2013 National Hardware Show

The Accelerated Analytics team spent the week in Las Vegas at the National Hardware Show meeting with customers and prospective customers.  Most of the attendees we spoke with feel the economy is comming back and the remainder of 2013 will be pretty solid.  That view seems to be supported by the performance of the major retailer stock prices but the macro economic data are a bit more uncertain.  Several buyers we spoke with from national retailers said they will continue to be cautious with inventory investment so vendors will need to be careful to monitor inventory WOS to avoid stock outs. The buyers also mentioned they are taking a careful look at SKU assortments and will be more aggresive with eliminating poor performing SKU’s than in past years.  Vendors will need to be careful to analyze sales data and present an accurate but favorbale picture of SKU performance to avoid being on the chopping block.  When out of stocks are increasing due to lower on hand sales can take a hit that is not related to product quality so make sure you have the data to protect your SKU’s.