As surely as January follows December (and July follows June), clearance season follows each and every peak selling season. And, just as surely, many independent retailers look at their sales floors and see far too much inventory left over that has to be cleared out. On the one hand, they know that with deep enough markdowns they’ll be able to move most of it through, but on the other they’d rather be transitioning their customers into new, fresh merchandise that could be sold at full retails and full margins. 

‘Tis the season… to make hay! 

What’s not to like about NEW? 

The past July, the weather in southern New England was unseasonably oppressive. If you were going to be outside, the only place you wanted to be was the pool or the beach. Not out shopping. As a result, a client of mine found their sales take a very unexpected tumble. 

If you’re an independent retailer, there's something I'd like to share with you. 

Email marketing is now the primary marketing vehicle for many independent retailers. It has replaced more traditional forms of advertising, like newspapers and magazines, as those mediums reach fewer and fewer readers.  And, as we move into this new era there’s an important distinction to make between email marketing and those more traditional forms of advertising. 

The 1984 movie, “The Natural”, starring Robert Redford – adapted from Bernard Malamud’s 1952 novel – tells the story of Roy Hobbs, a star-crossed player whose talents made everything he did on a baseball field seem effortless. What’s a “natural” worth? In the movie, Roy Hobbs overcomes his demons and injuries to hit the pennant winning home run. 

One of the greatest sources of new ideas and fresh thinking for any independent retailer is all of the other retailers around them. When independent retailers think of competitive shopping, they almost always think in narrow terms about those retailers they see as direct competitors. Consumers, however, spend their money in all sorts of stores, so there are things to learn in any store you go in.

Early on in my retail career I was a buyer for a major regional discount chain (one of those companies that got rolled up in that 80’s tidal wave called Wal-Mart). It was an incredible learning experience, one that I draw on every day as I work with clients. 

I had an interesting conversation with an independent retailer the other day. She owns a boutique, and said she is very concerned about customers increasingly coming into her store, trying things on, then leaving without making a purchase. She believes that she’s being “showroomed”, and that she’s been losing business to the internet