Issue 19/08

Tuesday, 14th August 2007

As from today all core lines will run under one number as opposed to the two numbers they have had for the past year. I understand that this has been a problem to each and every one of us and I appreciate your patience with it, I explained the reasons behind it at the conference which were due to cost and warehousing charge issues and I hope that you understood why it had to be this way.

Father and new baby

*** STOP PRESS - STOP PRESS - STOP PRESS ***

CORE LINE UPDATE - USA ONLY

Hi,

During the course of today we will be changing the product codes on the USA stock for all current core lines and repeat lines.

As from today all core lines will run under one number as opposed to the two numbers they have had for the past year. I understand that this has been a problem to each and every one of us and I appreciate your patience with it, I explained the reasons behind it at the conference which were due to cost and warehousing charge issues and I hope that you understood why it had to be this way.

Now that the stock levels on the old lines are significantly lower and the new drop is due, the auditors have allowed me to change the product codes on the following garments:

Old Code New Code Description
Jacket Trouser Jacket Trouser
00293MJ 00294MT 00401MJ 00402MT Charcoal Plain SB2
00295MJ 00296MT 00403MJ 00404MT Charcoal Stripe SB2
00299MJ 0030MT 00408MJ 00409MT Navy Stripe SB2
00301MJ 00302MT 00410MJ 00411MT Plain Black SB2
00297MJ 00298MT 00424MJ 00425MT Plain Navy SB2
00252MJ 00253MJ 00466MJ 00467MT Plain Beige SB2
00661BL   00397BL   Navy Blazer SB2
00940TS   00398TS   Beige Trouser
00345TS   00370ST   Black Shadow Stripe SB2
00343ST   00376ST   Navy Broken Stripe SB2
0009675   0009712   Lemon H/B Dbl Cuff
0009684   0009710   White H/B Dbl Cuff
0009685   0009713   Blue H/B Dbl Cuff
0009695   0009711   Pink H/B Dbl Cuff

The benefits of this are that the replenishments will become automatic again and your pars will be set on the new product number so that as soon as the delivery arrives the replenishments will be allocated to you.

I will therefore have to remove the stock from your old product number on OASys and move it on to your new product number, then take the pars off the old number and set them up on the new numbers.

This will be quite a lengthy process therefore I would appreciate your patience whilst this takes place. You will be able to see if your branch is complete by looking at the codes on your store stock enquiry as you will see that the stock has moved. If it is not complete and you sell one of these lines today please do not input any sales or accept any deliveries in until your stock has been moved.

In terms of your store, you can either amend the product codes on the tickets on the garments to reflect the new code or you can leave them as they are and when you input the sale ensure that you input under the new code.

If you are in any doubt about this please email me directly.

Many thanks
Kind Regards
Tracey

Team Talk Competition

Can anyone guess the link between the picture shown on the OASys version of Team Talk for week 18 and that week’s edition. If you do not check this out weekly, you can access it on your Ready to Wear system by clicking on Internet, Team Talk, Team Talk, August 2007, Issue 18.

Answers please to Alexandre Support. The winner and the answer will be published next week.

Europe - Notes from John Collins

Again John is on holiday this week, so this is a brief version of the last week’s trading situation.

  Week
Actual Target % Tgt % L/Y
Ready Made
002 Aafes - Europe 22,132 25,072 88.3% 83.9%
Made to Measure
002 Aafes - Europe 4,835 3,047 158.6% 128.4%
Shirts        
002 Aafes - Europe 0 0 0% 0%
Area        
020 John Collins 27,288 28,476 95.8% 89.7%

For the second week running, we just missed it. Another $1,188 would have done it and $120 per store was all we needed to make target..... Let’s hope that we can make it up this week.

The Top Managers / branches overall this week are:

  • Dave Tindell in Wurzburg came in top of the tree again at 155% of Target, which included a measure sale of $942. Dave has lost a lot of troops lately and he is still pulling in the figures. Well done Dave.
  • Robbie Miller in Hanau came in second with 128% of target, Robbie had a busy weekend with the sale items selling well.
  • Gary Bloom in Lakenheath came third, staying in the top 5 at 114% of Target. The store are promoting clearance items at 75% off which may be helping to draw people in.
  • Vince Blackett in Stuttgart came in fourth with 113% of Target, again due to a very busy weekend.
  • Trevor Scarratt in Ramstein also came in at 111% of Target. Trevor reports that slowly people are starting to return to the area.

Well done also goes to Dave Cox in Chievres for achieving 105% of Target.

