Christmas Trade - Part 1

Many retailers are trading on a prayer this last quarter, with much resting on its success. The Christmas period accounts for up to half of a retailer’s annual profit, making this the most important trading quarter and event of the entire year’s calendar, so how do we go about ensuring it is a success? In many ways everything you have done and planned earlier on in the year now comes into play. But how do we ensure that the Christmas shoppers come through your door?

Fantastic Windows; The focal point of a shop, no matter how large or small, is its windows. This is where you reveal your identity – the very essence that makes your shop unique. It is the first thing that shoppers notice and just like a book cover, your shop will be judged upon it, so getting it right is key. Ensure they are clean, well painted on the outside and stunning on the inside. Don’t forget to light them at night, to catch the eye of those people walking or driving past of an evening. Make the window’s extra special, exciting and eye catching and full of gift solution ideas.

Stockrooms; Make sure the stock in the stockroom is on the shopfloor, such an obvious but sadly oh so often trips up the most seasoned retailer, including Mary Portas! Staff need to be aware of what is there and checking and re filling morning, noon and night. It will not sell in the stockroom unless of course you are offering guided tours ...



Bra Fitting for Sales - Part 4

The last part in my Bra fitting for sales blog posts are to summaries and priorities;


  •      Get your staff well trained and regularly trained, either by using many different branded “free” courses or by using an independent specialist who offers bra fitting training using all your different brands. After all it is so important that your fitters fully understand each brand, the shapes and how they fit. Do it properly or do not do it ayt all. Be clear, you offer a bra fitting service not a measuring service. There is a significant difference. You will fit the customer in a bra that fits her, during a private personal process, NOT measure her body with an often inaccurate measurement so she can go elsewhere to buy an Ill fitting bra!  
  •      Ensure your staff understands the purpose of fitting and serving a customer; to increase and generate multiple sales, add on purchases. This in itself is a training day and course. How do your staff introduce the add on sale of a piece of shapewear now that’s a skill in itself!

  •     Promote your fitting service and skills. Ask for testimonials from your customers and put them on your web site or on fitting leaflets that you can distribute.

  •     Offer regular “free” fitting events. Make them fun and enjoyable, the talk of the town!

  •     When you have that customer in the fitting room, make the most of it. After all, all she wants is a comfortable, good fitting bra, how difficult is that?


After all sales in about selling what your customers don’t know that they need yet… isn’t it?



Bra Fitting for Sales - Part 3

The third part of my bra fitting blog post...


So the message in this, don’t let your fitting service get in the way of your business, sales and ultimately profit. Let’s be clear, fitting service is only there to enhance and ensure you have a long term business by ensuring your customers return time & time again. Once the “fitter” has the customer happy, elated, impressed and pleased with her new silhouette and body shape, she is totally in your hands. You want the customer to return, so do not take advantage but do take this opportunity of maximizing the sale, after all customers are difficult to find at the moment. A perfect example of this is becoming a local “specialist” retailer. Some assiduous brands currently offer extensive expert training in both mastectomy & maternity products and related fitting processes thus allowing the retailer to offer a dedicated service to women creating unparalleled customer loyalty. Another reason for considering diversifying into this specialist area is that other areas of the business that used to be considered as niche, such as Large cup sizes or small back sizes which are now increasingly common place and do not offer the stores any individuality. 



Bra Fitting for Sales - Part 2

Following on from last weeks blog post about bra fitting in the UK...


The problem is not getting better; With sales down, operating costs up and margins being threatened; cut backs have been on training. If there is one thing that will ensure to bring customers back time and time again  is a “fabulous” fitting service, that is consistent, reliable and offers impartial advice. This is only achieved by extensive training and experience on the shop floor in fitting rooms.

From the retailers perspective not only do we need to offer a credible fitting service, we need a fitting service that also “sells” a suitable product that fits the customers personal requirements. Ask yourself or better still conduct a survey in your business, what is the % rate of fittings that results in a sale of 1 or more bras? A good fitter should always sell more than one garment to a customer and achieve that add on purchase; be it the bra in a second colour way or that more difficult sale of a matching coordinate … the brief. Too many times I have overheard or seen a fitter talk a customer out of a purchase as she didn’t feel the bra fitted 100%! The customer was happy and a less “scientific” fitter would have passed it as being more than acceptable.  A fitter must never lose sight of what her purpose is; to be capable of selling a customer a suitable bra whatever their shape, age and size. Are your fitters sales people or just fitters? My answer is that they should be both, what is the point of dedicating time and money to a fitting service if a SALE and a happy customer is not the end result. 



Bra Fitting for Sales - Part 1

With the 2010 Which report reporting statistics like; one in three bra fittings are still “not measuring up” proves to us that there are still clear issues on our high streets in terms of bra fitting. Under band measurements prove to be the most challenging to get right with only 27% of High St dept stores failing at this fundamental stage.  No wonder it is still believed that up to 80% of women are wearing the wrong size bra. These facts undoubtedly support that our consumers find purchasing a bra the most frustrating & often most difficult purchase to make and sadly  confirms that some retailers are still not getting it right. How come?  Is it because the brands are still predominately responsible for the training of our fitters by offering free fitting courses. Being guilty of enjoying this free service have we unwittingly compounded the problem? As we all know each brand can fit differently and in some cases the brands even train us to fit in a different way, adding even more confusion to a technically demanding and challenging industry? Or is it because we are guilty of not investing enough time and money in regularly training our staff and I don’t mean just “new” staff, it is just as important to “refresh” and continue to train our existing “experienced” staff.  Bad habits develop fast and can spread very quickly when in store “expert” fitters are responsible for training our new recruits. Whatever the reason it is felt we as an industry have made little headway in improving the customer fitting service in the past 7 years. 


