Archive for December 23rd, 2008

Did some last-minute Christmas shopping today. Three of the stores we visited had large promotional banners, proudly proclaiming “Lots of Gift Ideas for $10 or Less!” And they did. What in year’s past would have been considered “loss leaders,” are this year’s “hey, at least we got them to pry open their wallets for a 10 spot” gift.

I realize that things are tough all over. I do. But I wonder at the logic of staging massive sales now, when shoppers have been trained to wait for a slew of after-Christmas bargains. If you’ve already put stuff on sale before Christmas, how low can you go after? I’m guessing here, but I’ll bet it won’t be low enough to get shoppers excited.

I guess we’ll see. I don’t worry about places like Walmart and Sam’s Club, or even well-run chains like BestBuy. It is Christmas, and even in a tight economy, there are gifts that will be bought. Guys like Circuit City, Bed Bath & Beyond, and a bunch more players that are “on the bubble” financially are going to have some rough sledding between now and the February doldrums.

Just a guess here, but it seems the guys with the reps for the best customer serivce, most liberal and consistent return policies, and fair prices seem to be weathering the storm just fine, thank you. Wonder if there’s a lesson there?

I recently (four days ago, to be exact) updated the software this blog runs on, to the latest and greatest version – i.e., WordPress v.2.7. The upgrade was surprisingly easy to do, and by all appearances, went off without a hitch. Um…ALMOST without a hitch. Seems that one of the things that got trashed along the way was the settings for my Google Analytics code. Whoops.

I usually check my GA stats on a daily basis, just to see what’s going on. Check more often, and it will drive you nuts. Less frequently, and you stand to miss a trend…or a problem.

It had been four days since I’d checked my GA account. Color me “surprised” to learn that I’d (according to GA) gone from a significant readership to ZERO hits for the last four days. That’s like going from 60 to zero in, oh, about 0.0 seconds.

Once I saw the stats, I knew something was wrong. I dialed up the New! Improved! control panel, and found that my GA settings were pooched. No code – no tracking. No tracking – no results. No results – unhappy blogger.

I’ve restored the tracking code, and all should be right in my world.

But I’ll keep checking. As Joe Bob Briggs (Drive-In Movie Critic of Grapevine, Texas) says, “Without eternal vigilance, it can happen here.”

I grew up working for my Dad. He owns a music studio (a teaching studio) that had a small counter, where he’d sell strings, drumsticks, picks and a few books. No big deal. When I came along, I had visions of turning his operation into a “real” music store, complete with lots of stock, drumsets, keyboards, synths, guitars, amps – the works. My Dad was somewhat indulgent, but quite a bit less enthusiastic when it came to opening the wallet to buy stock. He was a child of the Great Depression, and believed that caution and prudence were rules to live by. No floor plans and going into debt for him, certainly not on the hopes and dreams of some kid who thought he knew everything. Turns out the Old Man was pretty sharp, for in the intervening years, I’ve seen more music stores than I care to think about asume room temperature when faced with recessions, big store competition, and lack of forecasting the fickle tastes of John Q. Public. 

What I learned, working retail for my Dad, could fill a book (and perhaps, someday will). One lesson that was brought back to mind today was what it was like working retail for Christmas. In many ways, they are some memories I’d rather forget. Read the rest of this entry »