Did anyone else experience slow trade today 10th Nov?

[MrIndiaOutsourcing]

I have a retail store selling groceries, been running the business for 4 weeks and today has been by far my worst days trading - just wondering if anyone else in a similar industry had one of their slowest days of the year today?

Cheers

 

[billmccallum1957]

No, yesterday was really bad for us.

 

[Don Smith]

I have a retail store selling groceries, been running the business for 4 weeks and today has been by far my worst days trading - just wondering if anyone else in a similar industry had one of their slowest days of the year today?

Cheers

Four weeks, LOL (I actually did!). Get at least a year behind you, realistically three, then you can make comparisons.

By the way, reasons you are quite are:-

It's raining
It's snowing
It's cold
It's hot
XYZ has a sale on
It's the Grand National
It's a big football match
It's the Olympics
It's a royal wedding/birth/jubilee
It's autumn
It's summer
It's winter
It's spring
There's roadworks
They've put up parking charges
The clocks have gone back
The clocks have gone forward
The Chuggers are outside
There's a Big Issue chap up the road
It's the X Factor final
It was the church fête
It was the county show
Take That where at the O2
There's a rabbit with mixie sitting on the road trying to commit suicide....


Etc
Etc
Etc

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Four weeks, LOL (I actually did!). Get at least a year behind you, realistically three, then you can make comparisons.

By the way, reasons you are quite are:-

It's raining
It's snowing
It's cold
It's hot
XYZ has a sale on
It's the Grand National
It's a big football match
It's the Olympics
It's a royal wedding/birth/jubilee
It's autumn
It's summer
It's winter
It's spring
There's roadworks
They've put up parking charges
The clocks have gone back
The clocks have gone forward
The Chuggers are outside
There's a Big Issue chap up the road
It's the X Factor final
There's a rabbit with mixie sitting on the road trying to commit suicide....


Etc
Etc
Etc

Bloody hell. all that happened in your street today ? No wonder it was quiet......

 

[Don Smith]

Bloody hell. all that happened in your street today ? No wonder it was quiet......

You've obviously never been in retail

In retail you can ALWAYS come up with a "reason" you were quite, it's also called "denial". Trust me, other experienced retailers will agree.

 

[Xtm_Mike]

Funny you mention this, I went to my usual barbers for a hair cut today, it's extremely popular and always busy when I go... I walked in and there was one person getting his hair cut, and not a single person waiting (to my delight) .. I asked, 'is it usually quiet at this time of day', the hairdresser replied 'no, it's actually quite weird..'. She then went on to say the entire area has been really quiet.

Not the same industry but similarly quiet for some reason I guess it's that time of year when people are more selective when they go out due to xmas shopping days and weather conditions.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

You've obviously never been in retail

In retail you can ALWAYS come up with a "reason" you were quite, it's also called "denial". Trust me, other experienced retailers will agree.

Actually, I am in retail. I own a shop. And it wasn't particularly quiet today, or quite for that matter.

 

[Don Smith]

Actually, I am in retail. I own a shop. And it wasn't particularly quiet today, or quite for that matter.

Ahh, so you'll be familiar with "reasons" retailers come up with. How busy you are will vary between towns (we had fourteen shops at our peak and even then you couldn't compare one with the other). But the one thing you could guarantee is the managers (and myself in the early years) would always have a "reason" the shop was quiet.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Ahh, so you'll be familiar with "reasons" retailers come up with. How busy you are will vary between towns (we had fourteen shops at our peak and even then you couldn't compare one with the other). But the one thing you could guarantee is the managers (and myself in the early years) we would always have a "reason" the shop was quiet.

Usually found that the 'reasons we were quiet' game was reserved for pub owners

 

[Don Smith]

Usually found that the 'reasons we were quiet' game was reserved for pub owners

No, when you've been in retail a bit longer you'll realise retailers are the same!! As a positive, and relating to the OP, with experience you get to know the peaks and troughs and dismiss the annual low, and high, points.

 

[Matt.WD]

Avoid taking any notice of the very short term and focus more on the trend (especially if you've only been in the game 4 weeks). Its easy to go from feeling like master of the universe to the village idiot in a short space of time otherwise.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I work with a number of clients where their sales will suddenly drop well below average and then bounce back to normal the next day. It happens once every few months or so.

It's just the will of the market. There will be fluctuations from time to time, including unexpectedly busy days and very quiet days