For the fortunate few who had such things to hand, there was little problem in continuing their journey above ground. For most, however, it was a matter of turning up their collar or looking around to see if anyone was selling some kind of protection from the downpour.
And, of course, there was somebody. A man stood in a kiosk, close to the Tottenham Court Road tube exit, surrounded by telescopic umbrellas of various shapes and sizes. There were many takers and the price for any model was an affordable – not very round –£3.99.
During the course of the morning, the skies cleared gradually and the sun even made an effort to come out, as the same workers emerged on a hunter-gathering mission to bag some lunch.
If they had chosen to glance at the same umbrella man, they might have noticed that the price of all umbrellas was now a very reasonable£2.50 – a clear response to the better weather.
Meanwhile, across the street, a largish branch of cult Japanese retailer Muji had also decided that the time was right to satisfy the demands of hordes of bargain hunters. Men’s coats had been marked down by about a third, in response less to the wet weather and more to the fact that, although there have been a few chilly days, it hasn’t exactly been cold so far this winter. Among the outer garments on offer were raincoats. These were to be found at the back of the shop, hidden away on a single runner rail where they did not seem to be attracting a great deal of attention.
The moral of this rather lacklustre tale is simple. If you really want to shift merchandise that has anything to do with the weather, why not put your raincoats at the front of the shop when it’s raining or threatening to do so? This need not involve a complete re-merchandising of the sales floor, relocating a single unit will often do the trick, but be responsive.
Weather of any kind puts people in the frame of mind for ill-advised impulse purchases and it shouldn’t really take a street trader to illustrate to a finely honed retail operation like Muji one of the basic principles underpinning any form of selling – know what your customers want and give it to them.
There is, of course, another alternative. Consider another trade.
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