The most recent Webinar, moderated by warren Shoulberg, Editorial director of gifts and decorative accessories, And stuteller, managing partner of right angle Strategies, covered the state of the industry and developing A proactive second half plan. Following are some Highlights of the session.
As we all know, the housing market in most regions has been very strong since the first of the year. However, although home sales may be robust, the home furnishings and accessories markets have not yet been impacted by that growth. Furniture and accessory sales at retail normally trail a housing boom by some six to nine months. Thus, since home sales have really been strong since January of this year, the home furnishings retail should start seeing strong growth in the third and fourth quarters of this year.
The luxury market continues to be very strong as evidenced by strong sales and earnings of luxury brands and luxury retailers. However, the low end of the business has still not fully recovered and may not recover by year-end. Because budget shoppers are pressed by recession and the payroll tax increase in January, the lower end market will take longer to recover.
However, this year’s holiday season will be difficult to predict, especially in view of the shorter holiday selling period. The season is six days shorter because of where Thanksgiving falls. Thus, retailers will need to get holiday merchandising in front of their customers earlier to maximize results.
Second Half Success
To help ensure a successful second "back half" of the year, there are two key things that vendors should do to: manage top selling SKUs and develop a quick ship program.
Managing top selling SKUs is a matter of investing money in best selling inventory. As an importer or manufacturer, now may be the last time you can look at your inventory and make any adjustments to import orders. One trend that has developed over the past few years is that retailers are ordering later. And, since in most cases, 60 percent of their sales are made in the fourth quarter, having the right inventory available for them when they want it is very important to both their success and yours.
Moreover, with more retailers placing orders later, ordering light early in the season and trying to manage their inventories as best as they can for year end, having a quick ship program in place for the months of November and December will enable vendors to get stock quickly to customers’ shelves at this busy time of year. We often hear of retailers calling vendors at the end of the year and not being able to get merchandise. As an importer you can change the game. Help them buy the way they feel will make them more successful. A quick ship program can be for in-stock inventory. Those vendors who have tried this method have increased their sales significantly. This program should be in addition to any shipping programs already in place.
In concert with all of this, vendors should be looking at their top sellers on a weekly basis. Managing best sellers will help increase turns and profits. Best sellers will almost always move, but if by chance you end up with too much on hand, it can easily be sold off profitably.
The GHTA’s next First Friday webinar will be held on Friday, September 6. As a member of the Gift and Home Trade Association, you can join in the discussion. To learn more, visit www. giftandhome.org for details.
Lenise Willis, editor in chief; Anne-Marie Earl, managing editor; and Alex Herring, senior editor; make up the editorial team at Gifts & Decorative Accessories. The team stays on top of the latest product trends, market debuts, consumer insights and business news in order to keep retailers up to date on what’s happening in the gift industry. With the GDA team’s reports, retailers are able to raise customer engagement, diversify their product mix and more.
