Below are some thought provoking questions I have put together that both the manufacturer and the retailer should consider.
Is the retail depression a result of the economy or a product of the “no trend, no brand” market of today’s fashion industry?
- Is this the Chicken before the egg? Which came first? Confusion of retailers and buyers, or no understanding of the changing trends (no trend) or the confusion of the customer, or the recession?
- The new retail market demands have been slowly changing since before the downturn. Speed to market, immediate, open to buy, this was happening before last fall.
- Change can be a good thing but recognizing the changing industry is part of solving the down turn problem. What should a retailer recognize and how should they adjust their buying habits?
- How important is display and refreshing displays and new merchandise?
- This also is important for online stores?
- Is it part of doing business today to have web based sales and a website with ecommerce? We are seeing more and more online sales.
- How important are online stores like eBay, Amazon, Guilt, Zapoos, Yahoo or other online marketing?
- How important is it to research and spend time marketing through social media?
- Customer service? Retaining your customer base. Small things do make a difference, a smile and true customer service is worth the investment in training your employees.
- PR and marketing on a budget?
- Software to help with operations and organization?
- Are trade shows a dying breed?
- How effective is buying “Made in the USA” or “organic”, “green”, “and recycled”? Do customers really care?
- Are brands still important? Do they still drive the market as much as they use to?
Fashion is not driven by a real need but by an impulse to reward and feel good about ourselves. Keeping the merchandise tempting seems a problem.
