It's not inflation, It's price elasticity!
It's not inflation, It's price elasticity!
Ah, the business buzz words.
"Thinking outside the box."
"Downsizing."
"Right-sizing."
"Best practices."
"Learnings." As in: "We've gotten a lot of learnings from this project." That one, for this English major, is akin to nails on a chalkboard.
In the latest round of retail calls with analysts, a new catch phrase cropped up: "elasticity." It's used to describe price hikes without actually having to use the ugly words ... "higher retail prices."
What also appears to be a bit elastic: reality. Higher prices aren't really a problem for Macy's, you see, because Macy's deals in better goods. On the other end of the spectrum, analysts were told higher prices aren't really a problem for Big Lots because its pricing is always 10% to 50% less than the competition's.
The irony doesn't stop there. As everyone knows, de-specing is the order of the day, yet most retailers profess to easing the sting of higher prices by enhancing value and quality. Poppycock.
From "poly rich" sheeting to lightweight "quick dry" towels, the consumer is getting less than she bargained for - literally.
I assert this doesn't matter too much in the realm of home textiles. The consumer buys milk every week, so she notices right away when prices change or, conversely, when the price remains the same but the package is now slightly less than a full quart.
She buys clothing somewhat regularly, especially if she has kids, so she's quick to note that a cotton T-shirt was $6.99 last year and is now $8.99.
But home textiles? How often is she buying bedding ensembles? Once every five years or so? If last year's bed-in-a-bag contained eight pieces and this year it carries only four, she'll be none the wiser.
Is a bath towel that costs a dollar more and weighs slightly less going to set off her alarm? Probably not. I doubt that extra dollar is a purchase-killer.
All of which is to say that in a weird way, home textiles do not face the same sort of peril of consumer backlash over higher retails that faster-turning product categories do. Sometimes, there are advantages to being the odd duck.
Our Industry's Conscience commented:
...and this is coming from an expert guy in the home textiles field who surrounds himself in a false value-for-dollar bubble by representing those unabashedly & grossly overpriced German,Swiss,Austrian ,Italian sheeting manufacturers that you choose to wholesale at 5-10 times the price to that of similarly woven goods in foreign lands.How many people do YOU know that could afford or need cashmere linens Michael ? The trouble with guys like you is that you're desperately holding on to a false textile image that "buy European" is still a sounder quality strategy. But the true reality is that countries like China,Pakistan have been investing in billions of dollars in looms,finishing equipment & spinning machines and are now the envy of our industry .If the Europeans were still anywhere near as creative & inventive with technologies,styles or manufacturing why then are they still subject to such a small home textiles haute couture market ? Plus you know that because of the high-priced exclusivity of your sourced products you dont require big minimums to buy and you can cut & sew as orders come in.
Our industry's problem is that Americans were stubbornly conceited, caught napping for almost a decade ,didn't reinvest capital in upgrading turn-of-the-century equipment,chose not to stand up to the industry giants like big-brother WALMART and say " No " to lower,lower contract pricing and decide to take a lesser chunk of middle-end ,better quality ,still " crafted with pride in the USA" global business by downsizing . It's unfortunately greed,greed,greed that ruined a completely sound industry in America.
Now it's just another greed driven shell game of trading old famous U.S. brands under false pretenses using lesser quality imports and fooling American consumers into thinking that Ralph Lauren, Nautica,Tommy Hilfiger,Royal Velvet,Charisma are still truly American-made products!!
And to further exacerbate the situation those greed driven companys grant total exclusivity for those famous brands like WAMSUTTA to 1 retailer like Big Brother Bath & Beyond or Kohls because they can provide the volume to justify locking out the rest of the retail industry. Tell me how the hell the U.S. can expect any jump start to rekindling any sign of new startup retail home textile entrepeneurialism when our industry remains so close-minded ?Who would consider selling to a guy with some money who wanted to open a small chain of specialty stores anywhere in America today ? Springs Globule? WestPoint(ed in the Wrong Direction) Home ? what chance does a new independant have to succeed in this crappy climate selling only Sferra,Christian Fischbacher,Matouk, or SDH huh?It would be a whole different ballgame if suppilers were open to allowing new industry growth so a new generation of Strouds,LeeJay Bed&Bath,Pacific Linen stood a decent chance to compete with like goods as Wamsutta sheets,Royal Velvet towels,or Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein fashion bedding. Michael you are in no position to lecture our industry on "value" !
Michael de la Place, St.Geneve commented:
Most retailers have trained their customers to buy on the basis of price, rather than educating them on the merits and value of a particular product. Why? Because that’s easy. Cut a few corners and hide the reduced value, and then hoodwink your customer. What a great long range plan; at least if you ultimately want to be known as the place where you can get cheap shoddy goods
