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Open Less to Sell More?
Today's edition of retailwire.com's e-newsletter featured an interesting discussion on whether "closing down a store a few days a week to bring in lower prices the rest of the week" was a survival strategy worth pursuing.
The article, "Survival Strategy: Cutting Store Days" by Tom Ryan, examined the actions of Kitchen Kaboodle, a five-store kitchen products chain in Portland, Oregon, which has recently gone from being open seven days a week to being open four. Here's part of the article:
…The owners figure that with consumers only buying on sale, the cost savings from closing the doors on those days will enable the company to bring in lower prices on the other four days of the week.
"What our customers want and what everybody wants is lower prices," John Whisler, a co-owner of the five-unit kitchen appliances chain, told the Portland Business Journal. "We were thinking, if that's the 'new normal' and everybody wants everything on sale, we as a retail business , and locally-owned one, feel we need to get people what they want."
If the store just slashed prices across all days, it would lose money. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday have long been the stores' slowest days. The savings come mostly in labor costs.
Mr. Whisler admits the idea is a "bold step" but is really a logical reaction to the marketplace.
"I think we all, in any business, get invested in how we've done things. You think we'll just tough it out and trim here and cut here and hold the line on this expense. But after a while in this economy it's pretty challenging," he said. "We don't want to be just limping along. We want to be seen as the place that gives people what they want."
The comments that follow are nearly unanimously against the idea, with one commenter opening up with this salvo: "There's bold steps and then silly ideas. This is one of them…" The lone exception calls the reduction in days open a "bold move" that "makes sense, at least in the current economic climate." What do you think? Is this a survival strategy you'd consider for your store?
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Lori Smith, , Editor-in-Chief
Lori Smith is the editor of Gifts and Tablewares, Canada's premiere gifts and tablewares magazine. Written for retailers of gifts, tablewares, housewares, stationery and home furnishing accessories, its objective is to help readers increase their sales and run their businesses more profitably by providing information on new products, merchandising, small business management, customer service, consumer behavior and industry news. The magazine is published six times a year by BIG Magazines, LP, a leading Canadian information company.
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This page contains a single entry from the blog posted on March 9, 2009 3:05 PM.
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