlywink’ semi-finals were fully booked, though if I am honest I have as much desire to see people hurling themselves over poles and diving into sandpits as having my teeth pulled without anaesthetic. Now if they were ‘wanging the wellie’, that would be different. Whatever happens retailers will have the last laugh, because
if the feel good factor has not returned and there are not hoards of strangers buying up your goods, then spare a thought whilst you are safely ensconced doing your 9-5, for those simply going about their daily business and having to travel in and out of the capital city - it will be a nightmare!
www.footweartoday.co.uk
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