Top Stories » Expert Columns » Profiles & Trends

What does a 68-year-old ex-housewares peddler commence to? Retirement? Nah. Another writing job? Not likely. Better golf? Hardly! Regardless of requests to continue, my Gourmet Retailer column career has come to an end. This is as it should conclude.

I'm too far afield for my own satisfaction from today's retailer and vendor needs and their tactical problems and I have not combed trade show aisles for a few years. Consequently, it has become more difficult to observe and comment on the state of a dynamic industry from my laptop by the Gulf of Mexico and 19th hole of our golf club.

The opportunity to write and correspond with you has been graciously provided since 1986 when Carl Sontheimer fired me for correcting Cuisinart's problems before he was ready to admit they had some large ones. Subsequent columns were interrupted only by gainful employment with Mr. Coffee and Alsy Lighting. Since 1992, my prattling has been unobstructed by working for a Board, although my consulting clients took marvelous time away from pleasing TGR's sharp-eyed editors.

Writing a monthly column was easy. Getting it unscathed through edit was not always as easy — "Jack, business is tough enough, don't insult a vendor!

Jack, clean up your tenses, you've used three different ones in the same run-on sentence. Jack, you just cannot get too political."

Actually, I'm just making fun of normal business activities. My relationships with TGR's Ed Loeb, Michael Keighley, Dru Murray and Michelle Moran could not have been nicer. They have been tolerant, professional, encouraging and supportive. I'm most appreciative.

Some Industry Thoughts
The trade magazine industry has shrunk greatly since I first started reading trade stories and later writing about events myself. Vendor and retailer contractions and acquisitions have consolidated the markets so severely that trade people have fewer and fewer sales targets. Reaching buying personnel, whether by magazine, shows, e-mails, web sites or just personal calls has gotten harder and seemingly more complex than just a few short years ago.

Buyers now are responsible for purchasing larger quantities and covering more markets but have less time to invest in detailed understanding and research to help make proper decisions. Electronic information helps, but detailed presentation and advertising still supplements their own efforts.

Change occurs continually, but regularly repeats past actions. Change is just dressed in a new suit or a different hairstyle. Change agents need to not only know but to also respect the past. Institutional memory is vital for proper perspective. Vendors and retailers alike should invest in past knowledge and assign someone from within to be that maven.

Because of this, I submit that sales reps should become more important because in many areas, they are the only constant factor in the market as both buyers and sellers change. They also have a financial independence that should be valued, and will usually call a bad idea for what it is.

Relationships with trade magazine editors remain important to industry understanding as they remain the industry hummingbirds, picking up details of importance, which may be only details to them but of strategic importance to you.

Trade associations still provide valuable personal interaction with competition and industry players. Electronic communications do not replace eyeball assessments. Don't buy the argument that you can't afford the time away. My view is that you usually cannot afford the time in the vacuum of your own business.

Saying "No" continues as an important strategy. Knowing your variable and fixed costs cold permits volume-driven analyses. Without this insight, added sales just provide added costs.

In business, all parties must make money or they cannot continue. The huge operations cannot ignore their power to bully and squeeze, thereby forcing family businesses to cough up or get out. It has never been more important to help retain American jobs and some buying power. We need to become a nation of manufacturers again and the retail community must lead the way.

So Long
A few old friends, learning of this last column, have written warmly of their looking forward to reading my report each month. Well, now they can do something creative, like getting a root canal or writing Congress to stop wasteful spending.
Health and Happiness,
Jack Eikenberg

Mr. Eikenberg concludes his 20 years of the Housewares Report with this edition but still may be reached at Eikenberg Management Services, JMEmgmt@aol.com or 239-498-0040.