In April of 2021, coming out of the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we published this newsletter discussing the eventual return to “normal” and what that might look like for the jewelry industry. As we look down the barrel of the most economically significant annual selling season over five years later, the message is just as important now than ever. Have your relationships improved as you’ve stepped up in partnership, or have you fallen back into old habits? You might think it doesn’t matter, especially if your numbers are good. But come holiday, the trust you’ve built with your retailer partners will make your season just as easily as the lack thereof will break it.

To that point, do you have a holiday inventory maintenance plan? Of course you do, but what does yours look like? Here’s a checklist of questions to ask yourself:

Do you have sufficient depth built into your best sellers ahead of the holiday rush?

1. My retailer says we have enough.
2. Yes, plenty according to my analysis.
3. No, but I’ll stay on top of it.

How will you be notified of holiday reorder opportunities?

1. Wait for the retailer to let you know when they need more.
2. Run a sales report every week/month or so.
3. Via saved reports delivered to my inbox on the same cadence as reorders are written.

Once you are aware of reorder needs, what do you need to do next?

1. Wait for the retailer to request.
2. Send your buyer a suggested reorder and await a PO.
3. Ship the reorder merchandise automatically, as per the agreement you have with your retailer.

Here’s the tricky part – each of these answers might be the right one for one or more of your retailers, but do you know which ones? Have you had those discussions? Being a partner is more than just taking stock balances and giving various insights. It means reliably taking things off your retailer’s plate. That might mean doing the inventory maintenance work for them, or simply not adding more stress to the situation with un-ending reorder requests – even if they are warranted! Either way, have these conversations with your retailers ahead of time and know exactly how they want you to handle the holiday season. Do they want to be alerted to reorder needs? If so, how often and under what parameters? Do they want you to simply fill in where needed? If so, how often and under what parameters? Do they just want to handle it themselves? If so, how often and under what parameters?

Building trust happens on both sides – do you trust your retailer to do what’s best for your business, and does your retailer trust you to do the same? We have come so far as an industry, and we don’t want to revert back to the days of pushing and shoving. Take this holiday season to cement the foundation of your retailer partnerships with clear communication of expectations on both sides. And once you do, book an appointment with your BIG Network rep of choice, and we can show you how to use Balance to Buy to support and execute this new normal – whatever that looks like with your retailer partners.

Happy Analyzing!

The BIG Network