Feeling Froggy?

Then Leap.

Here they go again. 

Time for this season's first to blink contest.

And the winner is ...............

SAK'S FIFTH AVENUE!!!!!!!!!

After enraging the retail community last fall by doing markdowns +40% off in October (?!?), here comes the first, in recent memory, idea of pre-Easter promotions.

They are not the only one's doing crazy discounting.

As the previous article stated, Macy's is doing 80% off (and still have tons of inventory) without success, but at least that is Fall merchandise.

Nordstrom moved its annual June Half-Yearly Sale to early-MAY. 

And just about every retailer has maintained deep discounting on their websites, which are fall less scrutinized by the analysts covering the sector.

Well, I guess that's good news to the few people that seem to be in a shopping mood these days.

The troubling reality of all this is, mid-April begins the slow selling cycle for retailers, bottoming out in late-June through to early-August, at which time Back-To-School necessities bring shoppers back to the stores. 

Woefully sales figures thus far, early discounting and bigger inventory levels than 4th quarter 2008 continue to plague the industry. This is the start of failure season, when you will start to see companies filing for bankruptcy, liquidating and doing lay-offs. This happens because they understand the cycle and do not have any prospects for HUGE turnarounds for the next 6 months. 

The stores are thinking of helping the customers that walk through the front door of their establishment. However April marks a stark shift in planning and resource allocation in the minds of the Executive and Merchandising teams at 90% of retailers: 4th Quarter!

The stress being a little higher for this year's buy than any other. Mostly because, to the merchant teams who have the unenviable task of figuring out what you and I want 6 months from now, and more importantly, what we will pay for it, the reality is....

Get it right this year or their company more than likely will not be around in 2010.

I Am Legend

Before we start, I promised a very helpful young lady that I would let my readers know about Lord & Taylor's free shipping for online purchases of $99 and more (click HERE). Since free shipping is New Economy, I have now done so.

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I took a trip to a Chicago-area shopping mall last night with with a friend and, as you can imagine, I was moved enough to write about it. What you cannot imagine, is why?

We headed over to the Old Orchard Mall in Skokie, Illinois, just about 7 miles northwest of the Chicago city limits. This outdoor mall is a notoriously busy shopping destination (especially on warmer days), as it houses the most complete collection of stores, entertainment and dining options that serve Chicago's monied North Shore suburban communities, such as Lake Forest, Winnetka, Wilmette, Kenilworth and Glencoe, as well as the MASSIVE population center of Evanston, IL.

The 10-15 minute drive from Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood and ample public transportation make Old Orchard's many luxury destinations (Tiffany, Nordstrom, Subway) a desirable option for many city residents as well.

So, taking what you now know (or knew, if you you are an area resident) about Old Orchard Shopping Center and it's surrounding communities into account, you can understand why the following observations were so stunning to me and my counterpart.

1. We arrived at 7:00 pm, on a cool Friday night and immediately found parking (less than 45 seconds after entering the parking lot). The spot, second from the door of THE FOOD COURT, had two additional spots right next to ours, with very few other cars driving around looks for openings.

2. The food court was virtually empty, with over 60% of those eating having ingested, or were in the process of ingesting, Subway. $5 foot long is sooooooo New Economy. As a matter of fact, from this point forward, $5 foot long is the official meal of the New Economy! If someone can top it, I am open to suggestions.

3. No lines at any of the theaters (with the highly anticipated "I Love You Man", a new Nicholas Cage film and the first starring role for Julia Robert's in 4 years all opening last night), a virtually empty Barnes & Noble (less than 15 people inside), not one restaurant had a wait time for tables and much fewer than 1oo people encountered in the entire mall during our 2-hour trip.

4. Macy's was having one of those head-scratching sales where you cannot believe they are "giving away" the stuff for such low prices. For example: Table(S) of Ike Behar, Ted Baker and Ralph Lauren neckties, which all retail in the neighborhood of $125, were all $8.99!, racks upon racks of clearance at 75-80% off everywhere and 11 racks of men's shoes at 65% off. Yet, not a soul was shopping. 

Perhaps you think I am saying not many people were shopping the sale? I am not saying such a thing. I am saying exactly what I witnessed: NOT A SOUL WAS SHOPPING!

I talked to 3 sales people, who separately verified that "nobody is buying anything these days" and, based on the generally immaculate presentation of the sale tables and clearance fixtures, evidence suggests they were telling the truth.

