Before my friends at SIA get too cocky over the title, they should know I’m referring to our industry’s current business environment as well as the show. Granted, I was a bit of a slow convert to the move from Vegas to Denver, and I still miss playing blackjack with friends, but overall I’m glad they made the move. There were the usual opportunities to see friends I don’t see often More…
Posts Tagged ‘Strategy’
Thoughts on the SIA Show in Denver- It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This
Wednesday, February 9th, 2011Nike’s First Quarter; Strong. The Integration of Brand and Retail is Particularly Interesting
Monday, September 27th, 2010Normally, I prefer to wait for the actual quarterly filing to be available before doing this kind of analysis, but I trust you can all appreciate what a monumental waste of time it would be to really dig into Nike’s balance sheet. They’ve got $4.7 billion in cash and short term investments and $9.7 billion in shareholders’ equity. They got only $342 million in long term debt and no outstanding bank borrowings. So More…
Hot Topic: A Competitive Strategy We Should Be Thinking About
Saturday, December 12th, 2009Hot Topic has reported their results for the quarter ended October 31 and their sales for the month of November. Their sales were down some for the quarter and more in November, but they continued to make money in the quarter and their balance is very strong. But I don’t want to crunch their numbers. I do enough of that. I want to focus on their strategy and its relevance to the Action More…
Spy Optics’ 3/31/07 Quarterly Report: Lemonade Out of Lemons
Friday, June 1st, 2007Until recently, it’s been kind of a tough road for Spy Optics (publically traded under the corporate name of Orange 21). Though sales grew from $22.3 million in 2002 to $42.4 million in 2006, profits of $911,000, $500,000, and $807,000 in 2002 through 2004 gave way to losses of $1.7 and $7.3 million respectively in 2005 and 2006. Gross profit, at 51% in 2002, had fallen to 41% in 2006. In addition, there More…
The Relationship Between Marketing and Business Risk; Do One and Reduce the Other
Tuesday, October 31st, 2006Have you ever noticed how often the group of people who create ads, run promotions, and manage sponsorships are called the marketing department? That’s always struck me as kind of odd. I think marketing is the process of figuring out who your customer is, or can be, and why they buy your product. Advertising and promotion are the tactics you use to reach and attract those customers after you’ve reached some decisions about More…
What Forward Thinking Retailers are Doing: Trends That Probably Won’t Surprise Anybody
Wednesday, October 18th, 2006The issues that smaller retailers are facing haven’t changed much. There are too many retail stores, pressure from chains, brand stores and big boxes, a tough financial model, the challenge of keeping margins up, lack of product differentiation, increasing costs, over distribution. That’s a cheery environment, isn’t it? You’ve got a choice. You can bemoan the unfairness of it all or you can take advantage of this tough environment that’s putting a More…
Strategic Planning; Questioning Our Most Cherished Assumptions
Tuesday, June 17th, 2003This article sort of popped full formed into my brain at the TransWorld Snowboard Industry Conference at Whistler in April. It happened in an elevator. A kid carrying a skateboard got in (Shows you what kind of lousy winter it was in Whistler). As the door closed, I asked him how often he replaced his deck. He said, “I’ve been skateboarding eight years and this is my fourth deck.” Let’s hope he’s not our More…
Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Part II; Skateboarding will Survive a Slowdown
Monday, August 5th, 2002It was three or four months ago that I stopped getting the nearly weekly calls and emails from somebody who wanted to open a new skate shop. As weeks dragged on without the sound of enthusiastic voices eager to make their mark in skateboard retailing I wondered if that wasn’t a sign of a market top. Now, as you all mostly know, sales are a bit soft. As usual, there’s not More…
Changes in the Skateboard Competitive Environment. Time to Run Your Business Differently?
Thursday, May 30th, 2002It’s interesting how a handful of events and business trends seem to be converging in skateboarding at this time. They have, I think, the potential to change the industry and how it does business. The consumers, as always, will get what they want. For some companies- usually those willing to take a risk and do something a little different- this will represent an opportunity. For others, it won’t. Let’s look at these trends More…
Future History; What’s the Price of Success
Wednesday, April 22nd, 1998Originally, it was enthusiast driven. People started companies because it was an important part of their lives and they wanted to be part of what was happening. It wasn’t just about a sport- it was an attitude and a lifestyle. At first bigger companies in related sports weren’t interested because the market wasn’t large enough. When they got interested, they couldn’t figure it out because they just weren’t close enough to it. When the More…
