We cannot offer you a black-and-white formula that guarantees you'll thrive in a weak retail environment. But we can offer some general principles that have proven reliable for decades. With economic conditions as they currently are, these general principles may be just what you need to keep things going.
It's All About the Core
When the economy is good and sales are bustling, retailers tend to broaden their reach by expanding their inventories. During economic downturns though, it is important to get back to the core. As a retailer, we assume your core product is designer wholesale sunglasses. That's what your business was built on. Concentrate on being the best provider in your market.
Your core business is what your company is known for. Whether you sell online, in-person, or both, getting back to your core takes you back to those basic principles that have driven your success to this point. Those principles will keep things going until the economy rebounds.
Focus on the Customer
An extension of getting back to core business principles is focusing on the customer. Regardless of the number of designer sunglasses you have in stock, your inventory does little good if your customers aren't buying. Granted, you may have trouble making sales in a down economy. But you will have no shot if you don't take care of your customers.
We like to think of it this way: make the process of buying new sunglasses an experience your customers won't forget. If you sell online, find a way to make the online experience unforgettable. If you sell in-person, work within your brick-and-mortar environment to make the experience of visiting your store unique. Demonstrate a genuine interest in your customers and they will reward you with their loyalties.
Be More Selective About Marketing
During economic slowdowns, a lot of retailers make the mistake of pulling back on marketing. It is understandable, given they are looking to cut expenses as much as possible. From our perspective, it seems that economic downturns aren't a time to pull back. Rather, they are the perfect time to take advantage of marketing opportunities no one else is touching.
A good example is pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. When e-commerce retailers pull back on their marketing budgets, bids for PPC ads go down. Maybe you couldn't afford to bid the highest prices your competitors were offering on your favorite keywords. But now they aren't bidding as much. This is your opportunity to get in on the action at a more affordable bid price.
It's a Matter of Reimagining Your Wholesale Sunglasses Business
One of the world's most recognized entertainment brands (which will remain nameless for this post) talks an awful lot about imagination. When they shut down one part of their operation with the intent of introducing something new, they refer to the process as 'reimagining'. This holds a lot of weight in retail.
Tough economic times do not necessarily justify drastic actions to cut costs and limit opportunities. Sure, retailers need to be more cautious about what they do. But economic downturns offer the opportunity to reimagine and refocus. They are an opportunity to return to the core and treat customers like royalty. That is how you keep things moving along in a downturn.
