It's vital to watch your stock levels. Here's how to manage the flow in tougher times.Is your fashion business experiencing reduced sales and increased stock levels? You're not alone, as consumers have begun cutting spending in response to the current economic conditions, putting the pinch on many in the fashion industry.As there's no certainty about when things will return to normal, it's vital to watch your stock levels. Stock ties up your precious cash and incurs costs such as storage, insurance, shrinkage and obsolescence.Here are some tips on managing your stock at the moment:Repeat offenderWhen ordering stock, last year's sales for the season may be irrelevant in predicting sales for this year, so don't repeat the order volumes without careful consideration. Slower moving stock also means you'll need less stock as a buffer against running out of stock, further reducing your stock holding needs.Change your ordering stylePlacing orders for smaller quantities on a more frequent basis means less chance of you getting stuck with excess stock. Any increased freight and handling costs incurred may be offset by reduced stock holding costs.Second chanceInstead of discounting your end of season or slow moving stock directly to your customers, consider establishing a relationship with discount outlets which can move the goods for you. This may be at lower margins, but it will have the advantage of not directly affecting the pricing of your other stock in-store and help avoid long-term damage to your brand image and price positioning.PricingThe natural reaction when sales fall is to decrease prices to retain sales volumes and growth. In a downturn, your business may be better off selling less stock at sustained prices, avoiding shrinking margins and sales that are now unprofitable. Avoiding such reductions can also prevent possible price wars with competitors that are also struggling.Be creativeTry spending more time on sales meetings with your staff, brainstorming a greater number of cost effective promotions, advertising and sales initiatives.ClutterIf stock does build up, remember not to clutter your store and turn off potential customers. Keep things looking fresh and bright so that it's appealing, with excess stock stored well out of the customers view.DiversifyTo protect your fashion business from a downturn, one of the safest strategies is produce or sell a broader range of clothing products and accessories, marketing them to a wider range of customer groups. This means that a downturn in any one consumer segment won't significantly affect your business. 
How digital can drive sales into stores
When a retail legend Solomon Lew describes the market as being the worst he has ever seen, you have to wonder what hope there is for the smaller independents. Topshop has failed in Australia. Strip malls have been ravaged by online and consumer uncertainty remains the prevailing sentiment a decade after the GFC first darkened the global economy. This uncertainty has kept purse strings tight. So the question remains, how do we inspire customers into spending again?Instagram & Facebook have proven very successful for some brands and retailers, however many brands and retailers still aren’t getting it right. Some of the most successful brands have built a strong following through visual content that inspires and excites the customer. This isn’t theory. Customers can be inspired by creating a narrative. Country Road’s digital campaign of 2015 is a perfect example and remains the benchmark.The Country Road campaign’s creative assets told the story of a modern Australian summertime road trip with family and friends. Visual assets highlighted full lifestyle product edits, positioning Country Road as a one-stop destination for holiday gifting and fashion for women, men, child and home. The full suite of products. The Facebook digital strategy was so successful that for every $1 spent in Facebook advertising, Country Road generated an additional $18.20 in revenue, of which $15.40 was attributed to bricks and mortar stores, according to Ad News.Facebook Australia head of retail Kate Box attributes the success to reaching real people with the right message and leverage moments throughout the day.While this may be mind boggling for smaller independents and brands with a much smaller budget than Country Road, there is hope for any retailer and brands willing to tell their story in a unique way. Lifestyle content is a key player to digital retail success in driving sales. For Country Road, it wasn’t simply wasn’t just spruiking their wares via a series of product shots, but curating them to inspire the customer which related to a particular lifestyle. And they aren’t the only ones with Tony Bianco and 2XU also following suit and are finding it pays dividends through Facebook & Instagram advertising.Tony Bianco digital marketing manager Beth Auty agrees simple product images don’t resonate, however informational content, such as ‘how to’s’ and styling images do, she revealed in article in Ragtrader.“The posts that work are absolutely lifestyle imagery. You know products that are in the moment, that are on the person or flat-lay imagery, which works more for us. It is definitely that just flat plain product shot, that doesn’t sell the product. It has to be something that is styled and is on the foot, with an outfit that goes with the shoe. That certainly works better. We find that just as someone is scrolling through the feed, it looks like it a part of his or her feed it. It doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb; it is something that actually looks native to their feed itself.
