MI Pro

It’s getting hot out there. Really very hot indeed. Not hot in an ‘economic meltdown’ kind of way, though. This is more of a ‘why can’t we have a paddling pool in the shop’ situation. Customers have begun taking it upon themselves to parade their shocking white limbs around the place, as if wearing shorts in public was acceptable behaviour for an Englishman in the summer time, while lobster-faced weekend sunbathers look nothing short of proud that their tan was achieved in dear old Blighty.

While all this is great news for ice cream vendors, sun lotion merchants and people who sell those handy little portable fans, it’s not such great news for us humble MI retailers. Summer can be a harsh time for us, as people spend less time indoors, practising their instrument like good musicians should and spend more time frolicking – yes, that’s right, frolicking – about outside, chasing girls who shed their winter layers to display acres of flesh for all to see.

Dark days indeed. We’ve already seen a bit of a drop off as the frenzied excitement that accompanies the first truly hot days of the year puts Joe Public into a kind of hot weather panic, where a whole summer’s worth of activities must be packed into what could turn out to be just a few warm days. In order to counter the sun’s devilish plot to sink us, we’ve been doing a bit of planning of our own. Marketing and being resolutely pro active will hopefully provide the key for us in these long, sweltering summer months.

Phase one has been an entirely new and improved window display. We all know how important the window dressing is and now, thanks to a concerted effort involving quite a bit of drilling, some hammering and a lot of swearing, our windows look like portals into some heavenly music kingdom, promising untold treasures to any passing muso. Thankfully, all our labours are paying off as increasing numbers of passers by have begun drooling at the displays, with an awful lot of them coming in the shop as a result. Take that, seasonable good weather.

Phase two has been the re-launch of our website and establishment of our e-commerce wing. Nothing short of a leap into the unknown for us, our online adventures will no doubt lead to wonderful things. For now though, we’re spreading the word and finding out about things like this ‘Google’ machine everyone keeps talking about. There will no doubt be more to report on this once things really get going, but for now it’s nothing short of a hop, skip and a jump in the right direction.

One thing that is for absolute certain is that summer is no time for relaxing, not for our kind anyway. Efforts must be doubled and at our place ideas abound as to how we can keep customers coming through the doors in these scorching times. Hopefully some of them will pay off…

NEXT MONTH...

I’ll be taking a look at the terrifying world of online retail, as our shop takes its first lamb-like steps into the wider world of e-commerce. Until then…