Business Talk

[smackdown]

And chocolate. ;D

[The Virginian]

As of today we are down 21% YOY for August.

I don't get all these reports of upticks in sales when everyone I talk to tells me how bad they are doing.

Are the 1/2% increases due to Inflation or the purchase only of necessities?

[usaone]

We are up 9% for July YOY. Things seem to be a little better up here in the Northeast and in the Mid West/Texas ect.

[The Virginian]

We had four people shopping in the store when the Earthquake hit ( About 1:13) after this we only had one additional sale between then and closing at 6PM!

Now we have a hurricane on the way ( Good for Groceries and hardware) but bad for us!

[OldCoyote]

Here is another industry that is having a hard time. Customer count is down, customers that do come in bring in less items.
Supply cost are skyrocketing. Lots of regulations.

Drycleaners

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StatShot: July Sales Droop in Most of Country
Article | August 24, 2011 | By Bruce Beggs
StatShot map

CHICAGO – Only one of the four regions managed sales gains in July compared to the previous year, according to the most recent AmericanDrycleaner.com StatShot survey.

The West registered the only July-to-July sales boost, and a minimal one at that, of 0.9%. The South saw sales plummet 9.3%, while Midwestern sales fell 4.6%. Sales were nearly flat in the Northeast, which suffered a 0.7% drop.

Some operators, particularly in the Midwest, blamed higher-than-average temperatures for the poor sales month.

“Too hot to do any business! No one is wearing any ‘drycleanable’ clothing in this heat,” wrote one Midwestern operator, while another proclaimed, “One of the hottest Julys in recorded history.”

But there were many more comments about our country’s struggling economy and its impact on small business, particularly in the South.

“Business seems to be declining rapidly,” lamented a Southern operator. “People are trying to save money any way they can and reducing their drycleaning use is one of them.”

Another Southern operator said, “Business is the worst I have ever seen.”

“For me, this July was the worst month of (the) last five years,” said another.

Meanwhile, the cost of doing business during the first six months of the year went up in three of the four regions. Only the Northeast managed to keep its first-half costs below what they were in July 2010; they were down 0.8%.

First-half costs were up 2.8% in the South, 1.8% in the Midwest and 0.6% in the West.

“The cost of production supplies is through the roof,” says an operator in the Midwest. “I am getting embarrassed at the prices that I have to charge in order to make a profit.”

Another in the Midwest says several more cleaners in their area have closed, but it’s been only a small help in pushing business their way.

“(I) don’t see any hope of revenue improvements,” a Southern operator remarks. “Rent, as well as energy cost, will kill us.”

“January ’11, we saw sales start to fall off,” another Southern operator says. “Until then, we had been holding our own—flat, but not down. Can you say double dip?”

“It is looking like the beginning of a double-dip recession,” echoes a Northeastern operator. “I have the same feeling I did in December ’08.”

AmericanDrycleaner.com’s StatShot surveys readers every month on a variety of issues facing the industry. While the survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment, it should not be considered scientific.

[The Virginian]

It is looking like the beginning of a double-dip recession,” echoes a Northeastern operator

I'm inclined to agree - Our sales continue downward at a steady pace - I never thought the Recession ended the first time around but in any case I think this coming year will be the worst so far!

Our current lease expires in April 2013 - If business doesn't improve by then we will have to evaluate whether it is worth all the effort or not.

[The Virginian]

Still no business! Anyone up for a Hurricane Party?

[The Virginian]

No? Then maybe we will have a clearance sale afterwards!

[kman]

Ankle weghts are a hot item down your way. You should stock up.

[usaone]

All hands on Deck!!!

Its going to be a hell of a weekend. Several of the weather models have the storm going right over NYC.

Speeking of models anyone catch the new Blond on the weatherchannel?

I wouldnt mind being stuck with her for the weekend!!

[The Virginian]

The hurricane killed our business. Friday we did a whopping $175 in sales; we had to close Saturday and so far this morning things are not looking good! Too many people here without power.

