Contributing Member of the Consumer Goods & Services Councils

GLG News by this Author

Starbucks is smelling the coffee-competition.

February 4, 2008

Analysis of:Breakfast At Starbucks | www.marketwatch.com

There is more competition in the designer coffee market and easier ways to get a quick breakfast with your coffee.

This report will not be the last

January 28, 2008

Analysis of:Finlay lowers 4Q outlook on weak sales | news.moneycentral.msn.com

Finlay lowers 4q outlook.  The reason given is weak sales.  I am looking at my crystal ball and I am seeing the same report over and over.

How many Hail Mary's score a touchdown?

December 26, 2007

Analysis of:Retail Throws a Hail Mary | www.thestreet.com

Retailers are taking deeper discounts to bring in customers and at the same time they are extending the hours of operations to make it easier for the customer to shop.  Hail Mary passes are a last ditch effort to win, but they most often fail.

Black Friday is all about Tradition

December 10, 2007

Analysis of:Retailers lure exhausted shoppers online | www.msnbc.msn.com

Traditions are hard to break.  The Friday after Thanksgiving is no exception.  People plan on that day to be their shopping day, but is it the biggest shopping day of the year?

It is like passing for 400 yards and not scoring a Touch Down

November 30, 2007

Analysis of:Retailers lure exhausted shoppers online | www.msnbc.msn.com

I was at home watchig thousands of people spending the night to crash stores.  I watched carts overfilled with product and long lines at the registers.  I opened the paper to see deep discount coupons.

The Weather Game (US Retail Sales Rise at Slowest Pace in Five Months)

October 10, 2007

Analysis of:U.S. Retail Sales Rise at Slowest Pace in Five Months | www.bloomberg.com

Again I am heraing about the weather and its affect on retail sales in the United States.  It may be true that this September may have been a warm one, but I have some trouble saying that is the reason that sales are down on fall goods.  I am sure the consumer knows that the weather will not stay high the rest of the year.  The consumer knows that he/she will need a sweater the next month or as a Holiday gift in December.  Maybe the reason that the sales are down has more to do with the higher retail prices on the goods and our shopping savy consumer is waiting for the discounts to begin.  Why spend top dollar in September when the same goods will be 20-40% or more off in a few weeks?  Retailers do this to themselves every year.  They are all predictable in their merchandising.  The consumer knows when the goods hit the floor and they can also predict when the discounts will begin and when.  Maybe it is time to stop blaming the weather and start looking at the merchandising strategy.

Panic in Holiday Hopping Town (Stealthily, Stores Start Christmas in October)

October 10, 2007

Analysis of:Stealthily, Stores Start Christmas in October | www.nytimes.com

There is a sense that retailers know the customers attitudes of pushing the seasons.  Yet the retailers can also see that this year may not be the best Holiday season for sales and profits.  In order to generate the high profit sales they are pushing out the Holiday goods under the cover of darkness.  That is one day there is fall clearance the next Holiday goods with the full selling margin.  The hope will be to move goods before Thanksgiving to avoid the deep discounts that happen just before Christmas.  Now when the discounting happens there, in theory, will be less goods to be discounted.  Also by not advertising a Holiday sale the potential impact of customers complaining about pushing the seasons will be deflected.  Today while shoppers are buying their Halloween goods they can purchase the first and best of the Christmas items without feeling that they are pushing the season themselves.

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