PERSPECTIVES

The Retail Owners Institute® has developed a retail strategy for "Inventory Management Going Forward." 

As we often do, it was recapped as an unassuming chart (see above) identifying the Five Stages of Merchandise Mix Management, from "Before COVID-19" to the "New Normal?"

Each of us, our households, businesses and communities are in different stages of shutdown due to the coronavirus.

While we cannot speak to when this will end, we do have some ideas for dealing with the "fog of uncertainty" that hangs over us all.

Remember thinking that Amazon was the most disruptive force to happen to retailing? (Well, at least since Walmart was the most disruptive....)

However, the coronavirus pandemic eclipses them all. No matter where you live or do business, it is not whether, just when, COVID-19 will impact your life. Disruption with a capital D!

There's little that any of us can do to address the public health crisis of the pandemic. Its impact on people and businesses is a widespread and major jolt, akin to the shocks of  9/11 and the 2008-09 economic meltdown. 

Even as painful and disruptive as the pandemic is at this moment, we must remind ourselves that it will subside. It's not whether it will subside, just when.

But all of us are going to have to deal with the ensuing economic situation, and its effects on our sales, our customers, our employees. 

These are difficult times for us all. Retailing in particular is under enormous stress. Many feel like there are no good choices. 

But, there are good decisions. And The ROI is dedicated to helping you be able to make those good decisions for yourself. 

YOUR GOAL: QUICKLY GET TO A FIRST DRAFT.
Face it. Sales are dropping. By how much? For how long? Nobody knows for sure.

But, you can make some assumptions, some educated guesses. Put those into the 3-in-1 Cash Flow Calculator. 

• Immediately see what that would mean for profits. 
• And your buying plan. 
• And most of all, your cash flow! ​

These totally volatile times cause a lot of opinions and fears to be swirling around. Seeing "what if...?" can be very helpful. 

​All in just minutes. On your own. ​

Retailers, it’s time to be proactive. 
In the midst of this unprecedented and unsettling Coronavirus pandemic and its disruptions of daily routines, you are (or will soon be) in the midst of a whirlwind. 

As one person observed, "It's like walking a tightrope in a hurricane." And with the changes that seem to occur at an ever-faster pace, every day can feel like whack-a-mole.

Alas, there is really no way to avoid discussing COVID-19, the coronavirus that began in China last month, and now continues to spread throughout the world.

No matter whether or when it is officially declared a "pandemic," the uncertainty and angst that it is generating have troubling implications for retailers.