16 InsideOutdoor | SPRING/SUMMER 2023 Questions to ask: • Has anything changed in the months since sales began slumping? This could pertain to placement in the store, vendors, or even staffing to name a few. • What are the top sellers in the classification currently? • What are the slow sellers, how are they being identified, and what corrective action has been taken? • How fresh and saleable is the current inventory? • How many vendors are you currently buying from? • Is the selection too broad? • Are the price points right for the intended customer? • Is there any duplication/overlap of products, styles, colors, sizes, etc. • Are any of the products carried in this class available online (most likely) and if so, are you price competitive. • Is the assortment plan correct for the classification? • If a significant portion of the sales in the category are sold online, how does your current shipping policy compare to others? • Are you suddenly competing with your vendor and if so, has this resulted in a loss in sales? • Are your sales associates properly trained? • If you are over-stocked compared to your merchandise plan, what can you eliminate? • How much of the product in the class is old? Over three months? six months? one year? If you determine there are multiple different items contained in the slumping category, a deep dive into the subclasses will be needed to isolate the problem. You might find that there are very fast turning items in a poorly performing class that are being overshadowed by the poor performance of the rest of the category. Once you have discovered the problem, it’s time to create and execute a strategy. Create and execute a strategy • Have someone on the staff or marketing department study the web for influencers in the area to find out what is trending in the category. This should most likely be done by age group, 30-40, 40-50, over 50, etc. • Assign a designated staff member to oversee the category and become the resident expert. This individual will oversee presentation as well as advising the buyer on fast sellers that need reordering as well as slow sellers that need stock balancing and/or markdowns. • Create a marketing campaign to include email blasts and social media content, e.g., Instagram reels. • If appropriate, conduct vendor sponsored clinics to educate sales associated and customers regarding features, advantages, and benefits. • Consider sales contests for a limited time. • Reach out to vendors for input, assistance, display ideas, advertising money, promotional merchandise, and even samples for sales associates if applicable. Once a strategy is created and agreed upon, it needs to be implemented. Review your results weekly and tweak your strategy as needed to improve results. By following the steps outlined above of identifying the problem, determining the cause and implementing and monitoring a strategy, the chances of improvement are greatly improved. As a service to outdoor industry retailers, I am available to discuss any unique situations not covered in this article. My contact information is listed below. m Ritchie@arsotb.com or 816-7288740. You also can contact me at www. advancedretailstrategies.com Ok, so you dodged a few bullets in the past couple of years. Covid lockdowns are in the rear-view mirror, supply chain issues for the most part are yesterday’s news and staffing issues are at least better. Things are going reasonably well as measured by sales increases against last year with customers shopping once again. Back to business as usual, right? Time to relax? Fuhgeddaboudit! You’ll have plenty of time to take life easy when you sell or retire. P.T Barnum once said, “comfort is the enemy of progress.” If you are too comfortable you might be tempted to stop aiming for improvement, and that could be dangerous. I would suggest stepping out of your comfort zone and challenging the status quo. Reviewing your retail operation, store by store, department by department, class by class and vendor by vendor is a wonderful starting point. If you are like many retailers, you have most likely encountered a classification or category that at one time or another was underperforming. In this article, I will point out some things to look for that might help you identify and hopefully correct that issue. First off, the warning signs of a troubled category must be recognized. Secondly the cause of the problem needs to be determined. Finally, a strategy needs to be developed and executed properly to fix the underperforming category. Signs that a class might be in trouble. Here are a few indicators that should set off some red flags. Things to look for are as follows: • Sales that are trailing last year for several consecutive months for no apparent reason. • A decrease in maintained markup. • No significant receipts of new merchandise in the past few months. • Excessive markdowns. • Stock-to-sales ratios begin exceeding plan causing inventory turnover to slow. If one or any combination of the above is happening the next step is to begin by asking questions. How to ‘Fix’ an Underperforming Category By Ritchie Sayner
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