[The Virginian]

Our net sales were $1.29 yesterday! Just when I thought it couldn't possibly get worse. Things are bad in this area. About 3/4's don't have power. Tried to go to the grocery store last night and both stores on our side of town were closed due to power outage. We have power in our store and our home so we are one of the lucky few. All the schools are closed again today and more than likely for the rest of the week.

Most of the impact was due to trees falling on antiquated power lines. Why the government doesn't force the Electric companies to replace Edison's utility poles with a modern distribution system is beyond me. I understand it would be expensive but I would be willing a dollar a month added to my bill to accomplish this - say over a twenty year period.

I can only imagine the real economic impact of this storm. Our area alone will be in the millions and to multiply that across communities up and down the East coast I can imagine this being worse in terms of economic impact than Katrina.

I guess one of the tragedies here is that our government continues to be reactionary rather than visionary.

[The Virginian]

I actually had some one just call and ask for "I survived Irene" themed supplies ! ;D

I put it on the list with "Leap Year Birthday Cards" & "Pickle Pattern" Party Plates

You can't make this stuff up!

[The Virginian]

I noticed another thread starting for Business Advice and topics.
If any of you notice these I would appreciate you sending them over this way.

I've tried to generate more interest here as I know for those that are struggling in Business or wanting to get advice on what works and doesn't work can benefit. It can also prevent some from having to learn the hard way for those that have had to do just that.

[The Virginian]

Well August was another miserable month for us!

I keep thinking things will get better but they are not. We are a store that sells items people can easily do without and it seems that is just what they are doing. The 4th Qtr is always the best for us so I can't wait for it to get here. In any case I have to make some tough decisions in the next couple of months.

For August we were down 31% for the month compared to last years sales.

For the year we are down 15% in sales compared to 2010.

This is a trend I really am starting to worry about! I will have to trim employees and find ways to trim costs as well as cut back considerably on future Inventory orders. It seems the government gets its share no matter what since they tax you on unsold inventory as if it is profit!

[The Virginian]

Business is hard and getting harder but al least I'm in control of my own destiny!

Still trying hard with the Internet businesses. I know that that's where the future lies.

20 Years from now most Brick & Mortar stores will be a thing of the past. Sad

[smackdown]

If you were a counter-cyclical business... sales would be booming now. Double-time on the production line. My typing fingers are wearing flat! Hard to keep up with demand, but I will smile and persevere!

[The Virginian]

If you were a counter-cyclical business... sales would be booming now

Hi VL,

Could you please explain?

[The Virginian]

In business cycle theory, any economic quantity that is negatively correlated with the overall state of the economy is said to be 'countercyclical'.[3][4] That is, any quantity that tends to increase when the overall economy is growing is classified as procyclical. Quantities that tend to increase when the overall economy is slowing down are classified as 'countercyclical'. Unemployment is an example of a countercyclical variable.[5]

Similarly, in finance, an asset that tends to do well while the economy as a whole is doing poorly, is typically referred to as countercyclical. For example, this could be a business, or a financial instrument whose value is derived from a business, that sells an inferior good.

Well I guess my first mistake was to take you seriously!

No, I'm not in the Unemployment business so my business is not booming. But I am in business and I do think there are ways to improve business no matter what the climate.

When times get ruff we have to look for ways to become more competitive, reduce expenditures, and increase sales.

I am not a Banker so I have to actually work for a living and I am not going to quit trying!

If anyone out there has so positive input I would be more than willing to listen and along the way we may just help our fellow man - even the likes of you negative doom & gloom folks!

[The Virginian]

Has anyone had experience with an E-bay Ecommerce store front?

Does it get hits from E-Bays searches or is it totally stand alone?

