Guest Editorial

by Alan Caras, The Vacuum Store of Los Gatos

Changing rhythms

I have this terrible foreboding that we are at the front end of a signal change in our business. Everything economic is described in cyclic terms. Any economy like people and businesses that form it, reacts as a living, breathing thing, and accordingly has good days, bad days, months and even years. Overly simplified, the “experts” refer to the cycles as boom, recession, inflation, etc.

Recently I have felt or sensed a change in the rhythm of my store. Many of the members of the Vac Dealers Forum have engaged in discussions on the subject of changing sales, increasing profits, adding items to the sales ticket, adding items/services to our offerings -- all aimed at improving our businesses. To some degree, I think we are all beginning to experience changes in our stores’ rhythms.

I have had a fair degree of success in my community in gaining an increasing level of walk-in traffic in the three plus years I have owned my store. I have a lot more walk-in traffic than when I first opened, and I am experiencing an increasing level of bag/filter sales, repair/service activity, and a substantial increase in my air purifier sales. In fact, my gross sales line has grown substantially since I bought my store. Everything sounds good, right? Heck, if I took my financials to my banker, even he would be impressed.

So am I paranoid? Well, yes, and perhaps not. I am selling fewer vacuums. I am selling a fair number of higher-end vacuums, but fewer vacuums total. I’ve been very successful in tandem selling vacuums combined with air purifiers. I still sell a fair amount of entry-level vacuums, and the special purpose vacuums, but I am not getting the numbers of $400 - $700 vacuum sales I used to get.

I am not sure, but I think we independents are beginning to lose ground to the BBS in this category. I intend to monitor this closely over the ensuing months, and I will be concentrating even more closely on promoting the very highest quality vacuums, features and services to improve (or at least maintain) my revenue base. If necessary, I can flex my business model to meet whatever the changing market dictates, so I am not overly concerned about my business’s viability, but I do like to stay ahead of the curve.

I do not know that what I sense or believe about my store applies to all markets, but I do know that some members of the Vac Dealers Forum feel some of the same changes happening in their local areas. It may be that you are not experiencing these changes, but it cannot hurt to be aware that others may be. Likewise, it cannot hurt for you to analyze your own sales activity. If you have a modern POS system, you can build a customized report to help you look at your revenue generation. If not then just review your sales tickets and build an analysis.

Reprinted from Floor Care Professional, February 2007