The occasional encouraging sales reports that Retailing Together found on the trade show floors in Las Vegas has been confirmed in more detail by the real journalists.

The February 27 issue of California Apparel News ran several encouraging articles:

Better Results Than Expected in Las Vegas

… Some shows"notably the Off-Price Specialist Show and MRket " reported an uptick in traffic this season. …

MAGIC, WWDMAGIC Find Good Sales in Bad Times

The weak economy and new layout of the trade show had this husband-and-wife team forecasting sales would plummet 50 percent compared with their sales at MAGIC last February. However, by the last day of the most recent show, they said their initial forecast was proven wrong when their sales broke even. Better yet, they estimated they spread the word about Dead Threads to 30 percent more buyers than they had during the same show in the previous year.

Pool Trims Size, Gains New Business

… many vendors were pleasantly surprised by doing good business in a poor economy. Cody De Backer of Los Angeles–based label Grn Apple Tree estimated that his label’s sales increased 15 percent compared with the February 2008 show … He claimed that 60 percent of retailers visiting his booth wrote orders.

Retail Traffic Up at MRket

"The buyers coming into Vegas hadn’t bought much, so many of them left paper. It was an order-writing show," she said.

The show was 70 percent larger than the February 2008 inaugural show and 15 percent larger than the August 2008 show. 

Several of the articles also noted that vendors are  offering more immediates, a trend we also learned about from  WWIN and some retailers. 

Can we declare the recession over yet?

Vendors at the WWIN show at the Rio offer mixed reports of their sales amid general reports of retail’s decline. Some vendors are seeing meager sales, while others’ sales are similar to or up from previous shows. 

The WWIN show caters to vendors that sell though independent retailers, so the vendors’ sales depend on independent retailers’ predictions of sales for the next season. The retailers are reporting mixed results, so the vendors report mixed results as well. A common theme in our discussions with vendors is that many retailers have poor business skills, while others have been in business for decades and have solid business habits. Many smaller vendors who have well-established retailers are seeing a smaller number of orders, but an increased amount per order"an expected result when poor retailers fail and the remaining retailers pick up the failed retailers’ business. This show, the buyers going to WWIN seem very well prepared. 

Our interviews with retailers have uncovered many independent retailers that are faring well this season. While major retailers are hunkering down, independents with strong customer relationships and excellent customer service are actually thriving, and these retailers make up the bulk of buyers at WWIN. 

Although buyer traffic is lighter than in the Fall 2008 show, the vendor space was sold out. Every buyer and vendor we’ve talked to considers WWIN an excellent show, the last show they would drop in an economic crisis.