WHAT'S THE STORY
Do B e t t e r – Rh y t h m
CURSE OR BLESSING?
Short-term programmes, seasonless concepts, pronto and flash collections - do they really generate more sales for retailers? And do they really keep customers interested with a never-ending stream of new products? Or does the all-year order merely waste resources and increase the problem of too much merchandise on the sales floors? Does it primarily serve suppliers eager to increase order volumes artificially? This is clearly a controversial topic. Text: Isabel Faiss. Illustrations: Claudia Meitert@Caroline Seidler
TOTALLY IRRELEVANT
Michael Munz, Store Manager/The Listener “We collaborate with suppliers who plan the delivery windows and renewal on the sales floor by utilising artificial scarcity, management, and guidance. Thus, flash programmes are totally irrelevant to us. We map out the entire year with more than 100 employees and generally have no need for anything that can be produced and delivered at short notice. On the contrary, we rely on collections and products that are so limited worldwide that they can only be bought from us. The market doesn’t need more merchandise. I don’t perceive this as an additional service for retailers, especially not for multi-brand stores. It may help stores that are undecided in terms of collection planning. It only serves the suppliers, who can utilise their delivery capacity and generate additional revenue by subsequently increasing the planned budgets of their customers. As a result, suppliers determine speed, resources, inventories, and product range development. Retailers who know their customers well don’t need short-term flexibility. We order products with high inventory turnovers. They are sold out immediately and cannot be re-delivered. The market must be able to offer products that are not always available everywhere.”
LONG ESTABLISHED PRACTICE
Torsten Stiewe, Head of Buying Fashion/The KaDeWe Group “Generally speaking, it is very important for us to fall back on shortterm programmes. We decide on whether a flash programme suits our product range - and whether there is a need for it at all - on a case-by-case basis. This is usually a topic for the middle to cheaper price segments. Naturally, we talk to our partners about goodwill in terms of taking back or exchanging goods. The short-term programmes require flexibility from all involved parties, because we are taking a risk too. We started working with pre-collections that have very early delivery dates many years ago. As a major customer, we have the opportunity to buy them even earlier. That’s a strong argument for us. By utilising our experience with individual brands, we already allocate certain portions of the total budget in our annual plan. If I can integrate a flash programme and thereby compensate for something that hasn’t moved well, then I can create new excitement on the sales floor and offset a loss of sales in other product ranges. However, such programmes can also be integrated into pop-up concepts. The ability to react quickly is extremely important - not only because of e-commerce, but also because we are, in some segments, measured analogously to the vertical rhythms that we cannot and don’t want to replicate.” 106
style in progress
