The View From January

I suppose that a year-end entry about our Housewares industry, its retailers, manufacturers, and salespeople should include pithy observations about the changing retailing climate, social media, new products, and thought-provoking insights about our economic future.  It could include a screed about how things have changed from what once was, nostalgic glimpses of more exciting times, and wistful remembrances of colorful characters and retailers.
 
Sorry, too predictable.  There are those who have covered the topic before me and have done so far more artfully.
 
Recaps of the year’s business climate always seem to follow a well-worn path:  We are told what the big trends were (not a difficult task if you haven’t been asleep for the preceding twelve months), we are told what next year’s trends may be, and it is all delivered in sage, knowing tones as if this information is being channeled to us by some divine eminence via the keyboard of a carefully chosen writer.
 
The bottom line is this:  If you are in our industry, in any capacity, and you can honestly say that 2010 ended up anywhere from great to reasonably OK, that’s an accomplishment that many will envy.  Considering the economic turmoil we see all around us, if you finished your year in the up column YOU should be giving advice and making predictions.
 
Surviving and prospering in 2011 will take bold initiatives and guts of steel to take the necessary risks.  When we look at various manufacturers and accounts we see one common trait among those that had a strong 2010:  that trait was a willingness to try something new and untested.  When things went well they all looked like geniuses.  When things did not go as planned they quickly regrouped and tried something new.  And that my friends is the key in this economy: to extend one’s boundaries, to resist the tried and true, and to have more ideas waiting when plans don’t work out.  The successful manufacturer or retailer will always be pushing forward, rather than holding back.