2011: A New Year in Retail

Happy New Year! 

The New Year is a perfect opportunity for reflection on the successes and challenges of last year. It is an opportunity to start planning for this year’s business with the slate wiped clean, especially if the fourth quarter brought more challenges than successes. Despite many retailers experiencing a slump this Q4, some retailers experienced impressive growth. Apple of course being top dog this holiday season with the iPad being a leading gift and amazon a leader of online sales. In fact, online sales experienced another year of significant growth  during the holiday season. Regardless of what your financial outcome for 2010, now is the time to create a plan for the new year.  As a retailer, now is the perfect opportunity to ask yourself a few questions.

What can be improved upon from 2010?

What opportunities were missed?

How should I be investing?

What can I cut back on?

How can the assortment better meet the demands of the consumer?

How can customer relations be improved?

These are just a handful of questions retailers begin to ask themselves as the new year arrives. Often times these questions are being answered even as the fourth quarter is playing out. I once had a brilliant mentor impress upon me the necessity of a 52 week calendar. 52 weeks is all we have in order to achieve our financial goals. When you look on a calendar those 52 weeks fill up very quickly and if you find your self in week 26 without a plan of action you have done yourself a tremendous disservice. Start the 52 week calendar now. What are you going to be doing each week for 52 weeks which will allow you to achieve your financial goals.

How do you start a 52 week calendar?

1.       Print a calendar of the year and start filling it out.

2.       Look back at what happened last year and the year before? Are there any patterns, cycles in spending with tourists, events, conferences which impact your business?—If so, write them down on the calendar.

3.       What events, conferences etc do you want to target and work on building a clientele from? Mark them on your calendar and later come up with a strategic plan on how to market and outreach.

4.       What type of marketing or advertising will you be doing? When will it go public?-Mark it on the calendar.

5.       What events either image or promotional will you be planning for your business this upcoming year. When is sale? When does new product arrive? Does the first day of school effect your business if you are in an area with a high concentration of college students? Do you plan on having a fashion show, participating in a trade show? Will you have trunk shows, demonstrations, designer visits etc?-Mark it down.

6.       When does your customer primarily shop? During slower periods of business plan what you can be doing in order to entice new customers to come in. I don’t like to push promotions because they  impact the margin and the bottom line but would a promotion for a particular target group like a student discount during the school year have a postive return on investment (ROI)?

7.       Does a top client have a strong relationship with an organization that you would like to partner with? A charity group? A business group? Would you be able to do an event with them offering a discount for the day of the event or a portion of the proceeds going to the charity?

These are just a few ideas and once you start this exercise you will find that the calendar fills up very quickly. This is just an organizational exercise. It is up to you to execute and follow through. This is the most important part. Remember each week is key to achieving your overall annual plan. Retail is about execution and being at the top of your game each and every day.

Good luck in 2011!