See next weeks blog post for part 2...



What Religion is Your Bra?

A man walked into the ladies department of a Macy's, shyly walked up to the woman behind the counter and said; "I'd like to buy a bra for my wife. "
"What type of bra?" asked the clerk.
"Type?" inquires the man, "There's more than one type?"
"Look around," said the saleslady as she showed a sea of bras in every shape, size, color and material imaginable. "Actually, even with all of this variety, there are really only four types of bras to choose from."
Relieved, the man asked about the types.
The saleslady replied: "There are the Catholic, the Salvation Army, the Presbyterian, and the Baptist types. Which one would you prefer?"
Now totally befuddled, the man asked about the differences between them.
The Saleslady responded, "It is all really quite simple...

The Catholic type - supports the masses

The Salvation Army type - lifts the fallen
The Presbyterian type - keeps them staunch and upright

The Baptist type - makes mountains out of mole hills"

They forgot the German bra;
Holtzemfromfloppen

Analysing your business - Part 5



Having said all that I have in the past blog posts, trade shows are the best times to see and meet brands and industry people that you do not normally or regularly see, so make sure you have enough time scheduled in to see them. Do some searching on the internet prior to shows and make sure you have read your trade magazines. It is also the time to see the trends and colours for the oncoming seasons. So walk the isles, look out for newness and talk to the new brands or brands you do not currently deal with, you never know you may be pleasantly surprised. Introduce your self to the trade magazines ask them what they have found that new and exciting and find out all the latest news. You need to know what is going on in your industry, Be pro active, think ahead...



Analysing your business - Part 4




So now you are ready and prepared to attend the seasonal shows armed with all your brand performance information and a clear vision of what you need for next season to be more successful. There is nothing worse than returning from a show or appointment having not achieved what you needed to.  Try and view all your like for like brands at similar times so that you can contextualise the ranges and limit duplication of styles. Get up early and get there early, maximise this opportunity. Make appointments with the brands in advance and plan your route effectively. Make sure you see the fashion shows – beginning of day is best so you can get inspired and see new collections. Keep an eye on your time, plan in break times, refreshment and food breaks. If you don’t feel good than your decision making and concentration skills will be effected, you can then make some buying decisions at the show & place orders. If you know what you need there should be no uncertainty......






Analysing your business - Part 3




So lets now look at the OTB (Open to Buy) for next season and decide how you are going to split it. This is often tricky without first reviewing the branded collections and seeing all the newness. However having an initial plan will keep you on track and  at least it will ensure your monies are not wildly overspent on the wrong areas.  Don’t forget  to keep a part of your OTB back, this will enable you to have monies in season to buy into that high fashion trend that has taken you by surprise, enable you to replenish regularly on your basic best selling lines or keep on top of paying the bills should trade be a little tougher in the earlier months than expected.  Your buy should also take into consideration what events or promotions you are going to run in season and ultimately what  products you will require to support these events? Remember to speak to your current branded suppliers and see what can they do to help and support you. They may even sponsor an event if their brand is uniquely featured.

Analysing your business - Part 2




As a continuing part of this months blog, you should be looking at your business and asking yourself lots of questions. Firstly what is the stock turn on your stock lines and most importantly are they turning fast enough? Stock should turn at least 3 times in a year to be financially viable, with your best sellers turning at least twice this. The message here is little and often.
Identify and review those best sellers by style and also by size, are they still effective? Look at the sell through percentage on seasonal one shot ranges  and  colours, have they achieved the minimum required sell through percentage?  Lingerie needs to achieve  60% to be financially viable and nightwear in excess of 65%.  Finally review the profitability per category, by brand or supplier, has it increased? decreased ?If it is too low how can it be improved? Can you renegotiate terms with your supplier? Are these lines selling out fast enough do they warrant the money you invest in them and return your business enough profit? 
Once you have finished this process and completed your analysis you can start to build your buying plan for next season. Plan, plan & then plan some more as successful buying and retailing is all in the detail. This process helps you to feeling comfortable and relaxed about your business, where you are going and enable you to look forward to seeing the new seasons collections.




Analysing your business - Part 1



In the past I have spoken at length about how important effective planning is and that’s its all about reflection, analysis and vision. So lets look with a fresh mind on what we should all be doing.

'Planning' is such a big and ambiguous idea but it creates strong guidelines, without these targets how can you tell how well your business is doing..? It’s always good to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, but likewise you have to be able to plan forward and to be able to see & predict the trends and know where your market is going. This will help you decide what you need to do next with your business. The aim of analysis is to understand the lesson’s to be learnt from the previous year. A process of SWOT analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats,  with the main focus being on opportunities going forward i.e. New product areas? Growth of existing successful areas ....  



How to make your time at trade shows more effective. - Part 3



Things to consider when at trade shows;

  • Trade press always attend shows. Introduce yourself and find out the latest news and the hottest brands. They are in the know. 
  • Get yourself a copy of the latest issue of trade magazines at the show plus there are usually a few copies available that you can pick up for free. If you do not already subscribe to a magazine, shame on you! You need to know what is going on in your industry.
  • Trade shows are also about people. It provides the best opportunities to see and meet the brands and people that you do not normally or regularly get to see, so make sure you have enough time scheduled in to meet them.
  • Do some research on the Internet prior to the events and make sure you have read your trade magazines. 
  • Trade shows are the perfect time to get an idea of the key trends and colour palettes for the forthcoming seasons. So walk the aisles and look out for newness. Do not prejudge. Stop and look and talk to the representatives, and see what the ‘other’ brands are about. You never know, you may be pleasantly surprised.