How will consumers handle price increases?

Q: I understand that prices are going up, but how should that affect my buy as we go to market? How do you think consumers are going to react to price increases?

A: Their reaction to the price increases will likely depend on whether vendors change price points—meaning they go up by a few dollars—or whether they change price lines and move into an entirely new price category, perhaps 20 to 30 percent above where they used to be. If a vendor just changes price points it probably won’t affect sales that much, but if they change price lines you might see some pushback.

As for your buy, ask yourself whether you think your customers are going to be buying the same amount of units as they did last season. If you think they’ll be buying less, then you should not buy as many units.