While digital content remains an important tool for retailers, there is one company that is also inspiring shoppers to go back to strip shops through imagery and quality content through another digital outlet.I recently spoke with Renee Lodens, founder of Travelshopa, at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia of her passion to bring back the shopping strips as key destinations and to promote brands and regional shopping strips to the world. Not just another shopping destination guide, Travelshopa plans to partner with major corporate players and is passionate about retail.Tell me about Travelshopa and what you were wanting to achieve when launching it?Travelshopa was born from my love of travel and shopping. I wanted to help shoppers have better shopping experiences. I identified a gap in the market for a go-to guide for local shopping around the world. For me there was a clear opportunity to help shoppers find out where, when and what to shop, and to help local designers and retailers to promote their businesses. Four years in and Travelshopa is a curated guide for local shopping around the world. I love bringing together style conscious shoppers, emerging designers and independent retailers as well as industry professionals across Asia, the Americas and Australia.With Instagram full of travel content and aspiration, many brands and retailers still fail to excite their customer through content. How would you work with them?Many of the brands are amazing at what they do but when it comes to promoting themselves it can be a challenge. Great content goes beyond a nice picture. Travelshopa started out with a blog and city shopping guides. I took great interest in profiling lesser-known brands and I wanted to give these brands a voice. The content was delivered in my personal style, which seemed to be well received by shoppers and brands alike. From there things grew organically and we systemised and started to rollout the approach. The blog has now turned into a global online platform that creates unique guides and exclusive interviews. Today it promotes brand profiles and shopping experiences to a global audience. This content is unique and focused on telling their brand story first and foremost. We love championing these brands and telling their story in their own unique way.How would this work for independent retailers who aren’t that technically advanced but need to get more visitors?Travelshopa is all about helping shoppers have better shopping experiences. That means making it easy for brands to connect in a simple, informative and effective way with shoppers. For brands, it is about offering them access to a platform that enables them to create and manage their online profile as well as speak directly to shoppers. The registration process is very easy, much like setting up a Facebook profile page. There is minimal technical know how required and it’s really fast to create a basic profile.Down the track would you like to have Travelshopa making retail strips great again with more destination shopping?My love for strip shopping was one of the reasons I started Travelshopa. I’m probably even more motivated now with the retail industry undergoing dramatic shift: in-store foot traffic is down and online shopping is up. Shoppers now also want more information and customised experiences during their shopping journey. Digital is a powerful way to connect shoppers with stores. Travelshopa is in a strong position to help bridge the divide between shoppers and stores. We are already seeing more brands embrace Omni-channel strategies, in-store experiences, curated shopping precincts and multi-label popup stores. However, the experience economy, coupled with rising retail rents, social media algorithms and online competition, presents a greater opportunity for brands to come up with accelerated ways to entice shoppers back into retail stores. I’d like to see more brands, shopping strips and destinations focus on customer experience and bridging the gap between digital and bricks-and-mortar.What are the advantages brands and retailers can experience with Travelshopa?Travelshopa is a unique platform as it focuses purely on local shopping experiences. In connecting style-conscious shoppers, emerging designers and independent retailers as well as industry professionals, Travelshopa is the fastest growing directory of local brands across fashion, furniture and homewares. We know that shoppers are more inspired to visit a store after finding out information such as brand story, store location and hours or pricing. Travelshopa is free and a great place for potential shoppers to discover brands. Our online information can propel shoppers to shop in-store or online.Tell us about the strategic partnerships you have with major companies?While the global retail landscape is currently undergoing enormous change, and consumer expectations are also shifting, more than ever before travellers are looking to have bespoke, memorable experiences. This presents us with a unique opportunity to help promote local shopping experiences and ensure that shoppers can access curated local knowledge on where, when and what to shop. We work with key verticals such as financial services, travel and tourism, hospitality and media to amplify the distribution of our content and knowledge about local shopping.
