July Earth

Furniture Fair (1st July – 14th July 2011)
Forecast Sales: RM100K
Actual Sales: RM137K.
Oklah, better than nothing...but with these additional sales figures, still the sales graph cannot shoot up high. It's frustrating. All I can do is to continue to improve the business the best that I can and also as a person, which is what I intend to do as well.

There are so many changes going on in the company these days. First, 8 selected stores underwent a major revamping process. All of the permanent spaces have been shrunk. I was quite badly hit because all of my consignment counters area have become smaller, two have been totally removed from the selling floor and some have been move from the front section to the back section. The objective is to make more promotion spaces because the top management believe that 2 weeks of big & strong promotion at prominent spaces can generate double or even triple up the sales compare to the permanent area. Secondly, there is the new set of Golden Rules that is being implemented where it will dictates the location & type of display for mailer items. This is to ensure better visibility, more focus and standardization across all stores. Thirdly, a bi-weekly mailer have changed into a weekly mailer. I mean, it's obviously scary, change is always scary because all of these are big projects with a number of restrictions where as all this while, we have enjoyed complete freedom and control. Now, all of a sudden, the control is not in my hands but in someone's else. But I also feel very excited and I feel like I'm entering a new chapter and getting a fresh start because this will help to attract back the customers, snatch back our lost market shares, build back our price image, reinforce our bargaining capabilities with our suppliers and to increase our turnover...but there is still a little bit of doubtfulness in me because the results have yet to be seen. Of course, I also cannot expect to see tremendous growth immediately as well. For furniture, it has been hard...it’s not like food where it’s good to have rotation on a weekly basis. For furniture, it’s tough because customer behavior tend to be different. For the first week, most customers will come, see the furniture, touch the furniture, go back and think whether they need it or not, then they only come back on the second week to make a purchase. With a weekly mailer, customers will lost the opportunity to buy. Of course, with this disadvantage, I have also learn to improvise, by extending the PSP into another week and reminding the store team to continue to display the stocks at the selected TGs and podiums. Yes, I cannot judge it as a hindrance and give it a final conclusion that this plan cannot work but to give it a chance to see the final outcome to judge for myself. I’m ok with this entire new business module except for the consignment counters. Yes, I agree that we cannot let the suppliers run our business, but I also believe that, if we can have a certain level of control at the HQ level, it still will be an advantage to our side. We are not the expert in big furniture, therefore we need to outsource to those who are the specialist. My consignment counters are my point of differentiation...my blue ocean strategy. Customers can get everything under one roof. They buy their big & small furniture at one go, in 1 location. The big furniture compliments well with the knock-down furniture. They are like a couple. Look at the English recent catalogue...they are also copying me again. That proves, our consignment counter business can works. Nonetheless, since there’s so much of good positivity that is floating around and yet I still don’t feel so good about this decision...I guess I just have to wait and see.

Then there are the rumors of a new re-structuring plan of the organization chart that is going on…to be more honest about it, I’m afraid and I refuse to go down a road that I know that I can’t perform well...where I have to clean up the shit again and revive back the department. I'm tired. Or perhaps, I really enjoy being in a department that have all of the benefits & authority. Well, what it means right now is that I’ve to perform better where I am. I need to push my portfolio turnover to the max. This is where the large chunk of my investment lives. I am not going to let it to bother me though. I will just do my part.

The end of this month will mark my 3 years in this role. It’s all building up to get me to somewhere which I'm not really sure where is it about….and careers isn’t something that is tangible like the bowl on my lap right now. It only exists when I’m old and when I look back at what I’ve accomplished over the years. I hope this will takes me off to somewhere. I don’t know where I’m going but I’ve got a fair number of goals and objectives that I want to reach. At this point, however, I’m trying to define a bit more of what I want, as opposed to adapting to what other people want.