There’s always two sides to a coin & that is precisely the edge of the knife morality, this question poses & the temptation isn’t as easily ignored. Each day we are receiving emails & social media ads, about discounts from our favorite brands, at the most unusual time of the year and the list on brands, jumping on the discount wagon, only increases each day. But aren’t we longing to wear the clothes hanging in our wardrobes again, with our lives back to some sense of normalcy (parties, shopping, socializing, even work for that matter!!!).
Well, I would truly love to dig into some retail therapy right about now, but then being a small business owner, I also want to retain as much liquidity as possible, for my artisans in such uncertain times. The thought of shopping, when people are scared, losing loved ones & continue living far away from their loved ones, shopping sounds quite self-indulgent.
On the other hand, the goodness of continuing indulgent purchase from small businesses, helping them support their employees, during this crisis, is a constant nag at my morality. This is that time of the year when we shop for Resort wear, gearing up for our summer wardrobes, with stores dishing out their Resort and Summer collections, but these are different times. Instead now, we’ve been hearing from retailers like Next in the UK, announcing yesterday that they would be reopening their stores with massive sales, to clear out their unsold merchandise, which is probably the route that other high street stores would be taking too. Yes, some with the capacities have been operating online, but with limited employee availability, they haven’t been functioning at full sales capacities.
Something similar happened after the 9/11 disaster, after which the government encouraged consumers to shop and set the economic cycle in motion again, fueled by unprecedented discount offerings from retail brands, which reshaped the industries sales model entirely. What we might see now again, is the morality of shopping now, challenged across new parameters.
Where we spend our money right now, is important.
Purchasing from our favorite designers, while they offer the allure of heavy discounts, might not result in large profits to the organization’s directly. But favoring our spend capacities, when we feel we need some retail therapy, to the new generation of small and local designers, would certainly aid in keeping a key ecosystem moving forward, with limited access to relief funds from the government and not much left after the month long lockdowns, in terms of available cash. The larger retailers have a significant cushion of liquidity, with the three giant players of luxury and their brands, in an even stronger position. But helping small businesses, anyway we can, even simply helping them build a follower base on social media, is a significant motivation for them.
So does it mean that if we purchase from small businesses, the purchases are justified? Is it cruel of us to succumb to the offers from our favorite brands - work from home loungewear, swimwear on discount to use, once we can again travel, or the home decor items, being slashed to competitive prices to clear inventories?
The truth of the matter is,
whatever our reasons to shop right now, whether to alleviate our anxieties or to support some of our favorite small businesses, they certainly get the economic cycle in motion
and might just be the rescue attempt we will need for setting into motion, the growth cycle in the coming times.