March Sucks a Little Less

…But it still sucks double digits.

March:

Total income: -18%
Total COGS: -13.8%
Payroll: -29.3%

Marketing: -23.9%
Net Income (Profit): -148.4% (-$776)

Year to Date: 

Total income: -22.3%
Total COGS: -31.9%
Payroll: -21.4%

Marketing: -29.4%
Net Income (Profit): +28.1% (+$681)

This week was the best since Feb. 2, so maybe the trend has turned. One can dream, anyway. I blame this year’s lousy sales on the continuing decline of my old mainstay Panther Vision caps. I can’t complain about their good, long run, but I think they’ve become too ubiquitous and discounters have horned in. It wouldn’t be my first product to die of success.

I don't expect April to be any better.

Remember my most recent random act of media? As of a week ago my contact at Edge magazine still couldn’t (or wouldn’t) tell me when their magazine would land. The month on the cover of a magazine is supposed to be its off-sale date, but even if they don’t follow that convention they wouldn’t ship a March issue in April, so I’m guessing that it’s out. I received one order this week for the featured LP Stepped Bowl, which is effectively a dead product. But the order was placed by somebody in Canada and shipped to somebody in Florida, so I’m not seeing a connection to this New Jersey magazine. One piece is what I expected to sell based on our past history, so that’s probably over and done with. 

The new product that I mentioned last week just shipped today, so still no link. The vendor seems to have gone from “OMG let’s partner up!” to “who are you again?” but I expected that. Some vendors get over-enthused at trade shows.