August, September and October are always the slowest months in the retail swimwear world. If our customers haven't gotten their swimsuit by mid-summer, then they probably won't get one at all. It is a natural end of a retail cycle that all of us swimwear affectionados know all too well. By September, we've seen most of the new lines and have placed our orders for the Cruise season. Last season's swimsuits are just about sold out...thus begins the slow wait. It's kind of like fishing in the afternoon. Chances are, the fish won't bite until evening, but our lines are in the water, just in case.
:::Sigh:::
So now, it's mid-October and frankly, I'm getting a little antsy for the new styles to start arriving. We have web pages to build, photos to take and the orders for the Thanksgiving vacationers start to shop for the latest and greatest in swimsuits and beachwear.
This is also a time to reflect on our products and level of customer services offered. Gawd knows...we can certainly do better. Let's face it, last season, we were way too slow to refund our customers' returns. We're sorry. We also became just a bit intolerant with people asking us to bend our rules and we reluctantly had to continue with our restocking fee policy. (Personally, I hate restocking fees, but it became necessary when our competitors secretly and continually ordered a slew of products from us, for whatever reason, and then sent them all back soiled, damaged and wreaking of perfume. I mean...really...who does that?)
~ C.
