When you think back to the spring of trading we were seeing, particularly on gardening, with the early start to the season it was logical that the financiers behind Focus chose the moment they did to pull the plug. Stocks were high and cash as plentiful as it had been for many a year. Let us hope suppliers will have learnt the lesson and not get caught out by the next casualty, whoever that may be.

That roaring start to the season perhaps saved a few more suppliers from difficulties than we might have seen, but also led to some pretty big headaches of trying to get back into stock for the second spring of the year. That has caught many retailers out too. We do not get two springs in any one year, so why would this year be any different?  Some seemed to think it would be. They are now finding cash so tight it hurts and even paying out more to store unsold stock. If you are reliant on a workforce and facility ½ way round the world, you just cannot turn that product supply tap on and off that quickly, especially when oil prices are going through the roof and ships are sailing slower.

For retailers sucked into the trap of importing direct sales space as well as storage space is filled up with unwanted overpriced stock costing money. More expensive still is the cost of the lost opportunity of selling something that will generate pounds (£) profit now and contribute towards those mounting bills. Perhaps it is time all retailers thought back to why we have suppliers; middlemen who make a margin but take some of the risk out for that privilege. Call it old fashioned but it worked for many more years than direct importing has.

And for those suppliers whom, as labour costs spiral in the far east and transport costs follow suit, who are wedded to off shore manufacturing, perhaps it is time to think hard about bringing that production at least closer to home if not home. The consumer is switched on to ‘buying local’ perhaps you should be tuning in to that.

‘Knowledge is power’ and that is what is fuelling grow your own. Consumers knowing where the food they put into their mouths has come from; it’s all part of buying local. It matters to most, especially mums. It is not about ‘organic’ – most consumers don’t understand the peat debate or are even interested in it. That is not going to change so those that think ‘plot to plate’ has run out of steam are probably just not in touch. The boom may have passed but there is a solid market left for the taking by those retailers who are in touch and the suppliers who have got reliable value for money products that work.

It has been a hard year that cannot be denied. But to use that old phrase: ‘when the going gets tough …’. Over priced items will be hard to shift, no matter what the weather does. Where genuine ‘value’ is available sales will be gained. We suffer from over supply, the result of years of gluttony and excess. Working together in true relationships will bring benefit and build a long term future. This will take those in partnerships to levels only dreamed of by those who cannot function collaboratively who will be left trailing into oblivion.

Thinning out the weaker players, retailers and suppliers, with a few more going the way of Focus will mean fewer snouts in the 2012 trough and a bit more for the stronger ones to feed on.

Roll on the New Year!

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