Thoughts for the Holidays!

 

 

from Dick Abbott, President

 

 

As we approach the holiday season, I wanted to share a few thoughts with you.

 

The uncertainty in the economy, the price of gold, and the tariffs wreaking havoc across industries are all cause for concern—but I’m confident you guys and gals will get through it.

 

What we’re seeing is a decrease in the number of sales but an uptick in retail prices as an offset. The reasons for the higher ticket prices are obvious, but consumers have shown a willingness to buy in sufficient numbers to produce a modest increase in top-line revenue.

 

I expect this pattern to continue throughout the season. While I don’t anticipate a record-setting holiday, I do think we’ll see a solid month once the dust settles.

The products that sell best during the holidays are typically those currently trending. 

 

I suggest running the Category Performance Report for the past three months to identify which categories and cost ranges are performing best—and make sure you have them well stocked. Another helpful tool is Open to Buy. You won’t run it for buying at this late date, but this report will give you a good idea of how salable your inventory is. Run it for the day after you read this, it requires a date in the future as a start date, through December 31st to get a clear picture of your inventory salability.

 

The first set of columns in the report shows activity for each category/cost segment over the past 365 days by age. The next set shows how those products performed during the same period last year, and the final set shows what you currently have in stock, broken down by age.

 

I’d advise resisting the urge to discount. But if you feel it’s necessary, focus on aged inventory that’s been sitting too long. Cash is fuel for your business—discounting new items is not a good idea. Moving out older stock, on the other hand, generates cash that can be used for business expenses as you need not replace these old items.

 

Remember to reorder your fast sellers weekly during this period—or better yet daily. Items that were sold in the previous week that were in stock for less than 30 days should be reordered as they are highly likely to sell again. In an exercise we did for Stuller, a $14,000 collection of jewelry produced $207,000 in retail sales from October 1st through Dec 31st, when the items were ordered for replacement daily.

Additional Holiday tips

 

I also encourage you to reach out to your customers’ significant others who have items on wish lists and help make them heroes this season. Email, text, call, or even send a postcard—let them know you know exactly what she wants.

 

Finally, identify your top 100–150 customers (or more, depending on your store size) and send them a personal message—a card or postcard reminding them that you’re there for them. These customers can represent more than half of your total volume. And don’t forget to remind all your customers via email or text that they can shop on your website. Purchased items can be held for pick up or be delivered. Make it easy for them to buy from you and remind them to do so via postcards, texts, emails, etc.

 

Oh yah, Constant Contact used in conjunction with Drive Retail can place banner ads on social media sites for you.

Wishing you a successful and joyful holiday season,

Sincerely,
Dick Abbott
President, Abbott Jewelry Systems