Buying is Back

after a long time , the signs of buying seems to be back in the market , retailers are talking about double digit growth on like to like store sales ,like to like or same store growth is a great indicator for actual growth and operation efficency , this has been backed with a growth in margins .Thus retailers results have been good too , with Shoppers stop , Pantaloon all going to town about the sign of good times .

With the economic story of growth and a stock market that's holding ,we seem to be slowly trudging back to good old times .This economic buoyancy should hit a peak for retailers by Diwali , unless there is a U turn in the great US of a economy etc , remember we are coupled or decoupled ,whatever !

Also in between this up and down cycle , there has been a new medium which retailers have started using to judge and evaluate trends , ie the great Social networking vehicle ...Fashion brands are increasingly using peer-to-peer networks like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Orkut, YouTube and Flickr to spot the latest fashion trends, find out what the youngsters want and just to stay in touch with their target customers. Isn't this new , brands like UCB ,Madura ,Pantaloon etc have started using these platforms !

One thing is for sure that this time onwards the mad rush for retail space ,categories etc would be much thought thru and carefully planned and unlike last time it would not be blind lead the blind .Lets wait and see .