Well done to you all and if you did not achieve your target let’s try and make up for it this week.

After receiving very positive comments regarding the Alexandre Savile Row shirts and suits last week, I have allocated more stock which now means that the warehouse is empty. If you want to see if you have more on the way please check your store stock enquiry. Why not call your regular customers and inform them of this one off deal which will not be repeated.

Good luck for this week, we have an area target of $30,123 to do and it’s a pay weekend so let’s go for it...

Kind regards, Tracey.

We Have A New Alexandre Baby...

Congratulations to Dominic and Melissa Gonzales from Travis AFB, California. Their new baby boy “Adrian Dylan Gonzales” was born on 11th August 2007 at 01.55am at the North Bay Hospital in Fairfield, California. Weighing in at 7lb 14 ozs he is well on his way to being a little bruiser and a Rocky Balboa fan...

Both mother and baby are doing fine and we wish Dominic many happy sleepless nights.

Ready Made Stock - USA Update

The USA container has now cleared customs and is due into the warehouse during the course of this week.

Made to Measure Patterns

With the success of our recent made to measure 2 suit special you will have noticed that many cloth patterns have recently gone PSO. During the course of the next 2 weeks we will be distributing to all stores up to 60 new patterns which will cross all bunches. This means that you will have lots to offer your customers during the $300 and $400 off sale in September and then the 50% off sale in October.

We are also introducing a new Holland and Sherry Perennial bunch number HS507 which will replace your current bunch HS274. We will therefore be asking you to withdraw HS274 as soon as your new bunch arrives.

This is good information that you can pass onto your customers as you are talking to them now about made to measure and the up and coming promotions.

Point of Sale - September Through December

The new point of sale for your made to measure promotions for September thru to December will be leaving the UK this week. If you want to check details of the promotions you can see this on Team Talk, Resources, Marketing Calendar.

Ready Made Stocktake

The ready to wear stocktake has been postponed until 30th September due to the UK bank holiday at the end of August. Please put this date in your diary and if you are responsible for a satellite store, ensure that a visit takes place either that week or the week prior to.

USA - Notes from Andy Schofield

It would seem that the worm stopped for a little rest last week! Sales tapered off and we missed target finishing with a cumulative 75% and slightly better on last year with 85%.

Made to Measure did great with 147% of target, so well done to all of you for making this happen. That was also an increase of 214% over last year’s numbers which is great. If we can beat last year’s numbers every week then we are on the right track.

Ready Made is starting to struggle as we all know. Sizes are getting harder to come by but the good news is that the containers carrying the new stock have made it through Customs and should be arriving this week ready to start dispatching. Last week we finished only 65% against target and 70% on last years numbers.

Please make sure that your sale items, no matter how small the range, is at the front of your department. Last week myself and Allan at Nellis re-merchandised the entire department from top to bottom and he managed to finish 111% above target – and that was all ready made sales in 120 degree heat!! Change your department around, it works!

So, the question remains - “Has the worm turned??”

Week 19 Star Performers Last Week??

FORT DIX – Not happy that she was bumped into second place last week, Nicky pulled out all the stops in week 19 and made sure she hit the number one spot. With 155% cumulative sales and nearly $3000 on Measures she’s at the top this week. Well done Nicky!

FORT BRAGG – Well, there seems to be a little competition going on here guys! Adelle was knocked into second place this week with 140% cumulative sales. Come on Adelle, get those MtM sales up and keep Bragg in the first place spot!

FORT SAM HOUSTON – Glad to see this branch back in the top three. Jeff had a “Stonking” week in Fort Sam with 118% Cumulative sales and second place for total sales (Just missing $6000 on total sales). Well done Jeff, keep the ball rolling and “Wheel” see you here next week!

There were other branches that made their cumulative targets and I think it only fair that they are listed here also (It seems that the Air Bases were tops last week!):

  • Macdill AFB – Zoran managed to squeeze 115% out of the store last week with a 50/50 split on both MM and RM.
  • Nellis AFB – Allan re-merchandised the department with me last week and it paid off with 111% cumulatively.
  • Langley AFB – Dave pulled out 110% cumulative sales last week in a very quiet store. Even so, Dave doubled the business over last year with 191%.
  • Andrews AFB – Roger is back off vacation and managed to hit 100% target this week. The guys at Andrews (Nathan & Tim included) can all claim the Highest Sales total this week also – Good job Gentlemen.

Some excellent figures – Well done.

Good Weeks Trading Everyone... Andy.