“You are way better off to skip the line all together than to write token orders for the wrong reasons.”
By Ritchie Sayner
Have you ever been in a situation in which you pulled up to a stop light to discover that you are spending the next minute of your life emotionally involved with an individual holding a sign that depicts the life challenges he or she is struggling with? The signs typically read something like, “homeless, please help,” or “hungry and out of work,” or anything designed to get you to roll down the window and part with some of your hard earned cash.
You have options to consider during these very lengthy seconds. One is, you can do your best to avoid eye contact altogether. This is nearly impossible when the poor soul is standing a mere three feet from your driver’s side door. You can stare back in defiance wishing this societal blight wasn’t tolerated in your city. After all, you work hard for your money, you know there are jobs available and this guy is just looking for a handout. The hoped-for option, however, is to succumb to whatever guilt you are feeling, roll down the window and hand over whatever spare change or couple of bucks you can quickly grab from your wallet. There you go. This small problem goes away (for now). You have a temporary reprieve from guilt and you have “helped” someone less fortunate. But you really haven’t helped anyone, have you? You did this for yourself so you would no longer feel uncomfortable.
When I visit stores that are over-assorted and overstocked I know the store’s buyer(s) have struggled with the same feelings as the person at the stop light. They either can’t follow their merchandise plan or don’t have a solid plan to begin with. What generally ends up happening is they roll down the window (figuratively) and throw little token orders to lots of vendors. They assume this will make all the reps like them and everybody will be happy.
Buying a little from everybody simply because someone has taken the time to show you a line or come into your store is really like rolling down the window and handing the guy on the curb a few dollars. It does nothing to help either party!
The vendors are the ones holding the signs that say “Please buy my line.” You don’t want to make them feel bad, so you give them an order. The ramifications of this practice are costly to your store and to the vendor. You mean nothing to the resource and they mean nothing to you. A line can’t be properly represented and developed in this fashion.
The merchandise that you really wouldn’t have purchased in the first place probably doesn’t fit into your assortment plan and most likely is a duplication of something already carried. The merchandise becomes “lost in the sauce,” ties up floor space and cash, slows your turnover and eventually reduces your margin when you wake up and mark it down. You are way better off to skip the line all together than to write token orders for the wrong reasons.
A seasoned merchant will avoid this situation by having a solid dollar-control plan and a resource matrix that is consistent with the store’s image. This is not to say that new lines shouldn’t be continually tested. To the contrary, testing a concept, new vendor or different price point is something that may develop into a viable business opportunity. We always want to reserve open-to-buy dollars available for these occasions.
Remember, it is more prudent to say “no” sometimes than it is to say “yes” every time. Your job as a buyer is to select the merchandise that best represents what your customers will most likely be willing to purchase in line with the image of your store. You will sell more with a focused presentation and avoid assortment creep if you “buy the best and pass the rest!”
Ritchie Sayner is VP of Business Development at RMSA Retail Solutions. Follow him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RitchieSayner or email to rsayner@rmsa.com.
