Look on the bright side
So, the first year of the new decade is over - a decade that, to my
mind, still has no catchy sobriquet to match that of the noughties (the
teenies? The tens? The twenty tens?).
I almost dread to ask the question, but [deep breath] how was it for you?
Some make it a point to wallow in the misery of it all - the snow, the rise in VAT, Chinese price increases, internet retail chipping away at the high street... It can be easy to dwell on these Horsemen of the Gifting Apocalypse, but bear in mind that the last century saw two world wars, an extended Cold War, recessions, hurricanes and revolutions - the gift trade survived and flourished.
Similarly, the noughties saw the rise of global terrorism, the start of the economic downturn and eight years of George W Bush with his finger on the nuclear panic button. We're still here. Venerable old companies like Widdop Bingham and Ackerman have amassed 127 and 100 years in the trade respectively and show no signs of slowing down (I might as well mention that Gifts Today is the longest running trade magazine for the industry at nearly 23 years of age!).
So, without wishing to be glib or condescending, let's try to put those issues I mentioned at the start into context.
The snow has certainly not helped business. An unfortunate confluence of meteorological events led to the earliest, heaviest snow for years, wiping out a couple of vital trading weekends and throwing postal deliveries into chaos in the run-up to Christmas. We'll know more about the ramifications by the time our next issue comes around but hopefully you will all have sold what you needed to sell. But it's not all bad news - some retailers have told me that they have seen an upsurge in local business as customers avoid unnecessary travel.
It would be interesting to hear if this is a wider trend - have the adverse weather conditions directed trade more locally? Have customers stayed nearer home rather than negotiating the icy roads to go further afield?
The most recent information in front of me says that we may be looking at a post-Christmas thaw. Hopefully this will mean bumper sales from Boxing Day onwards before the VAT rise kicks in on January 4.
And, as for the threat of internet retailing - there's nothing stopping anyone having their own website and selling from it. Retailers now have the opportunity to sell to customers in every part of the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Many have it ticking away in the background as an adjunct to the main business. Others have closed their bricks and mortar premises and now solely exist in cyberspace. It's like learning the piano - the more you put into it, the more you will inevitably get out of it.
It's easy to see the glass as half empty and we are all probably guilty of that at some point. But while 2011 will certainly provide its fair share of challenges, as Lisa Simpson (of The Simpsons) pointed out, the Chinese use the same word for 'crisis' and 'opportunity'.
Have a great 2011.
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