[bimetalaupt]

Sept 2, 2011 12:11:34 GMT -5 The Virginian said:

In business cycle theory, any economic quantity that is negatively correlated with the overall state of the economy is said to be 'countercyclical'.[3][4] That is, any quantity that tends to increase when the overall economy is growing is classified as procyclical. Quantities that tend to increase when the overall economy is slowing down are classified as 'countercyclical'. Unemployment is an example of a countercyclical variable.[5]

Similarly, in finance, an asset that tends to do well while the economy as a whole is doing poorly, is typically referred to as countercyclical. For example, this could be a business, or a financial instrument whose value is derived from a business, that sells an inferior good.

Well I guess my first mistake was to take you seriously!

No, I'm not in the Unemployment business so my business is not booming. But I am in business and I do think there are ways to improve business no matter what the climate.

When times get ruff we have to look for ways to become more competitive, reduce expenditures, and increase sales.

I am not a Banker so I have to actually work for a living and I am not going to quit trying!

If anyone out there has so positive input I would be more than willing to listen and along the way we may just help our fellow man - even the likes of you negative doom & gloom folks!

The Man !!

You are the man!!.. Business is great from a V.C. Point of view.. I have never had so many great Proposals on my desk.. If I could find the top of my desk it would be a victory for organisation behave systems.. or the round file.

On the 15 Sep,2011 I have to go to a V.C. Meeting where we will hear from a major winner of the Business Plan contest at Abilene University looking for a , Sorry but I am a . Like most I have been Harding cash for short term investments like New York strips..

What am I looking for in an investment. High Margins with high barriers to entry. As my grandfather pointed out how many fine firm started out in the Depression and all he know of were financed with 100% Equity: debt free and run by the cheapest president He every knew.. Name American Home Products.. He bought firms with stock and keep their cash and sold the production system to raise more cash. The keep the market and just had a distribution system. So he started out with 10 firms and ended up with one. Yes, they did pay a monthly dividend from the cash hoard all through the depression.

Just a thought,
Bi Metal Au Pt

"A depression is an UN-bearable thing to waste", C.C. Green.. Principal of C.C.Green and Co. .....

Attachments:

[smackdown]

"Hi VL,
Could you please explain?"

How do you feel when you get a blind credit card offer in the mail these days? Most people don't just throw it away, they get annoyed. It's called reverse marketing because it has the reverse effect and not the intended one or just nothing. Almost every current advertising trend is counter or reverse-trending the audience it is designed to attract. Big Business condemned itself to death by obscurity by using Ad Firms that brought in kids straight out of college and tapped social insecurity ahead of knowledge or wisdom.
What does that mean? It means that the average big business can't sell anything by promoting it's quality. We have come to expect the clown show approach and psychologically deem it unbelievable, so... advertising no longer sells anything.

E-Bay: You type in a general key word or or go to a category and their software selects by Best Match. That means- the people who pay E-Bay the most and maintain a good rating get their items seen first. Most seasoned E-Bayers click Best Match off and switch to Ending Soonest. Which means they buy impulsively in the last few minutes or hours of the posted item. The trick is to grasp marketing. E-Bay is a keyword-driven venue. If you are intending to increase sales, you need to stop describing your item (using up characters on non-keywords). Be the customer when you post and type words you would use in a search to find the item. In a sense, you are putting your item in the path of the customer's search, instead of advertising or relying on a premium position in Best Match.

Put these two concepts together and-- a counter-cyclical business sells ahead in anticipation of the customer being there and needing the product at a given moment or intersection. It doesn't advertise at all, it delivers into the path of purchase. The product matters too. Instead of glossy glitzy buy-me 'cause I'm dizzy... you offer need-fulfilling products with some sort of time-honored association with quality, because today's buyer has been ripped off enough to no longer be fooled by a Brand label on an imported feeble facsimile.