You are rolling out individual locations including rural areas in Australia, how do you plan to do this?There is a lot of research that goes into each destination before we start planning and curating brands. I analyse industry reports and our own website data as well as seek feedback from our readers and brands on where to next. From 2015 to 2016, the Australian tourism industry grew by 9% total visitor spend (and domestic travel grew by 6.4% total visitor spend. These numbers show that now is the right time to launch Travelshopa in Australia. Travelshopa presents the best of the best of each destination so shoppers have the best possible shopping experiences. We have started researching tourist regions in NSW such as the South Coast, the Southern Highlands, the Hunter and Byron Bay, as well as some country NSW destinations such as Orange, Bathurst and Wagga Wagga. We are looking for the best local brands in each destination and will reach out to designers and retailers across fashion, furniture and homewares to be part of Travelshopa. I find trade shows, industry events, walking the streets and word of mouth are a great starting point. We also welcome brands that represent the local shopping scene to proactively reach out to us. Having said that, if we get great interest and demand for a specific destination, we can prioritise its launch.Can you offer services to help retailers get great content to inspire shopping again?The goal is to ensure our audience can find local brands on Travelshopa and then takes action like visiting in-store or online. The first step is to create a great brand profile that is complete. Brands can also add editorial and product images to appear in our product search tool. We use these images in our editorial and marketing. Brands can also promote new collections, sales, offers and in-store events in our new experiences area. Our in-house editorial team published original content every week, set to a specific theme with a unique point of view. We share this content across our social channel, in search and our newsletter. We also offer brands with the opportunity to work with us to create bespoke content that drive brand awareness.How many countries are on board and how many cities and areas?Travelshopa currently covers 18 destinations in Asia, the Americas and Australia. We have world-class shopping destinations like Hong Kong, Singapore, Los Angeles and San Francisco as well as more tourist destinations like Bali, Bangkok, Phuket and Ho Chi Minh. In Australia, we are starting with Sydney and Melbourne. We will then expand into country/regional destinations, before expanding into other capital cites.What are the packages offered?While Travelshopa is free for brands to join, we have a tiered subscription model with pay-per-click functionality. We also work with brands on bespoke content, advertising and partnership opportunities. We have worked with regionals partners such as MasterCard and PayPal to amplify our content to shoppers. We also work closely with industry leaders to develop bespoke shopping content to enhance their current content offering.Is your intention for Travelshopa to drive sales for retailers and brands?It is important how a brand is presented on Travelshopa. The better presentation, the more coverage and hence the more traffic and sales it drives for brands. The premium tiers can access a detailed dashboard and monitor their success on Travelshopa, as well as access exclusive features that boost their promotion and sales. For example, we have a weekly shopping edit that mixes editorial with ecommerce. Each edit has the look and feel of a digital magazine with dynamic content that helps brands sell more products.Visit http://www.travelshopa.com/About the Author, Phoebes Garland
Phoebes Garland is the Co-founder & Co-owner of Garland & Garland Fashion, a fashion & consultancy agency based in Sydney, and founder of Fashion Initiative. Between the two of them, Phoebes & Robert Garland have over 60 years’ sales experience in fashion, publishing and advertising. Phoebes is an industry mentor to designers with Australian fashion industry body, Australian Fashion Chamber and is on the Advisory Board for Fashion Design Studio (TAFE NSW). Phoebes Garland is also an ambassador to Shake it up Australia Foundation and contributes articles to Australian Fashion industry magazine, Ragtrader.
5-Week Fashion Makeover: Brush Up Your Business Plan
Have you revisited your business plan lately? You should.
