Happy as a bug in the rug with the way retail's always been...

We had a conversation recently with a fitness retailer who had been in a touch with a long-time equipment supplier (Note: not one of the Big Gun retailer types with lists of stores and arrays of treads and ellipticals). This particular, relatively new retailer was interested in carrying the product of this particular supplier. Seems the supplier couldn’t be bothered to even hear about the retailer, its audience, its goals, and why it was different or appropriate for that supplier’s products.

We were told said supplier remarked, in so many words, “I’m happy with my business the way it’s always been.” Hmm. Considering that specialty fitness isn’t exactly the strongest player on the retail court right now, we wonder what supplier wouldn’t want to at least look at or consider something different or new.

And while we understand wanting to control distribution and not allow just any warm body to set up shop and hawk your product, who doesn’t want to sell more product to consumers at the end of the day? And what supplier shouldn’t always be looking around to consider additional distribution and considering additional retailers? Maybe that’s somebody who wants to write his or her own eulogy.

These aren’t the times to think small and think status quo. These are the times to think broadly, think differently and think out-of-the-box. Indeed, SNEWS believes in specialty fitness – emphasis on specialty. To remain special, specialty fitness must always think special and be special. And that may mean a few changes.

Just because, as a supplier or as a store, you have always done things one way or another, or sold only to one retailer or customer or another does not mean that is the best way to be conducting business now. And not being open to new ideas, or possibly new retailers, is just, in our view, letting your business fruit die on the vine.

When does tweeting become noise?

An interesting Tweet from a follow Twitterer (is that a word?) this week asked "Is there such a thing as too many tweets? When is it just noise?"

As we were pondering this question -- and for the record, we love Twitter now as it is a great source of ideas and leads (thank goodness for TweetDeck) -- the answer appeared:


Too many Tweets occurs when too many people are Twittering rather than engaging in work, real conversation, spending time in thought without distraction, or simply doing nothing at all, resulting in Twitter collapsing under the weight like so much fence between gossiping neighbors who have leaned on it one too many times.

Oh yeah...this says branding to me

An alert reader emailed us a scan of a newspaper ad that is running in every town there is an Ocean State Job Lot. Note the lovely juxtaposition of boats from a "Famous New England Maker" (gee, wonder who that is...ummmmm...well, Old Town maybe?) and candle jars, ladies silk sportswear and, yes fertilizers.


We can hear the shopping buzz now: "Honey...look at this ad! Let's nip down to Job Lot and get one of those boats, and some fertilizer, oooo, and some seed. It'll make a great planter!"

And this is supposed to make it good for specialty retailers selling Old Town kayaks currently at full price how?

I spy getting out of hand at trade shows

Everyone wants to know what their competitors are doing -- it's a natural curiosity at the very least, and trying to gain any edge in business at the other end of the spectrum.

Frankly, the dance has gotten downright entertaining. We've personally witnessed the sneaky snap of a photo on the way out of a hall or during a booth fly-by with cell phone or camera in hand. At the just-completed IHRSA show, we heard about engineers from one company loitering in competitors' booths, then trying to video or photograph products when they weren't looking -- even trying to come back several times like a bad cold after being asked to leave.

At Outdoor Retailer, competitors have been caught red-faced in booths, some even with video cameras and notebooks in hand, crouching before the show opens behind drawn curtains in a booth. The excuse is always the same: "Gee, I didn't know it would be a problem." Riiiiight. So, a drawn curtain and barrier around a booth says, "Hey, come on in and photograph me?"

Thing is, most of these competitors would welcome another into their booth for a casual look or chat about a new product -- no deep prying, no photos, no video, just a professional sharing of information. It's not as if the industry won't see the product soon anyway.

Most photo-takers are quick on the draw, but sometimes they don't see somebody watching them, and as a result, they get caught on film. Like the two shown here, one from the 2009 IHRSA show (taken by a competitor of a competitor) and the other from a recent Health & Fitness Business Show (taken by a SNEWS® editor).

Here's a novel idea for everyone. How about you show your competitor some respect and you'll all get respect back? It's simply too bad when a show shrivels or disappears behind fortressed booth walls because exhibitors are afraid to display their new products for fear of photo taking and knock-offs. In the end, this behavior isn't good for anybody. Oh, and that person photographing you photographing a competitor's product? If SNEWS sees it, you can bet, we'll publish it. That's called giving you the respect you are due.

More layoff spin -- sigh

A recent press release from Nike is an absolute award-winner for the utilization of hyperbole and spin in an attempt, it appears, to soft-pedal hard truth -- as many as 1,400 people may be out of a job by year's end.

"NIKE, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) today announced the next stage of its category business model execution, which includes the restructuring of its business to further enhance its consumer focus and drive innovation more quickly to market. This realignment will drive greater efficiencies throughout the organization and may result in an overall reduction of up to four percent of the company’s workforce. NIKE, Inc. employs nearly 35,000 people worldwide."

It might be useful, here, to provide a "keeping it real" translation by SNEWS® of the above soft-shoe dance around the word "'layoff:"

"...includes the restructuring of its business to further enhance its consumer focus..." = "We are not selling enough product "

"...drive innovation more quickly to market..." = "We need to quickly come up with more expensive gizmoes and gadgets to sell."

"This realignment will drive greater efficiencies throughout the organization..." = "We will find more ways than you could possibly imagine to get fewer people to do the same work for no extra pay. And yes, we're going to need you all to come in on Saturday to complete those TPS reports."

"...and may result in an overall reduction of up to four percent of the company’s workforce." = "We expect to layoff people."

This press release could have been a whole lot cleaner if Nike had simply stated, "Due to a challenging economy, we are taking a close look at our current business model with an eye to reducing jobs and costs that in our analysis do not directly contribute to selling more Nike product to more people." Yeah, we know, that would not be PC , but the challenging economy isn't exactly a secret.

Can we just call a layoff for what it is -- a layoff?

When did the word "layoff" become such a dirty word? Downsizing, rightsizing, headcount adjustment, reduction in force, realignment of resources, optimizing -- we've heard all the euphemisms from CEOs, CFOs, and other company executives, all seeking to duck the obvious simple fact -- someone lost a job.

One CEO recently told us that the reason the company didn't want to call the loss of jobs a layoff is the employees weren't really laid off. The company just eliminated their jobs due to -- plug in your euphemism of choice here, such as optimizing the business structure, streamlining the workforce, realigning our resources, or rightsizing the company. Give us a break! If there were no layoffs, then are these "employees" now simply wandering around the building looking for a job that is now lost and hopefully will be found sometime in the future? No. Their butts are out the door.

A layoff is not a bad word. It is an uncomfortable one, that we will grant you, simply because when you are talking layoff, human lives and livelihoods are being affected. Families are affected. Futures are affected. There is nothing fun about job loss -- even when it is being done with dignity, compassion and for the right business reasons.

By definition, a layoff is a suspension or termination of employment (with or without notice) by the employer or management. It is that simple. And terminations hurt. We doubt anyone so affected is referring to his or her job loss by saying to friends and to SNEWS, "Hey, it's OK.... I was just rightsized you know. No big deal.... The company was optimizing its job structure and I was realigned." Nah, we don't think you'd hear that. So, for the rest of 2009 and into the future, let's talk straight about a topic that deserves straight talk. If an employee loses a job because of company restructuring, it's a layoff, OK?