I took this photo in a local mall in Melbourne on August 9th – The coldest part of winter.
Anyone who lives in or has been to Melbourne knows it’s still very cold until November. Yet the clothing retail chain above already has summer clothes only in the display window. And they’ve already started their winter clothes clearance – in the middle of winter!
The top temperature on said day was 11ºc / 55ºf with snow falls down to 400m.
Here’s the weather forecast for Melbourne for the coming week:
This is retail gone mad – for a few reasons:
They are selling their ‘winter’ stock ‘during winter’ at a 70% discount?
Consumers don’t care about their buying seasons, just what the weather’s like – right now.
Melbourne people don’t care what the weather’s like in Queensland.
People’s lives are too busy to buy clothing 4 months in advance.
They are letting their supply chain get in front of what consumers actually need and want.
No prizes for guessing the store was empty.
If we buy hot soup on cold days, and ice cream on hot days, why should clothing be any different? It’s not. And is less so, as time becomes the finite resource.
If you’re a start up in the retail arena.
Startup blog says: make your range, match the ‘real’ world. You’ll be far ahead of any retail chain.