This Year, Back-to-School Season Could Kick Off Strong Fall/Holiday 2013

The 8 weeks between July 15 and September 15 mark the annual Back-to-School season. 

While "Back-to-School" merchandise is not the dominant category for most retailers, many retailers take advantage of the opportunity to bring shoppers into their stores. 

More so than most years, we see this B-T-S season as a key indicator of how Fall/Holiday 2013 might turn out for retailers.

This may surprise you: we anticipate 6%-8% sales increases during this year's Back-to-School season. 

The economy continues to improve, and consumer confidence keeps rising. 

But what really drives our hypothesis for such a strong B-T-S season is this: there will be far greater interest in discretionary fashion apparel than in recent years. 

Here's why. 

1. The Recession discouraged much of the discretionary spending; the focus had to be on basics. Now, fashion can re-emerge.
2. The competition represented by the "gee whiz" electronics for kids has subsided, as those devices have been acquired. They already are in every kid's backpack.

And that bodes especially well for B-T-S retailers. Plus, since they by and large have their inventories under control, margins should stay quite strong. Might that be great news for Fall/Holiday?

Whether or not you're in the Back-to-School business, we urge you to "go to school" on this year's results. It may be a delight! 

That Magic "Ten Point Checklist" for Retail Success

Over the years, we've been asked occasionally to pull out of our files the checklist that we MUST HAVE to help retailers raise sales and/or to raise margins.

Don't laugh! It's assumed that such a magic solution surely would be in our files. Of course, if we did have such a magic wand, we would see to it that every retailer in the world would be prospering!

Recently, we were approached to help a small shop "raise sales and raise margins"  (we had heard that wish list many times before.)  An attorney and an accountant who were trying to assist the shop owner to do that asked us, "Don't you just have a 10 point checklist of things to do?"

Hmm. The outside world does think that retailing is easy. All you have to do is follow the checklist.

Our response: Retailing is NOT easy. And, there is no magic 10 point checklist.

But...There IS a "Five Point Checklist"!

Retailing has always come down to just five basic to-dos. Just do these five things well, every minute of every day, and surely sales, margins, and profit increases will follow!

1. Have the right product  
2. at the right price  
3. at the right time  
4. at the right place  
5. for the right customer.

See how easy it can be?!