You should realize that we're chock full of college-bred know-it-alls with tons of administrative and armchair advice. Right now, the business pros are in the trenches not in the corner offices collecting salaries. You had a bad week. Look at it like this-- whatever you were doing generated dismal but not no results. This week you need to ADD another activity or branch into the unknown. Note, I didn't say- go all-in. My businesses roll because trends change faster than a teen trying to get ready for school. Assume nothing. During the down-sizing horrors of 1982, many businesses went bust working from a written plan. 1% of them worked from a Noah's Ark perspective-- they built a great and competent backroom fully cross-trained to compensate in any perspective if they were needed. Then management paid quality seekers to go out and find markets. Once found, management steered that capable backroom operation toward the market and maximize potential in it. Those 1% SURVIVED, whereas nearly 100% of the 99% who followed written and rigid business plans- failed, re-organized and or were acquired.

It doesn't matter what you sell (unless it's imported, then you're a platform and America hates you). It matters how competent and able your backroom is and it's ability to shape-shift to whatever generates SALES-- not generates returns from market investments.

[The Virginian]

I'll repeat what I said above - 20 years from now ( You can hold me to this) We will have very few Brick & Mortar stores. Most will be E Commerce stores.

Brick & Mortar will no longer be able to compete with the additional overhead it must carry.

Retail Business is going to have to go through some radical changes and that will require radical ideas. The biggest hurdle I am seeing right now is the ever increasing cost of shipping. If someone could come up with a way to reduce shipping costs to the point where it was virtually free then On-line stores will blow away Brick & Mortar stores.


I did see one guy once that had proposed a Vacuum tube type of transportation that could deliver products across the US in a couple of hours. If the government would fund something like this it could transform the way we do shipping. Can you imagine if we could order something from California and have it delivered in New York in just a couple of hours at a cost of less than $5. Now that is radical and green - Eco friendly at its best. Unfortunately we don't have visionaries running this country only reactionary politicians!

[smackdown]

I disagree. What we will have are malls the way HG Wells described them. More community. The attention will be different. We will still want to have a bite to eat that is a treat. We will likely do our browsing on screens and buy through e-portals. Much of what I do now pioneers the delivery aspect of online purchases. A reminder that I am truly a Lender first, therefore, paving the way to reduce Risk in the transition of brick-and-mortal to Internet is absolutely critical. Why do you think I tug at USAONE so much. Any idiot can use an electronic device and proclaim finesse. What really matters is the behind-the-scenes business that makes it all so seamless. I own that aspect because I have recognized it and built a format from the ground up. The user is the buyer. What do buyers do, my friend? Isn't THAT the name of the game?

Yes, scientists in CA molecularly transported a physical object last month. Again, that's the tangible part of the process. The intangible part is the collateral for the credit that builds the Next-Generation Retail. All I can say is-- these boards more than identify the headwinds of progress and-- thank God Decoy409 keeps posting the macro-structure that helps refine the infrastructure. The "VIX" and Streak" and "M2" are jokes.

[The Virginian]

I think you may be confusing Macro & Micro. Retail is most definitely the micro since it is controlled by individuals rather than collective units for the most part. Small Business has trimmed and shed as much of expenditures that they possibly can to survive. Retail however must at present go through "middle men" the so called manufacturers that for the most part in America manufacture nothing. They have some cheap labor country like China do the work for them, they bypass all the EPA regulations, the Labor laws, the Heath care , the Benefit packages, the Insurance costs, the employment taxes and in return get a less than quality product that they can pass on to Retailers even more cheaply.

The retailers of the future need to learn to By Pass these "manufacturers" entirely and go straight to the real manufacturers in other countries to survive. The one problem is that many of these "manufacturers" have licenses on popular TV Cartoons, Movies and shows that make their goods more attractive. If the Chinese were to purchase these Licenses to put on their goods the US "manufacturers could be by-passed entirely cutting substantial costs.

The other area retailers have to cut is the actual rent cost, utility costs, Insurance costs, labor costs, and so on. One way would be go on line entirely. Warehouse space is a lot cheaper than Retail frontage. In our area say $6-8 a square foot versus $30 per square foot. The retail store itself could become a small Kiosk in a Internet mall.

