What Every Trader Needs To Do In 2018

Market trader Boris Ismail Goldberg Lee (Dazza to his mates) used to say that any plan was better than no plan. He would ague that even in today's uncertain environment, every trader needs to find some strategy for the coming year.

Specialty Traders at QVM probably do their planning a little later than most. The general working population is already coping with post holiday blues as they return to work. On the other hand, most traders haven’t stopped working and hope to keep busy right through January. 

There are good reasons for remaining focused on business as holiday crowds flock to our market but the quiet times are coming and February can be one of our slowest months of the year. For many traders that is a good opportunity to take holidays or to plan and make the changes necessary to prepare their businesses for the coming year.

The important thing is that we do make plans and prepare a strategy. This year there is a high degree of uncertainty as renewal continues to influence our market. We can’t escape that. Change is a fact of life in retailing generally and particularly at QVM. The price for a better market that can take on the next 140 years with some confidence, is some short term disruption. We just have to factor that into our plans.

The good news is that change happening around us doesn’t set a barrier. It just means that we focus on things that we can control and ignore those we can’t. In fact some of those changes may even create opportunity.

For some traders there will be high level decisions to make. One trader said this week that his core range had served him very well but it was now 10 years since it was first introduced and times have changed. He will be spending the next few months trying to work out a new direction. How is your product offer looking and when did you last really examine its relevance?

Another trader observed that his range had been a great money spinner for many years but competition had saturated the retail market. Sheepskin boots are a good example of a product that used to have its core at QVM but is now available at many specialist outlets in the CBD. QVM is still the best place to buy sheepskin boots but the impact of competition is obvious.

There are many things we can do to improve our businesses. The search for new and exciting products is never ending. And when QVM is looking to improve its offer, the opportunity to innovate with range and presentation has never been better. This may be a good time to talk to QVM about what you want to do. And once again, don't expect that everything will be in black and white. We are in a period of change and change along with uncertainty have often been the fuel for great innovation. 

Most of us have plenty of work to do on websites and social media engagement as we adjust to the new ways our customers are doing their shopping.

Whether your task is examining a complete change of direction for your business or simply tweaking for improvement we wish you every success and happy planning.

Have your say - click here.