Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I am the Creative Director of my fine jewelry company.  I have an extensive professional background in management consulting - specializing in new business development and crisis management.  During this recent economic downturn, I noted significant flaws in marketing as implemented by prospective retail clients.

The 2 trends that were most alarming were the "ride out the recession" and "retail boutique as an extension of the owner's personal clothes closet".  I realized that merchants like myself would have to address this retail malaise.

I realized that we, as producers, can no longer rest our prospective fortunes on the backs of our retail partners, but we must take steps to ensure that our product sells at the retail level.

Working through the many challenges that confront retailers in the fashion industry, I developed a b2b business model for my company that drives customers to my retailers and ensures that our merchandise does not languish on their shelves.

As business professionals, we succeed during economic challenges by focusing on the solutions rather than the problems.

That's interesting YveEMD. How did you go about doing that?

I assume your methods involved working more closely with your retail partners but how, exactly, did you go about this?

Was it through increased marketing and promotions,  or some other method?