Recently, I had a conversation with Alan Miklofsky, a shoe industry veteran who currently serves as a business consultant and regular author of articles in Footwear Insight. I’m hoping to make this a regular thing for the USRA Blog. Alan has such great insight and is so knowledgeable on the retail industry. He is an asset to all of us!
How long did you operate your retail stores?
Alan: I operated my retail stores for 40 years, during which I successfully sold the business twice.
Why would a retailer utilize a business consultant?
Alan: Any good business owners seeks input from others in order to make appropriate course corrections to the business.
In what area of consulting do you feel you would be most beneficial to shoe retailers in?
Alan: My main focus is “number crunching”, where I show retailers a concise perspective of how to look at the financial statements in a consistent manner and predict future cash flow and profits.
From your perspective, what problems are the greatest concerns of retailers today?
Alan: Expenses have escalated to a much higher degree than gross profits have improved. This means that the retailer has a smaller ratio of Net Operating Profit to Total Revenue and therefore it is harder to make a profit and product sufficient cash flow to reinvest in the business.
Watch for more great insight & conversations with Alan!