How to Predict Best Trading Days

Dare we attempt to analyse why our customers turn out in force on certain days?

You know the stories - "Business was good today because the weather was fine and families came out for the day." or the equally believable "Business was good today because it rained and customers needed to find undercover destinations like our market".

Attempting to analyse why business fluctuates as it does can lead the best retail analyst (and that includes all of us) up the proverbial garden path. And yet logic dictates that there are reasons why customers behave the way they do. It is just that those reasons can be incredibly complex and they demand sophisticated analysis.

I don't have an easy answer to doing that analysis but I can throw another theory into the mix. Sport is a very important ingredient in attracting tourists to Melbourne. We are a world leader in sport appreciation. The rugby league State of Origin match a few weeks back drew excellent crowds to Melbourne and the market benefitted. The Liverpool / Victory match was an MCG sellout on Wednesday night and I am told that business at the market on Thursday was very encouraging. The Liverpool /Victory match had an international flavour although press reports indicated that the bulk if the crowd was local and interstate. The State of Origin match certainly drew a heavy interstate contingent.

In between those two events was the English & Irish Lions rugby match which also drew record crowds but was dominated by over 30,000 international visitors. Market business over that week was very poor and drew memories of Grand Prix week when international visitors dominate and business suffers. Can we determine that sporting events can be great for QVM business but only if there is a strong interstate element?

Then again, a trader told me the other day that if he stands on one foot, closes one eye, and sticks out his tongue he almost always gets a customer. Perhaps that is the answer.

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COMMENTS:
27/07/2013 16:28:16 Market Trading Sporting events are quite good  but   also quite a good result from the recent Pink Concert JR E Shed