Wandering past the women's areas of the store on our way out, we noticed no less than eight double-sided, 10-foot long clearance fixtures with $4.99 signs atop them. These fixtures were stuffed to the gills with merchandise. As I told my friend last night, perhaps that was the most telling sight of the evening: If QUALITY $4.99 dresses, blazers, jeans, sweaters, shirts and skirts do not get people into your store, what will? 

I truly believe America's shopping habit (sic, pricing threshold) may have changed for the foreseeable future, by which I mean the next 5-10 years, or so.

If you price a suit at LESS THAN a $5 foot long and nobody budges, you are experiencing the New Economy from a front row seat. 

To close out the Macy's story, they are in TROUBLE. Way over inventory, no customers and unable to find a pricing strategy that agrees with their customer's idea of fair value = retail molotov cocktail!

6. No Teens at the mall. I say this with great trepidation: If teens are opting out of spending time at the shopping mall (I counted 5 total last night) most, if not all, major shopping centers will be in bankruptcy by mid-June/early July. There will be no recovering from this development. It will take minimally 5-7 years to climb back from such a blow.

7. Every mall store had posted closing hours of 9pm, however, as we walked by stores at 8:15, we saw many a light out, with doors locked. By 8:35 most stores, save the large department stores, were locked and vacated. 

I am not saying this was the wrong idea (in fact it was exactly the right idea). What I am saying is, for this to be the general practice of the entire mall, my notes regarding the lack of shoppers during this trip is not out of the norm, and has had to be the case for quite some time. 

Lights out at 8:30 on the first day of spring at a major shopping center is not normal. As a matter of fact, it's unheard of!

So as we made our way through the mall, back to our car, I could not help identifying with Will Smith's character in the movie "I Am Legend", wondering if "anyone is out there?"

In the movie, after he has had the question answered in the affirmative, the larger question consumes him as the screen goes black and the titles begin to roll....."Can we (humankind) come back from this?" 

In short, I don't know?

Now that's how you let the beat build.

The Difference Between Coal and Diamonds is...

Pressure!

In our case, let's call it "Downward Pressure."

As a result of: 

being heavily inventoried

awful Holiday sales results

shrinking access to credit

Large retailers, especially those of the high-end variety, have not been able to order goods in their usual quantities from vendor partners.

This has created a boom in luxury goods at what I have coined as "echo-sites", defined as reputable retailers, usually restricted from carrying the brands due to the retailers discounting policies.

If one regularly reads the Oasis, this comes as no surprise, as the post-Thanksgiving business (or lack thereof), presaged this inevitability.

Last August TJX , the Marshall's and TJ Maxx parent company, announced plans to designate special floor space at each of it's locations to better spotlight the new collections previously unavailable to them.

And if that is not enough to convince skeptics, my trip to a Oasis fave, Costco, should do the trick.

While shopping at my neighborhood Costco in Chicago yesterday, The first table I encountered in the clothing area was stacked high with Ed Hardy t-shirts. These were not clearance peices, sent as one off, but piled high and 12 different shirts to chose from. 

What makes this development even more interesting was the price, an astonishing $31.99 for your choice of the shirts! The Nordstrom website has Ed Hardy t-shirts (while not exactly the same) for $106.

After collecting my usual food, book and hygiene needs, I noticed another table in the clothing area with an unusual amount of activity. Only this one had several women sorting though Seven Jeans. 

While the Neiman Marcus website features denim by Seven Jeans for prices ranging from $155 to (gulp!) $275, Costco sells 4 styles, all at $99.00! 

With the realities of the new economy becoming more clear each day, which of these three retailers seems better suited to deliver on their customer's demand for fashion and value?

Me too.

December's Echo

More shakeout from December retail business (click headline to read story):

Saks To Cut 9% of Workforce

Saks, as previously noted, is one of the company's in BIG trouble. Along with cutting 1100 jobs (most of which I cannot imagine coming from New York, where the company is strongest), the company plans to reduce inventory by 20%, has decided to close it's Club Libby Lu chain entirely and suspended a number of benefits to employees.

Let me be the first to say, it won't be enough. Print it.

Macy's Looking to Make Further Cuts

Macy's is planning to cut their four regional offices down to two, eliminating Miami and Atlanta, with New York and San Francisco remaining.

As I stated last month after their announcement of 11 store closings, this is still the tip of the iceberg. I foresee lots more trimming in the near future, as the longer they wait, the more severe the measures needed to right the ship.

Not all my prognostications for the Retail Sector were negative for the Holiday Season.

