After this most recent Christmas' shopping season, local malls had markdowns well into the range of 50%. My younger daughter caught onto this quickly, saying to me,
'Dad, if I had the money right now, I'd be buying a lot, because these prices are so low.'
Pondering the losses these retailers were taking, it occurred to me that we will not soon see such merchandise assortment at our local retailers. Whether its size, color, or style, you can bet that what inventory is carried will be well into the broad middle swath of sizes and styles.
In this vein, I want to relate the long search I undertook for a rather simple item- a replacement for the fine blue ink cartridge in my 20+ year old Cross pen.
A.T. Cross pens are not anywhere near the price and prestige of a Mont Blanc. Yet, try to find refills, or even the pens, in today's retail market, and you will be disappointed.
The local paper-and-gift emporia at which they were once a graduation gift staple are now gone. Our own town's retailer closed after Christmas three years ago.
Big box office suppliers don't carry them, to my knowledge. And the Staples aisle in my local Stop & Shop only had a single package of two medium black ink refills.
Despite roughly a month of visiting local drug, grocery and office supply stores, I found no fine blue ink refills.
Then it hit me where I needed to look.
In an economy where you sell a rather low-value item of medium price, through a channel that is disappearing, how do you remain viable? Assure a presence for buyers who value your brand?
I Googled "A T Cross," and immediately found their website.
Could it be that the internet is the best thing that ever happened to A.T. Cross? Perhaps so.
Their website is very well designed, with a very easy-to-find section for buying refills. On their own site, Cross can feature selected products, as well as cleanly display each and every item they offer- something my local gift store never did. They offer discounts for multi-pack refills, with low shipping costs. The refills arrived within the week.
I could go on about Cross, but my point is that I believe the pen-and-gift merchant provides a good example of what other retailers will be doing in the future.
That is, relying on internet site sales for serving customers with less mainstream tastes. It's the perfect solution.
As it is, I buy a lot of clothing for myself and my children from LL Bean, and other select online retailers.
Why not J Crew and Gap?
In a rather ironic twist, the old "bricks vs. clicks" war of retailing may have been given a huge push toward clicks because of this past Christmas' dismal retailing results.
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