nursery matters JOHN BARKER
Barking Mad Pramland’s John Barker talks trade, expansion and is ready, booked and looking forward to Harrogate 2022!
H
ello all, I’d like to start this month’s article by saying how pleased I was with the feedback I received last month. I received a few emails from you guys saying how you felt a little deflated due to the way trade has been. So, if you emailed me thanks for reaching out and I’m glad my words help. After my article last month, I had hoped that the market would have seen a little stability. . . How wrong could I be? Like us you’ll no doubt have seen some pretty rubbish days trading, followed by some amazing days. The lack of consistency is really driving me (and I’m guessing you too) mad! The press constantly harping on
john@pramland.co.uk
about how little money people have is really starting to cause shoppers to think twice before placing orders. This is despite the fact that these customers know that in XYZ weeks they’ll have a baby and they will be needing the items they’ve not forked out for. Many of us offer payment plans but even these are not managing to tempt some people as it requires the customer to be confident enough that they’ll have the balance before baby arrives. It begs the question if the way forward is to offer a 0% finance package to customers in the store. As a trade off for the added administration they will at least release funds immediately to assist with cash flow but the question remains, is there
M any of us offer pay ment plans but even these are not manag ing to tempt some people as it requires the customer to be con fident enough tha t they’ll have the bal anc e before bab y arrives . 22
nursery today
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