Working a trade show should be just that – work! It’s not a time for fun or special meals or gatherings. Those things are distractions and usually intended to buy your allegiance to a vendor. Retain your independence and spend a lot of time learning what’s available before you commit your dollars.
The harder you work at a show, the easier the time will be back at your store. You’ll have bought the right items, but more importantly, you’ll have bought the right quantities. When you buy the right quantities, you’ll turn the merchandise faster, reduce markdowns, and insure the contribution to overhead and profits. When that happens, retailing is actually fun. Gone will be the struggle to pay the bills and to move the excess inventory – those are the things that cripple retailers both mentally and physically.
Take your time finding the best merchandise and take your open to buy plan with you. Of course, that means you must have an OTB plan and it means it must be current with your buying plan for the next 12 months. If it’s not ready, get it ready before you leave. Then, after you’ve researched the show and spotted the best merchandise for your store, you can go back to those vendors and buy the right quantities according to your OTB plan.
If you have an easy to use, accurate, accessible, and well supported open to buy plan and are up to date, you’re set. If your open to buy plan is not easy to use, accurate, accessible, and well supported or if you don’t have an open to buy plan, you should look into myotbplan.com right now. There’s no easier, more accurate plan available. And accuracy counts because if your plan is off, your buying will be off and that puts you back in the position of markdowns and cash flow problems. myotbplan.com is online so you can take it with you on your smartphone, tablet or computer. We also have NO contract and guarantee our results. myotbplan.com is priced right and supported 10 hours of every day of the year.
Since your buying is your bottom line, make sure your buying is correct. You owe it to yourself to be compensated for all the time and effort you put into your store. myotbplan.com will insure that happens!