2012年1月31日 星期二

Product Quality versus Product Sales

In late 1980s and early 1990s, Eastern European countries under communist governments began to open up and convert from central-planned to free-market economy.  Western businessmen and analysts were able to travel extensively and look deep into all aspects of Eastern European industries.  I saw, on CBS's "60 minutes" show, someone who put out a few points on what he found.

[1] These countries still possess top-tiered knowledge in many areas of industries, from materials science to chemistry, etc.,
[2] They knew how to apply these knowledge to manufacture the best products, BUT
[3] They did not have the market to sell the products, as the market was limited to only among countries with communist governments.  Also, since the quality was good, the products had a longer life, thereby canibalizing the sales volume.  The person saw a plant which was running only 3-4 months every year because it produced too many good products that did not need frequent replacements.

This story came to play...

A few years later I accepted a job offer and moved to a new region.  One day while driving I noticed a store-closing sale was going on.  It was a small hardware store.  I had never been to that store before as it sold mostly building materials with a small retail room.  I was not a home builder, nor was I familiar with these items.  But with my experiences of plowing through store-closing sales there MIGHT be some good bargains.  So I went there a few days later and stepped into the store.

2012年1月22日 星期日

很多 Garage Sale! 該去哪一家呢?Too Many Garage Sales! Which ones should we go?

 Garage Sale的廣告來源如下,請先注意住家附近的樹上或公告欄或是放在地上的小看版,還有社區的網頁,有些社區不能自己就隨時辦Garage Sale,要先去登記天數及物品,不然警察伯伯會上門來拜訪喔!

Garage Sale! 該去哪一家呢?很簡單啦

1。如果廣告上列出銷售的東西先去有我們需要東西的地方

2。去房價高的地區:這些房價高的地區所辦的 Garage Sale通常東西都不會太差。

3。先去開張早的地址:所謂早起的鳥兒有蟲吃啊!好東西很快就被人捷足先登買走了。

4。了解物品的原價:那些 garage sales 不易買得到的東西就不必殺價殺得太兇我買了不少名牌的領帶(Christian Dior, Givenchy, Gucci 等等)一條才五毛

2012年1月17日 星期二

衣服換季拍賣的時段 season-ending sales for apparels

住在四季分明的地方,商店都按著天氣換季選衣服賣。不過商店也知道夏天賣不出冬天的衣服,冬天賣不出夏天的衣服,所以等到春天剛開始萌芽,商店就迫不及待要把冬天的衣服降價出清。您如果不是很追求流行的話,正好可以利用這些出清大打折時段去買些衣服來放著。

一般來說,美國通常在每年的二、三月間是商店打折出清冬衣的時間,到了九、十月開始出清夏天的衣服。有些年耶誕節、歲末的購物季節業績不良 (例如 2008 2011年),商店不會等到二月就開始有很多衣物大打折想脫手換現。

最近發現Walmart 賣的衣服和大衣質量都不差,一件羊毛大衣才$25,冬天帶帽子的防寒大衣$18,牛仔褲  $12 ,當然這些衣服在台灣買更便宜又好看,但是台灣的衣服除非是專做外銷的,很少會考慮美國當地天氣的不同,如在下雪地區,出門時衣服是一層層穿上去, 到了屋內有暖氣,又一層層脫掉,所以我從台灣帶來的大衣是單薄了些。