In part three of this five week retail makeover, fashion finance expert Melissa Brown tells you how pricing decisions can impact your bottom line.Whether you’re a designer, a stylist, a retailer or you simply love clothes you’ll know that undergarments are just as important as outer garments.They simply make some clothes look so much better. Who notices a fabulous dress if all you can focus on is bumps, ridges and underwear lines?Never a good look.So what does Spanx have to do with money and your business? In the same way that foundation undergarments make clothes fall and look better, foundation work in your business will also help your business look and perform at its best.By foundation work I mean foundation documents like your business plan and budget. These documents may seem like seriously unsexy (and unnecessary) documents but without them you have no basis for what you’re doing in your business.Spending time doing the foundation work allows you to create a base on which to build your business. To work out key things such as where you want to go, what you want to be, what your purpose is, who your customer is, how much money you will need, when you will need it and how much money you can make from this business.All important things to know so that you can be focused and purposeful in your decisions but also so that you can spend less time putting out fires and reacting later on. Sounds great in theory but what should go in it?My suggestions are:- Core Values
- Core Competencies
- SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
- What You Will Do: Where you’ll be located, who you’re targeting, where you’ll be positioned, what you’ll sell
- How You Will Do it: Marketing, process (make vs buy), how you’ll fulfil your orders, your capacity
- One year goal, three year goals and your BHAG (10 year goals)
- Financials: Monthly budget for two years as well as a story explaining what you’re basing your numbers on. Maybe you created a business plan or budget when you first started out and have never referred to it since. That’s about as useful as keeping a pair of Spanx in an underwear drawer and never wearing them. So whether you need to blow the dust off an old plan and revise it or create a new one, here’s a few things to keep in mind:
- A business plan doesn’t need to be a 50 page document. Sometimes the most successful plans are also the most succinct. If even the idea of a dozen pages makes you break into a sweat there are some talented people who have created one page plans that allow you to plot your business onto a single page. I use an adapted version of Verne Harnish’s one page plan with great success in my own business because you can pin it on a wall and it’s a visual, daily reminder of what we’re doing and where we’re going
- Your budget and business plan doesn’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to be an accountant to create one. Think of them as a starting point. Sure some of the figures won’t be right but you can tweak them as you get more clarity on what your real costs and income are.
- You should look at your business plan and budget less than once a day but more than once a year. My suggestion is you should at least be looking weekly at your budget and quarterly at your business plan. Any less and too much has happened and you’ll simply be reacting instead of anticipating.
Melissa is CEO of accounting & advisory firm A&TA. For more pricing tools head to The Numbers Lounge www.thenumberslounge.com or email Melissa melissa@byata.com.au
Are you making the most of your best selling lines?
Boutiques, are you on to a winner? This is how to maximise that gold.
In ever evolving industries such as fashion, success comes from being able to move stock fast enough to keep up with the latest consumer demands, while not getting lumbered with yesterday's look.Trends come and go in the blink of an eye; so making the most of your stock while it's still the latest trend can really boost your cash flow and profit.Retailers that are quick to adapt stock to customer demands have a greater opportunity to profit during the pre and in-season buying times.So how can you make the most of your best sellers? Here are a number of useful tips to consider:ResearchLook closely at your top selling lines to pinpoint the particular style, size and colours that sell best. Particular attention should be paid to the number of units sold each day or week to calculate the minimum stock you need to keep in the stockroom to ensure the sales floor is always full. Factor in the lag between making an order with a supplier and the actual delivery date to ensure best selling lines never run dry.Focus on supplier relationshipsSuccessful fashion businesses hinge on the timely delivery of fast-selling popular items, so a good relationship with your suppliers is a big advantage. Negotiating a contract that lets you buy smaller quantities of stock more frequently can help you keep pace with new lines, without swamping the stockroom with old stock and draining your cashflow.Accelerate turnoverBy buying smaller amounts of popular items and rolling new lines through quickly, you can maximise your selling potential. You might be paying slightly higher supplier costs for smaller stock amounts, but you'll avoid impacting on profit by not having to discount unsold stock once it's lost its appeal.Get financeIf you struggle to find a supplier that will let you order smaller amounts, you may find that you can increase your businesses potential by financing the purchase of your stock. This essentially guarantees that your supplier can be paid quickly and on a regular basis, without tying up your cashflow. Also, being able to pay for your merchandise up-front can even mean discounted rates and faster delivery times.Maximising returns on best-selling stock, with a limited shelf life, can be quite an art to master. The key to boosting sales is to push these items through as quickly as possible without over committing to stock on hand. By developing and maintaining a consistent buying culture with your supplier, you'll be able to attract customers with the best range of stock possible, freeing up your working capital and boosting your businesses potential.
[author credit]For the past 20 years Debra Templar has been working alongside small business owners teaching them about customers – how to find them, get them and keep them – and all that entails. She knows that businesses thrive or die depending on their offer to customers. Knowledgeable and pragmatic, Debra gets to the heart of the issue and offers cost-effective solutions, all with the aim of improving the business. This year Debra was recognised as one of Vend’s Top 50 Retail Influencers world-wide.www.thetemplargroup.com.auwww.facebook.com/debratemplartalksshop