Increase Your Exposure
Because a Sea Change is Coming
"It's really starting to become mainstream," says Mr. Davenport, coauthor with Jeanne G. Harris of "Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning" (Harvard Business School Press, 2007). The entry barrier, he says "is no longer technology, but whether you have executives who understand this."
More and more of your competitors are starting to understand that the job does not end when the goods are shipped to the retail client. They are gaining insight into who their ultimate consumer is, how their products are selling - and will sell - by SKU and by retail door.
No matter how you do it and who you work with, we urge you to start educating yourself about retail analytics as well as how your company's role and relationship is changing with respect to your retail clients. We urge you to become proactive in taking advantage of the opportunity this represents.
One way is to start interviewing and even hiring former retail buyers in sales and/or planning roles. You would be amazed as how many of your competitors have already done this. Or start talking to companies that offer software or services. We offer a free consult and I am sure other companies like ours do as well (In fact we will be at the Licensing Show, Booth 3656 this week). Or you could send an executive and/or member of your sales team to our Intro Retail Merchant Class. This class offers a certain portion of our years of experience in a high level manner that does not require a lot of time or cost.
Topics include:
Understanding a buyer's point of view, expectations and openness to vendor management, looking for opportunities of growth (statistics, retail assortment, demographics), Retail Math & Measurement standards, why tracking the business at store level matters (lost sales, opportunities, profiling, inventory productivity), assessing risk on margin guarantees and markdown negotiations.
The next class will be at the Marriott Courtyard, 114 W. 40th Street, on July 19th from 8:30am - 12:30pm. The cost is $795. The Syllabus and Registration Form can be found at:
http://www.ers-c.com/merchantclass.pdf
Jim Lewis
Please keep us informed
We would like to know what issues you face and how we can help, including any future classes you feel would help your business. Please click here to send us such an e-mail.
