Survival Tips for Retailers & Manufacturers

As part of an ongoing series of blogposts from OR Central, here are some thoughts, compliments of the mothership (Nielsen Business Media), on running business in a bear market... more to come.

Survival Tips for Retailers & Manufacturers

This holiday season, affluent buyers are dialing down their spending. Attached is an NBM article with tips on managing your merchandising, product mix and messaging.

http://www.nielsen.com/consumer_insight/ci_story2.html

 Deck the aisles
Survival tips for retailers and manufacturers gearing up for the holiday season include the following recommendations:

·                            Manage inventory like never before to avoid extraneous carrying costs in January;

·                            Reach out to high-value customers through direct mail or special offers that reward loyalty;

·                            Merchandise to fulfill consumer necessities; have-to’s versus nice-to’s should dominate the product mix; and

·                            Leverage interest in basic consumer packaged goods such as toiletries, pet care or special holiday food/beverage packs, positioning them as ideal stocking stuffers.

The strategies put in place now will further enhance growth in 2009 as the economy slows and consumers intensify their existing level of behavior with coping tactics such as trading down on products and services and a re-alignment of value-seeking shopping alternatives.