The only drawback? Shipping costs. Fuel Costs have driven shipping rates through the roof. In addition their are virtual monopolies in the current shipping industry being mainly only three options, FedEx, UPS and the USPS.

[smackdown]

"I think you may be confusing Macro & Micro." Micro-- up close. Macro-- grander. Your storefront is micro. My ability to be at the crossroad of a search is macro. Your second and third paragraphs are you translating current trends and traditions into your version of a a paradigm. Likely- licensing will not work in the future because of overlap. The Chinese will blow themselves out soon and go back to sleep for a thousand backward years again. They do not grasp the concept of innovation and ingenuity-- they copy and follow. Our economy is walking off a cliff, guess where China will go. If this were not true, the Chinese would have solar-powered bicycles, not making You Tube videos of their 4-year old driving a car. They would have used water power generators, not build a giant poorly engineered dam that must be rebuilt. Warehouses have always been useful; tomorrow- the idea of a big box that costs a lot to just let sit there with your stuff in it- won't work. I predict library science and administration will play a much greater roll in conjunction with retail. That said, a building that produces energy and/or operates as a conduit for energy is a more likely speculation. Imagine a portion of your building holding half-spent batteries for eventual reconstitution but in the interim, chain linking them gives a little back to the grid for a profit.

Address the paradigm with wonderment, not ego. Look ahead to what is automatically happening apart from what is forced to happen. If you have the time, read what Decoy posts about natural occurrences. They may yet play the biggest role in where we shift to and what will be important. Pay little to no attention to numbers people. The numbers were hijacked long ago and rectification is mandatory for recovery.

[The Virginian]

Your second and third paragraphs are you translating current trends and traditions into your version of a a paradigm. Likely- licensing will not work in the future because of overlap.

I call it " Inductive Reasoning" that which is inferred leads to my reasonable conclusions. Not always correct but it works most of the time. Listening to others almost never works - especially in the business arena. All the successfully innovative business models were started by people that didn't follow the herd.

[smackdown]

All the successfully innovative business models were started by people that didn't follow the herd. "

But took the time to read the other plans and grasped the strengths weaknesses opportunities and threats, rather than just buying the paper copy and putting their logo on it. Success isn't luck, it's awareness, even contrary awareness.

[frankq]

"Big Business condemned itself to death by obscurity by using Ad Firms that brought in kids straight out of college and tapped social insecurity ahead of knowledge or wisdom."

Obscurity? Really? Is that why they're sitting on a trillion in cash?

" We have come to expect the clown show approach and psychologically deem it unbelievable, so... advertising no longer sells anything."

Tell that to the companies that buy Superbowl ad time and sponser NASCAR drivers......

[bimetalaupt]

Sept 5, 2011 9:47:12 GMT -5 frankq said:

"Big Business condemned itself to death by obscurity by using Ad Firms that brought in kids straight out of college and tapped social insecurity ahead of knowledge or wisdom."

Obscurity? Really? Is that why they're sitting on a trillion in cash?

" We have come to expect the clown show approach and psychologically deem it unbelievable, so... advertising no longer sells anything."

Tell that to the companies that buy Superbowl ad time and sponser NASCAR drivers......

Frank Q,
You must be talking about the 17 banks the Federal government are suing for $196 billion dollars.. Talking about uncertainty... Why does adverting not sell?? That is what my hunch is a problem.. Not much new to buy except for the HP Notebooks and Pads.. They said they were be any more and sold out in 24 hours. Created a real demand by declaring there would be not more.!!!

back to uncertainty.. Would you invest your hard earned dollars with the uncertainty coming out of Washington???

On the other had we do have certainty with " Tell that to the companies that buy Superbowl ad time and sponser NASCAR drivers " These are proven producers like taking a client to a five star restaurant. Certainty is the answer!!
Just a thought,
Bi Metal Au Pt