David Biernbaum

BrainTrust Query: Retailing in the Absence of Recovery

March 15, 2010

FROM RETAILWIRE:
It seems that each week experts look for even the faintest sign that the fabled "recovery" has begun. The problem with a speculative view of recovery is that it's oddly similar to the shortsighted behavior that brought on the recession in the first place. How should strategies change for retailers during this recovery versus those coming out of previous economic downturns?      [more...]

Many lessons for retailers should have been learned by the economic events of these past two years. Among these lessons should be the point that many retailers over "rationalized" their SKU assortment to the point where consumers were turned away not by the recession but more so because the stores no longer carried their specialty and niche needs.