Retail Innovators' Solution Part 1 -- Small Businesses Discussion Forum

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Subject: Retail Innovators' Solution Part 1

Author:
Dennis S. Vogel

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Date Posted: 21:55:00 09/21/11 Wed
In reply to: Dressed up where do I go? 's message, "where will the profits be?" on 20:30:01 09/20/11 Tue

Desperately needing a better situation & knowing you need to change can work in your favor. Some people need to be pushed out of their comfort zones, so they'll search for a better situation they've never been in before.

Some people in their comfort zones want/expect different results, yet they don't do anything different enough to get a satisfactory difference.

Let's start with this hypothetical premise - You have limited money to buy inventory. You have a small sales floor & little display space. You can't afford to pay for more storage space, so you can't afford to make big purchases to get volume discounts. For financial efficiency, you can buy products from only 1 of 2 suppliers because your store can't accommodate a big variety of product lines.

Some suppliers require minimum quantity orders or they charge more for shipping smaller quantities.

Based on styles, prices & shipping schedules, you narrow your list of potential suppliers to 2. After you check each of them, you discover fabrics used by one of them seem unusual.

Add Your Trade Skill & Consumer Input
Based on what you know & what you learn from research, suppliers & customers, discover what consumers will be dissatisfied with in the near future.
What will be less than they expect? - OR -
Which product features may be more than they want/expect?
Unwanted features will probably just add more expense &/or complexity without significantly increasing benefits some users get.

Here are a few common issues in product design & manufacturing, I've applied them to clothing -
Superior quality & durability of materials & stitching can be good in theory. What happens after clothing is stained, somewhat worn out &/or out of style? Where will that unwanted clothing go?

Durable materials may last for a long time in landfills.

That clothing could be donated or handed down to somebody else. Eventually, clothing will be disposed of & probably end up in landfills/dumps. Piles of that material that didn't get worn down may occupy a lot of space. When clothing isn't used, it probably won't be degraded much with wear & tear (friction).

Let's figure a fabric won't break down unless friction reduces it down to lint. Another issue is ability to recycle the fabric when the clothes are discarded so the materials aren't wasted & land isn't overfilled.

A lack of landfill acreage is getting worse.

Cheap materials may be trashed even sooner & occupy landfill space. (Example - what big box stores offer. Always Low Quality. Always.)

I don't know how relevant my example is/will be to consumers who might buy from you. It depends who they are, what their priorities are & what they can afford.

Manufacturing products often causes pollution (It's a reason manufacturers & big box stores have things produced in 3rd world countries that are more lax with environmental laws. Lower labor cost is only one issue.).

Does the mining or harvesting of raw materials (for products you stock) endanger people or animals? Note: People tend to like cotton. Planting & harvesting, then hauling cotton to a factory requires using fuel (usually gasoline or diesel). Fuel combustion produces exhaust (pollution).

Recycling products requires some source of energy to reshape the materials. That source of energy is apt to have a carbon footprint (total set of greenhouse gas emissions).

Some byproducts are probably produced when things are recycled. Where are the byproducts put? Are byproducts used to make other things?

After I give this issue more thought, I can help you more.

So, you can start with Part 1 & check back for part 2.

Thank you for using this forum.

Dennis S. Vogel
Even if you have the best, most environmentally friendly product, your success depends on reaching the right people, at the right times, with the right messages.
Some information you need for successful promotions is here -
http://www.lakefield.net/~thrivingbusiness/
http://www.voy.com/31049/

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Replies:

Subject	Author	Date
where will the profits be?	Dressed up where do I go?	15:12:24 10/07/11 Fri

Retail Innovators' Solution Part 2 - Side Effects & "Adverse Reactions"	Dennis S. Vogel	18:51:31 10/07/11 Fri

Retail Innovators' Solution Part 3 Get The (Hockey) PUCK Out Of There	Dennis S. Vogel	21:19:59 10/08/11 Sat