Category: Financial Strength

Checking the "Vital Signs" of Retailing

3/20/2023

The Retail Owners Institute® makes it easy for you to get a quick financial health assessment of your own stores, as well as the retail industry, and every vertical within it.

From farm stores to apparel stores, wine stores to tire dealers, gift shops to convenience stores; all 45 verticals.

Here's how to get started.

Go to the Retail Benchmarks page of The ROI site.
Scroll down the page to see the links to all 45 retail verticals.
Choose the vertical that includes your stores; immediately go to that vertical's Benchmarks page.
See the results for each of 6 key ratios for the past five years. To get a better look, just click each image to make it larger.

Quite a picture, isn't it? Which ratios are trending up? Down? Any suggest some shaky times ahead? Any surprises? But most importantly, how will yours compare?

Really, What Is Knowledge?

2/21/2023

People don't go into retailing to be financiers.

They love the merchandise they sell, and/or they love the people who buy the merchandise. (Think book stores, sporting goods stores, gift shops, etc.)
Others love the "theater", the excitement of retailing.
Still others want to be their own boss.

But few are attracted to the financial part.

Which is exactly why The Retail Owners Institute website has been built!

Given our years of experience consulting with retailers, especially in turnaround situations, our speaking at conferences and publishing in trade publications, we wanted to "level the playing field" for retailers.

Recession? No Thanks, Not For Me!

1/23/2023

Try as we might, it seems that there will be no avoiding a recession in 2023. How deep it is, and how prolonged, still remains to be seen.

For retailers, it's not a matter of whether your business will be impacted, just how much. Alas, retail does not lend itself to being recession proof.

However, there are ways to make your business more recession resistant.

The place to start? First, find out what your Debt-to-Worth ratio is right now. That is the #1 measure of the financial strength of your business. It's a key indicator of your ability to weather an economic downturn.

This Year, It's More Than the Turkeys

11/21/2022

Each year at this time, our thoughts turn to turkeys.

No, not the ones that will adorn many dining tables on Thursday. But the "turkeys" lurking amidst your inventory. You know; non-selling, distressed, slow-moving, old, unappealing leftovers among your merchandise.

But this year, frankly, our worries extend beyond the turkeys.

Here are some of the reasons why.

All the gloom and doom talk about the economy and recession continues, affecting consumer attitudes.
With few pandemic or supply chain issues, many retailers have more-than-ample inventory this year, unlike the previous two years.
Inflation is impossible to ignore, especially for those who drive cars or shop for groceries.

As a result, in this environment, consumers are scaling back their discretionary purchases, and/or choosing to spend on travel, dining out, or other experiences versus retail merchandise.

Not an upbeat prospect for retailers, is it?

The Clock Is Ticking. Watch Out!

7/25/2022

One of the real killers of a retail business can be debt. But, how much is too much?

Debt can be quite stealthy as it grows.

Seemingly small expense increases add up in the aggregate – maintenance costs, security, advertising, utilities, payroll, e-commerce charges, etc.
Vendors may be eager to offer terms, but that too is more debt. Whether or not you pay interest on it, you still are obligated to pay. And vendors would rather have an accounts receivable from you – it's an asset for them – and a debt for you.

Especially in these times of increasing interest rates, creeping expansion of debt can quickly snowball into a much larger problem.

From the Benchmark pages on The ROI site, we have selected four retail verticals whose Debt-to-Worth ratio shows a frightening situation. The technical term we would use is "spooky, real spooky."

(Click on each chart to see all the key ratios for that vertical.)

What's the Score? How to Measure Your Financial Strength

2/14/2022

By now, you have your year-end financials for 2021. Remember, it always comes with a Balance Sheet!

Whether sales are up, down, or sideways, the financial strength – and staying power – of every business is shown on its Balance Sheet. And revealed by its Balance Sheet ratios.

In Pursuit of That Wily Perspective

1/3/2022

Keeping Perspective
Is there a more difficult everyday challenge?

As owners of businesses, we've got all of the issues of the times right on our plates. Think about it:

Every family has ups and downs. In fact, every person does.
And it seems that all of our constituencies – family, friends, neighbors, customers, employees, landlords, lenders, vendors – look to us for answers, for leadership. "Well, after all, you are the owner!"
Meanwhile, the covid turbulence has magnified the fact that there's really no how-to manual for dealing with a wily once-in-a-century pandemic.

Is there a more difficult every day challenge than maintaining perspective? We don't think so.

Retailing's "Coach of the Year" is...

12/13/2021

The definition of a good coach is “That person who makes you do the things you don’t want to do, to become the person you want to be.”

Given that, we would suggest that the pandemic proved to be a great coach for many retailers. So much so, "Coach P" really deserves being recognized as the Coach of the Year!

Think about it. The pandemic forced retailers to do things they had long evaded or delayed (remember “technology laggards?”)

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