Thread: Sales disaster ...

Thats because the "gay" boards, all 2 of them, are filled with newbs and program reps. Newbs dont know any better and reps will die before they admit their ratios are anything but stellar.

And yesterday ended up being a pretty good day actually.

Black Friday? what is that?

Originally Posted by Thumb Angels

Black Friday? what is that?

It's when people are tempted by cheap goods, so resemble lemmings by invading stores and trying to buy stuff they often can't afford. A few get crushed in the process and a couple have been killed, but the desire to adopt the mentality of the lemming remains.

It's a US shopping spree TA

Originally Posted by AmateurFlix

a friend of mine with a rather large business is reporting the worst sales he's ever seen for this month.
although he's not in adult, it's a similar market niche, in that the products he sells online are basically very self-indulgent and not something which the consumer typically buys as a gift for others. athenahollow may have a good point about people saving up for Black Friday.

A couple of good points there AF - Your first sentence/reference has been fairly common in many businesses across the board. Been watching this since around 2005 when we kinda predicted the falling of a pack of cards, simply because of the unsustainable level of credit being made available. I'm seeing much the same in almost all businesses I know of. These range from one-man bands to companies trading globally and where the sphere of operation covers online and bricks and mortar retailers, restaurants, news media (who also have an online presence), international hoteliers etc. The immediate reason for the decrease in trade we know of already eg. reduction of roughly 50% credit on both personal and commercial markets ad nausea.

The killer in that scenario is probably not simply that there is an economic downturn, but the time span that this continues. Most businesses will survive a one year downturn by cutting back costs, borrowing funds to get over the period etc. However when the drop in trade extends to two, three or possibly four years, this is often unsustainable for many businesses. It's like a heart monitor - it needs to have at least some bleeps and not a constant straight line else the patient is not of this world. The longer that straight line lasts - there is certain death, regardless how creative the biz can be on promotion.

It's only my , but can see many more businesses either restructuring or closing down. I know of a few folks who had fairly profitable businesses and recently confided that they are now planning for the worst and don't intend to inject further capital, but close down in the next 3-6 months unless they see an improvement. Sadly I don't see any significant improvement on the horizon for several years (tho who knows?). At the core there generally does not appear to be many areas where "real wealth" is being created, at least in the western hemisphere, which would trickle down. The western Pacific rim and Asian countries are fairly healthy economically, although that was predictable and mainly due to the global economic shift.

On your second point, - noticed retailers are offering to "lay aside" product for customers to pay for over time. At least they made a sale Suppose this has the same effect as giving credit to customers in an attempt to maintain turnover. It's also probably a fair indicator of both the shortage of conventional credit and a reflection of the economy in general.

As far as it affects the online industry - whether this is in "adult" or otherwise, we are generally all retailers and subject to the same problems in that industry segment, but with an added disadvantage that we don't usually have a website cash register to take cash notes, but have to rely on plastic cards.

At the moment I can't see much change in the online industry during the next year, and possible two years, depending what happens externally. Again, I've not got a crystal ball, but somehow doubt the status quo will be the same once we do come out of the current economic downturn.

Damn, that sounds depressing and may not continue to happen, but think I'd be dreaming if I thought otherwise It's a good time to think outside the box and be positioned in areas which rely in scarcity of product and limited resources - gold, raw land etc.

Nice post Webby, I always enjoy reading what you have to say.