it's only when you encounter your first really tough period that reality kicks in. and it's only once you can see a glimmer of light that you can begin to put everything into perspective.
it's been a tough few weeks. we knew that jan and feb would be a bit bleak. couple the traditional down period of retail with the continued woe of the british consumer fueled by ken clarke's welcoming words about the "calamitous" outlook for the middle classes of britain and we weren't expecting a great deal. however, despite a bargain sale going on, we bottomed out last week with pitiful sales and a sad lack of any real progress in the prospective appearance of our spring/ summer stock from our 2 key brands.
so we've got no new stock, customers who've seen it all, delayed deliveries and a sudden hiccup in the schedule of our online store. in fact the hiccup was a blessing in disguise. i would have hated to have launched with a bunch of out of season stock - definitely not how to make an impact.
but a week down the line and things are looking brighter... we've got longer to get on with the webstore and make sure it's right (it was always going to be a big push); i've reworked the cashflow and revenue forecasts and we can still survive; and joy of joys, thelimited new stock we have received is going down well and beginning to draw customers back in.
we knew it was never going to be easy but coming from my personal background of big corp relative comfort and with anne's similar experience coupled with the fact it's still really her shop, we were feeling a tad sorry for ourselves. it's our first mini crisis of which i'm sure there will be more and larger ones. but when it's your own business, your own money, your own family then it all means so much more.
an experience to learn from and next season, we'll take all of this into account... and then something else'll bugger things up ;-)
it's been a tough few weeks. we knew that jan and feb would be a bit bleak. couple the traditional down period of retail with the continued woe of the british consumer fueled by ken clarke's welcoming words about the "calamitous" outlook for the middle classes of britain and we weren't expecting a great deal. however, despite a bargain sale going on, we bottomed out last week with pitiful sales and a sad lack of any real progress in the prospective appearance of our spring/ summer stock from our 2 key brands.
so we've got no new stock, customers who've seen it all, delayed deliveries and a sudden hiccup in the schedule of our online store. in fact the hiccup was a blessing in disguise. i would have hated to have launched with a bunch of out of season stock - definitely not how to make an impact.
but a week down the line and things are looking brighter... we've got longer to get on with the webstore and make sure it's right (it was always going to be a big push); i've reworked the cashflow and revenue forecasts and we can still survive; and joy of joys, thelimited new stock we have received is going down well and beginning to draw customers back in.
we knew it was never going to be easy but coming from my personal background of big corp relative comfort and with anne's similar experience coupled with the fact it's still really her shop, we were feeling a tad sorry for ourselves. it's our first mini crisis of which i'm sure there will be more and larger ones. but when it's your own business, your own money, your own family then it all means so much more.
an experience to learn from and next season, we'll take all of this into account... and then something else'll bugger things up ;-)
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