Video Game Industry Roars in December

A 9% increase for December year-over-year, and 19% increase YTD 2008! 

That is a "roar", if ever I heard one.

The revenue for the industry also was over $5 BILLION for the month for the 1st time in history.

As stated in November, the value to cost ratio for gaming has no rival, with $30-$60 games providing, literally, weeks of entertainment.

Look for this win streak to continue.

Lastly, while most retailers are still refusing to fully face the realities of the new economy, one (the same as always) retailer stands above all the rest in how they are dealing with the downturn, Walmart.

Walmart Sees New Realities for Retailers

Love 'em or hate 'em, Walmart may not be the prettiest girl in the class, but there can be no doubt they are valedictorian. 

Lee Scott was on Charlie Rose yesterday, in what I think is a must see interview. He discussed the impact the economy is having on Small Businesses and suppliers, which has not been discussed with the degree of specificity Mr. Scott shared. 

As they move forward, the focus at their stores will be continued improvement in customer service (he said this is not a slogan, but a actual goal), a better edited buying selection (less is more in his eyes, which is sooooo smart) and better presentation standards (thus making the store easier to shop for the consumer).

Three simple goals, which will translate into a big win for the world's biggest retailer. 

Not sexy, just smart. A formula to emulate if ever there was one.

Many Happy Returns

I was reading Ray A. Smith's article (U.S. Retailers to Report Grim Results)  on the Wall Street Journal website regarding the much anticipated December retail numbers due out Thursday and something sparked a memory of an unusual experience I had yesterday. 

Allow me to share and expand.

I went to my neighborhood Costco (a retailer who's praises I have sung on numerous occasions) yesterday and, as I approached the doors, saw something I have never witnessed before, a line to get in.

Mind you, yesterday's weather in Chicago was in the upper 20's, maybe 30, maybe.

Yet and still there were about 8-12 people standing in an orderly line outside the store. As I moved closer and closer I noticed the line extended some ways inside the store as well.  While walking and searching my wallet for the always misplaced membership card required to enter, I started wondering if the few items I needed was really worth standing in freezing weather.

Just as I resigned myself to the idea, I noticed the line was not to get inside the store, but an extension of the "Returns" line that was now, literally, winding outside the store.

The sight of that line and the thought, sparked by Mr. Smith's article, drove home a point I had not considered, how tough January business is in the retailing business.

This January, much like this December, is sure to be perhaps the worst month for retailing in, excusing the hyperbole, modern history.

Three things are needed to make a Perfect Storm in retailing:

• First, an uncertain economy. A bad economy is one thing, but "better the devil you know", they say. In bad economy, people have already made adjustments and pared down their spending habits. In uncertain economy, which is really a bad economy where people refuse to accept that reality, people attempt to maintain their lifestyles regardless of how difficult the reality of doing so is. This leads to large spending expenditures, followed by mass returns, pawning and borrowing. Sound familiar?

• Secondly, you need swollen inventories. Swollen inventories take up room needed to show new goods, inhibit buying teams from investing in newer, more relevant merchandise and forestall payments to vendors, banks and other creditors. If you consider we just came through the worst holiday season on record, and 4th quarter is when retail inventories swell to their highest levels, inventories are now HUGE, everywhere. This is why you are seeing, "Buy 1 Get 2 Free" signs in place of, "66% Off" signs popping up in stores. They seem to be the same thing,and while the latter gives customers merchandise for 1/3 the price, the former gives customers merchandise at 1/3 the price, but additionally removes two more items from the store's inventory. Inventory is a major problem at virtually every retailer right now.

• Lastly, you need reduced consumer foot-traffic. This point is not as obvious as it seems. Of course January is going to be infinitely slower than pre-Holiday business. However this January is sure to be slower than most because of something I wrote about in November, the greatly reduced number of gift cards sold this past Holiday Season. Gift cards ensure future business, period. When customers decided to steer clear from purchasing gift cards over the holidays, the message was clear, "We are not sure if we will be back, or if you we will be here when we do." The combination of loaded gift cards and huge discounts would have made for a festive January in retailing, instead we have the opposite effect.
  

Coupling these three factors with record rates of merchandise returns brings the problems many retailers face more clearly into focus.

A Perfect Storm has descended on the entire retail landscape and will have a disastrous impact on this, the last fiscal month of the calendar year. Look for Thursday's numbers to be bad, and this month's numbers to only accelerate the inevitable thinning of the retail herd.