The more I think about it, the less I feel I know for sure. I know the internet and brick and mortar are changing each other, that brands are becoming retailers and retailers brands, that easy information and product availability is making most products commodities at some level, that brands are really pushing product extensions, and that consumers are making long term changes in their purchasing behavior. But stirring this soup of More…
Posts Tagged ‘Competitive Strategy’
Trying to Think About the Junction of Retail, Brands and the Internet.
Thursday, April 5th, 2012Lessons From Interbike: Focus In or Focus Out
Monday, September 26th, 2011I had occasion to be in Vegas on business while Interbike was going on. The company I was working with was exhibiting there, so I took the day to wander around the show. I’d never been to Interbike before. There was something different about this trade show from all the others I’d ever been to. It took me a little thinking time with my favorite adult beverage after I got back to begin to More…
There Is No Action Sports Industry. Or Maybe It’s the Same as its Always Been
Friday, July 1st, 2011Sometimes I just can’t help myself. Many years ago, I wrote an article called “Are There Any Core Shops Left?” My good friend and editor at the time Sean O’Brien thought enough of it to put it on the Transworld web site for discussion. Without telling me. In hindsight, his instincts were good, but I was the slightest bit confused when I started seeing posts and getting emails that either told me how smart More…
Billabong Purchase of West 49 and Implications for the Industry- Questions, Questions, Questions
Tuesday, March 8th, 2011Billabong’s acquisition of West 49 was the biggest retail expansion by a brand so far. We’ll see more brands buying more retailers and opening more stores. This article is about why. What are the motivations and the industry impacts? And what are some of the conflicts and contradictions companies will face as they pursue this strategy? Some of this is a bit repetitive of stuff I’ve written before, but we’re really talking strategy and industry More…
Inventory Management and Customer Conversion/Retention in the Snow Sliding Business
Friday, January 28th, 2011SIA was kind enough to feed me a nice breakfast this (Friday) morning before the show opened. While I ate and drank coffee, people from the various industry organizations that are and have been involved in the industry’s programs to convert first time snow sliders talked to us about what they’ve accomplished and what more needs to happen. I guess the headline number was that conversion of first timers has increased More…
Biting to the Core: The Future of Mom-and-Pops, the Majors, and Brand Labels in the Evolving Retail Landscape
Thursday, September 16th, 2010In a rapid and rather remarkable convergence of four key trends, a lot is changing for core retailers and for retail in general. The accelerating push of large brands into retail, their reduced dependence on core shops, the decline in the number of true core shops, and the financial/management model required in our new economic environment pose many challenges but also many opportunities for those still standing. I’ve written about More…
I Wonder if PacSun Might Carry Hard Goods; And What Would Zumiez Think?
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010Just for a moment, hypothetically, let’s think about PacSun’s turnaround strategy, whether it might make sense for them to start carrying hard goods, and how other companies might react. PacSun’s Strategy That PacSun is in the middle of a turnaround is hardly disputable, if only because their management has characterized it that way. And in my judgment, they are pretty much doing the right things. First and foremost, they acknowledged that their More…
Blowback From the 4th Quarter; The SIMA Study and Snowboard Retailers
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009I received The 2008 SIMA Retail Distribution Study (highlights only) about the same time I got yet another phone call from another snowboard focused, core retailer that had been around a long time and was in trouble. I hate those calls because these are shops that I would like to see do well. My little accidental, informal, snowboard shop survey can’t hold a candle to SIMA’s study. But I thought there was More…
The Impact of Consolidation; Wasn’t That Over Years Ago?
Wednesday, November 16th, 2005Yes. And no. The snowboard industry consolidation that started around 1995 or 96 could probably have better been called extermination. Literally hundreds of brands went away either because their founders got tired of losing money or because the Japanese stopped paying cash in advance for snowboards. Though there were exceptions, these brands didn’t get subsumed under the multi-brand umbrella of a large corporation. They just ceased to exist. A Business Week article in September talked More…
Hard Truths about the Action Sports Business; Use Them to Make Lemonade from Lemons
Wednesday, June 15th, 2005As I said in the last issue of Boardsport Source, the way companies choose to compete in the action sports industry and, I suppose, in most industries, is largely responsible for the maturing and consolidation of fast growth industries. Ask the skate and snow people. People way smarter than I have acknowledged that surf’s time will come. It wouldn’t hurt to read that last article before this one. So if you’re one More…
