June 2020
Volume #21 Issue #7

Is this a disruption or a prompting?

The past two issues of Small Business News have been unique in their format; this month is no different. Collectively and individually, our vision to the near and long term future of our businesses is much harder to see.

However, each of us should be looking at what we have experienced in our own businesses during the past 100 days. We should also look at other businesses in your industry and others to learn of their experiences. Phone calls or email conversations could be helpful. Our question to everyone is, "has this only been a disruption to your business or is it a prompting for you to change and learn?"

While many of us are tired of hearing the "we are all in this together", I can assure you the experiences have varied tremendously. The last report I saw in the liquor industry showed a sales increase of 54% and an increase in online sales of 243%. You may say this is awesome. Perhaps in the long term it might not be.

The liquor industry, like many others, traditionally has the fourth quarter of the year as their best sales period. However, will their suppliers have enough product to sell them for the fourth quarter of 2020? What if all of the people buying the liquor have been hording the products they purchased at a liquor store like toilet paper? Either of these would suggest a poor fourth quarter.

Other examples are the bicycle industry and sewing machine/fabric industry. While the National Bicycle Dealers Association reported 21% of bike shops in the US as being closed, a story on an individual shop in Little Rock told of April being the largest sales month ever, no inventory available from their eleven bicycle manufacturers and repairs backed up two week.

A sewing machine retailer reported tremendous sales and no availability of machines selling for less than $1,000. Another sewing machine retailer 200 miles away in a neighboring state was forced to close.

Bottom line? Talk to other business owners. Even if your business has been great during the virus, you should learn from others so that you can think today about what you would do if you were one of the unfortunate businesses in a future challenge. Those we have observed who have been hit the worst were dry cleaners, clothing stores and restaurants.

Another point we want to make is that of how you are spending your time to make your business better. While we will agree that social media acceptance and usage has gotten a tremendous boost from the last 100 days, we fail to understand why so many owners want to spend a lot of time learning how to use social media.

One industry stated over 60% of member owners reported they did not have enough funds to survive 90 days. Seems to me this should be a strong suggestion that time and effort should be spent in learning how to profitably own and operate a business.

We have a lot of free courses on financial management on the Profits Plus website. If you are not sure which you should be looking at, give a call and we'll be glad to point you toward the appropriate course and the related free calculators.

July is Independent Retailer Month

Who could have known when we created Independent Retailer Month is 2003, that as the 18th celebration of the event would have this much significance. Because of the virus there is a sizable backlash against China, chain stores, mass merchants, and big box businesses.

This can be good news for your business. As my experience has been that customers do not possess a long term memory when it comes to their making decisions about their preferences, I believe we should take advantage of what is before us.

 Let me invite you to use the resources of the celebration by visiting the website we have created; indieretailermonth.com