Fly High on Trend Winds

Trade winds influence how fast a jetliner can fly east-to-west. Trend winds influence how high a retailer can fly up in profitability. For as long as the trend is driving sales consistently, the retailer can hold on as effortlessly as a kid would hold onto a kite flying in a consistent breeze.
     However, when the breeze dies or switches direction, the kite can promptly come crashing down. Monitor trends. Sometimes you can predict with high accuracy when the changes are about to happen. A classic example is the nature of American fashion trends in the 1940s. In recent years, researchers at Florida State University and Texas State University systematically evaluated the effects of War Advertising Council posters issued during World War II that urged women to make the best use of limited resources without yielding their individuality. The resulting trends included slimmer profiles and shorter hemlines in clothing in order to conserve fabric and more durable textiles in order to prolong the life of garments.
     Predictably, when WWII ended, these trends moved around.
     Spotting trends within trends improves your retail profits. In 2012, fashion clothing and shoe sizes began trending larger while fashion accessories were trending smaller. Large handbags—15 to 18 inches tall or wide—were highly popular before the Great Recession, but during the recovery accounted for only about 26% of dollar sales. Pulling ahead were midsize handbags—at least 12, but less than 15 inches tall or wide—which accounted for 43% of dollar sales. This during the same period that car companies were positioning pedals farther apart for bigger and wider feet and toilet seats were getting larger to accommodate expansion in other areas.
     Understanding the shopper psychology rationale for trends within trends or the relationships between associated trends gives a bonus lift. Researchers at Cornell University, State University of New York-Binghamton, and State University of New York-Buffalo noticed that people were getting heavier and they were using credit cards more often to pay for food. Sure enough, there was a relationship. The researchers studied the shopping behavior of 1,000 households over a period of six months. They found that shopping carts had a larger proportion of fattening food items when shoppers were using credit or debit cards rather than paying by cash.
     It may have been that the pain of paying by cash led to shoppers exerting more self-control when conducting their food purchases.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers

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