Economy or Weather?

You can't help but notice so many stores around Sweden have put their products on sale in the middle of the fall! Stores are reducing their winter coats before winter has even come. Is it because the economy is so bad right now that people aren't shopping? Or is it because we have had an unusually warm fall? 

Last year at this time the country was covered with snow. I myself was one of the lucky to get from Göteborg to Stockholm on the E4 without going into the ditch. So where is the snow now? Are we actually going to get a winter this year? Our winter of 2010/2011 lasted well into the spring, our summer has lasted well into the fall. So it would appear that our seasons are delayed by a couple of months. There are so many changes going on around the globe that are affecting the gulf stream, which is affecting the weather, etc.

Although the weather plays a big part, it doesn't help when all the papers are telling us there is a economic crisis. Sweden as apposed to other countries in the EU is doing pretty well. We were speaking with our banker and she said things are going well; they are strong. Yesterday I read in Dagens Industrie that Handelsbanken had a record profit! 

So what to do... Fear not Shoppers and Shop Owners, the weather will come. But people and the industry needs to change it's patterns. We need to adapt to nature and not force nature to adapt to our wants and needs. So instead of thinking that we need to start buying and selling our fall products in the middle of summer or our spring products in the middle of winter, we should adapt to the seasons. 

That way everyone is happy. As a consumer we don't feel the tempatation to buy things that we don't need at the moment out of fear they won't be any left when the time comes. As a store owner, you won't feel that you have to lose your margin and risk the business because people aren't buying. And finally, the brands should perhaps consider their production times so that there are people willing or waiting to buy the products and everyone comes out a winner!

Just some thoughts...