Another year.....

It's been an exciting, and terrifying year. So much has happened all over the world - In Iran,Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel- and right here in  USA. I come to work every day and question, "Who needs another suit, or dress, or another robe"? I am not in the mood to purchase anything. I'm afraid for tomorrow, and yet I find more and more new orders on my desk each morning.

Thank G-d I am not part of the majority. People either do not listen to the news or they try to escape reality by treating themselves to a new trinket. It is a very Israeli approach to life. "If there is no tomorrow, let's splurge today."
Or is there money out there to burn?

I question if I can feel the pulse of the nation by examining my own business? Is the economy really on the upswing (unbeknownst to the Treasury Department, and the unemployed?). My business was healthy as I went into this season. The orders were nice- but the reorders have been phenomenal. The store buyer bought the goods and the targeted consumer liked the merchandise. Nothing is left in the stores. Similarly the website www.razadesigns.com has had a growth spurt. We deliberately do not enter the spring, summer merchandise on the site before the Holiday. We do not want to hurt the sales of our retail stores and we cannot physically get out the orders in time. But those web orders kept coming in. People didn't care that everything on the site was velvet. They ordered velvet or they wrote in the Comments, "make it in any summer weight fabric."

We know from past experience, if the market is good now, we will have multiple orders after Passover. The extended family will be spending 8 days together in "Shabbos Robes". Many women come to the Sederim in an elegant robe, but even if they don't, they are lounging together the rest of the week. They are so tired from the cleaning and cooking that they cannot possibly get dressed and go to Shul. The day after the Sederim they will be hitting the website or going to the stores to find that robe they saw on their cousin.

I then question is the Religious Jewish Community a microcosm of the state of the nation? I do believe that the economy is better. I am feeling an improvement in my sales in the general community at large. Better Specialty stores, catalogues and websites are definitely showing signs of growth. The Midwest and the West Coast seem to be struggling but Florida, Texas, the Georgia's and the Carolinas are beginning to buy again. Many Discounters did not show the gains that Wal-Mart and Target showed. And the Department stores are worse off than ever.

Is the Jewish Community feeling the early signs of economic improvement or are their purchases separate and apart from the mainstream? There is no doubt that Passover opens up our purses. We have to buy an enormous amount of food to feed our extended families Glatt Kosher food for Passover. We feel the need to dress the children and ourselves to meet and greet the family and the Hag. And we redecorate our dining and living rooms to impress the guests.
We always spend more on this Hag than any other but did we spend more money this year than the last two years? Do we have more money?  My stores confirm that people are buying more. My Website orders confirm the growth pattern is not only here in the US but in England, New Zealand, Australia, Israel, Canada, Denmark, and Holland.

Now what can we learn from this? I feel I can explain the increase in web orders easily. Time is on our side. As ecommerce proliferates, web sales will increase. People have learned to browse the web, they trust certain sites, and they like to be able to shop at will- even if they have to pay more. Each satisfied customer will return to your site and pass on the word by mouth or email. The more people visit your site, the more the search engines will recognize your site and promote it.

In terms of the question, do we, the Religious Jews, have more money in our pockets?" I have no answers. I do know that the culture of the Shabbos Robe is spreading quickly everywhere too young, and old, - petite, missy and plus sized women. I do know that Secular Marketers and Media Planners are targeting "the Religious Jew" in their Ad campaigns more than ever. Either we have more money or we are very susceptible to media manipulation. Buyers beware.

If you have any answers please do not hesitate to let contact me at: razadesigns@gmail.com attn: Beverly Luchfeld