Retail’s New Reality: Affordable Luxury
Posted by: John Tozzi on December 24
One more dispatch from the retail world before Christmas. Mathias Eichler, owner of the small home and kitchen retailer einmaleins in Olympia, Wash., reports that he’s seeing more buyers, but they’re spending less on average. Items under $25 and stocking stuffers are very popular, while bigger ticket items are not moving. December sales are up 12%, but the number of customers he has is up 30%. [more]
Latest update from BusinessWeek:
From Mathias Eichler, owner of einmaleins, the European home goods store in Olympia, Wash.:
Sales are up 22% over last year [for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday]. Customer count is up 14% over last year. … Cautiously optimistic might be the word for the season. Growth is welcome, but I’m looking for about 30% for December…. Friday and Saturday customer count was actually a bit down, which I don’t like seeing.
He says online promotions have helped. Eichler hopes to use cash coming in from sales to order more product that he can get in before the holidays, because inventory was a problem last year.
Holiday Sales So Far: Upbeat Awaiting Black Friday
Posted by: John Tozzi on November 25
My excerpt:
Finally, some notes from Mathias Eichler of the Olympia, Wash., European home and kitchen goods store Einmaleins. He saw November sales up 63% so far compared to last year, when the holiday season did not really pick up until Black Friday. His customer count is almost double, though his average ticket (that is, the total spent by each customer) dropped by $8 to $40.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to hold those November numbers into December — basically I don’t have enough product in the store and don’t have enough money to buy more product right now,” Eichler said in an email. He discussed the challenge of anticipating demand and stocking accordingly a few weeks ago. Last year Einmaleins ran out of some items. The store’s limited credit from lenders and suppliers also makes inventory management more difficult.
But Eichler says his business, founded just over two years ago on the edge of the Great Recession, has persisted. “I suppose this is quite unique, but we opened the business already in a downturn and are growing now not just with the slow recovery, but also are utilizing social media tools better and are extending our reach, way, way beyond our storefront.”
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