...to wish retailers would just look out the fecking window?

[somewherewest]

...inspired by our local branch of Jojo Maman Tres Expensif*, which is chocca with sunhats and swimwear despite the fact its fecking -5 outside. Seriously? There were icicles overhanging their beachwear window display last week.

*I realise this immediately discloses the fact that we're not in Toxteth or Brixton

Is every single bit of the winter stuff sold before the summer stuff comes out?

...ie for buying out of season stuff.

Oh YY to having to buy school trousers in July otherwise by August when they actually go back there's nothing left. Yes you M&S.

^"No sparkling it's coming, youve ordered it 12 weeks ahead ( far east) it's on the water. You can't leave it at port ( huge costs) the wArehouse needs to process it and get it out. You started discounting weeks ago so your shelves are bare.

All a stressy nightmare."^

This. It's planned months and months ahead. They have no idea what the weather/social conditions will be next season, they just go off predictions from previous years.

Means I end up walking past Peacocks staring longingly at the gorgeous maxi dress in the window which is a) massively inappropriate for the weather now and b) probably going to stay massively inappropriate knowing English summers!

My gripe isn't so much with the seasonal changeovers (though I do wish they would put it back a couple of weeks at every change).

But it is with:
a) swimming costumes and trunks - children swim all year round indoors and winter sun holidays aren't rare or prohibitively expensive any more.

b) children grow and lose things - school uniform items in the colours of schools local to the store will all sell year round

Obviously with both those you might want to have more at known peak times, but they really shouldn't ever disappear.

And people wonder why the High Street is on it's knees.

No sparkling you phase it out and in. It's a complicated job to trying to cover all the risks. No one is sadder at the lost opportunities than the buying teams.

It's deffo about being organised, school uniform, yes just about to buy mine for next year...

Dammed if you dammed if you don't.

The consumer is the one that really decides what product we have in store and when we have it. If people where willing to pay more for their clothes then we probably wouldn't need to buy from the far east, and in turn would be able to buy from Europe/uk with shorter lead times. Meaning we could react quicker to things like the weather.

I analysis sales and buy appropriately looking at how last year stocks performed, I'm not a weather girl and I couldnt have predicted that it would be -5 now. Yes it's frustrating.

Where do expect them to get more winter stock from? Stock is bought a year previously & delivered regardless of weather.

Where did the old winter stock go? The stuff that didn't sell before the unwanted summer stuff arrived?

It hasn't always worked like this though, has it? This kind of thing is happening more and more. If you have a holiday booked for August then god help you if youve not got your holiday clothes bought by July cos if you want a bikini all you'll get is jumpers and macs. I mean, come on! Buyers have been buying from the Far East for decades and have always got it roughly in sync with the seasons.

Why don't you admit that retailers want to get in first with the new products. They are hoping for customers who are sick of being in jumpers and boots to go a bit doolally at the first sight of some spring/summer wear and buy up all their stock. Problem is, customers are way too savvy for that and also do not have cash to waste these days on buying a summer dress in April just so they can sit and gaze at it lovingly at home dreaming of holidays and barbecues.

Meh.....

The vast majority will have been sold. I don't know about clothing but in my shop (electrical) items can sometimes be sold back to the developers too.

It's hard to get excited over a strappy maxi dress when it's snowing outside. In Matalan there are no coats whatsoever in the children's section. Men can have a coat but children can't.

Longfufu - why not try an 'essentials' range of uk-made, available all year round - swimwear, hats, gloves, raincoat etc, etc. Navy, red, black.

I bet they'd sell.

Oh, and while you're at it [buwink], please can we have girls' school shoes with a decently thick sole on and most of the foot covered.

This time lasy year ( heat wave) did you want a coat?

No you wanted that maxi dress! :-)

Personally i buy things like uniform, what i need in the size (say age 5) then one in an age 6 just in case.

Then i'm a forward planner odd i have gloves for next year.

Also swimwear see tkmax all year round.

Heath, they would cost you four times the price...do you want a kids swimsuit for £20.99?

Also window & in store visuals are all ready well in advance.large stores can't simply change these because of the weather, it would cost thousands.

But why can men have a coat now but not children?

But isn't it costing thousands in lost revenue due to having summer clothes out in minus temperatures Bugged?

Stop blaming the fact that the stock comes from the far East and India. It's always been the same, even when the stuff was make in the UK.
Reasoning then was the factories couldn't do a fast turnaround so you got what you got when they managed to make it.

It's bloody infuriating. With today's technology and if clothes were made here, they would truly be seasonal.

All of the winter stuff got reduced and sold off after Christmas! Customers have been complaining to us sales staff for weeks that they can't get winter stuff- they didn't complain when they were buying it half price in January. One customer came in complaining that she bought a hat, in the sale, 2 and a half months ago. Her daughter had lost it, and how dare we not still stock the same hat to replace it?

Surprisingly, sales have risen in the last couple of weeks for summer stuff, people are holiday shopping at the moment.

Socks will do as emergency toddler gloves. The more fleecy the better.

So, if we managed to stock winter stuff now, what do we do with the summer stuff? Stockrooms aren't large enough to hold two seasons worth of clothes- barely big enough to hold one seasons! And what about when the weather changes again in a couple of weeks, and we get that early heatwave we've had for the last couple of years. Then we would get complaints that it's April and we only have winter stock, what were we thinking? Even if we had the room to store all of the stock, it takes roughly a day for me to merchandise a section (girl/boy/baby)- that means 3 days solid of a complete flip, plus around another 3/4 days to get that giant pile of rotation winter stock away. Won't be able to sell it in the warm weather, and it won't be fashionable enough to sell in a few months time for autumn/winter. What's the answer there?

Internet shopping is the way to go. See what is or isn't available without all the dragging about looking at clothes that don't match the weather.

Still don't understand Matalan's coat policy. I may email and ask.