ASK THE EXPERT: WHAT’S THE FORECAST FOR HOLIDAY?

Q: Now that summer vacations are behind us, I’m thinking about holiday plans. What are your forecasts for this holiday season? It seems like we may have some rocky economic news ahead of us, yet my menswear sales haven’t slowed down too much.

A: From our viewpoint, business has been a little rocky recently, but remember we have been going up against the strongest full-priced sales period we have seen in years.

February through August of last year was up over 50%, and most of our men’s stores either made those numbers or missed them by just a couple of points. In total, it has been a great year so far.

As for the balance of the year, last year was only up by single digits. I believe it should be relatively easy to meet these numbers.

How much of a gain you see will be determined by your ability to excite customers with new and unique fashion merchandise. The inventory has already been selected, so now’s the time to ramp up your marketing efforts.

Photo, above, by Cottonbro Studio.