Question for business owners on the DISboards.

[CamillaF]

Good day-

I am hoping to get a feel for what other business owners are feeling across the county. I own a retail business in Seattle Washington and noticed a 30% drop in revenue in October 2022. I am friends with a lady who owns 5 pizza franchisee in the same area and she also noticed a 30% drop in October. It was a hard winter for both of us. But we both found that our numbers normalized in April and I am now growing in May.

Things are feeling normal again. I have an 7 applicants for each job opening so can be picky. Something that has not happened since 2019. The price of supplies has come down from the Covid high. I feel like we were in a recession this winter but have come out of it.

How are business in other areas. Did revenue drop? Is it back to normal? Can you find staff? Have the cost of supplies still Covid high prices or have they come in line.

Just trying to get a pulse on what is going on. I am feeling optimistic.

 

[Chili327]

I think were getting back to normal, but i dont seem to be as busy as i would nornally be in the spring/summer.
My situation is a little odd (timing-wise) tho, so my results could be out of the norm.

 

[FreeTime]

My LOB that is closest to a retail type business has had a slow spring but we are finally seeing an uptick the last few weeks. It is still hard to find individuals that want to work 8-5 hours. We are paying $10 over minimum wage. This is in the Midwest.

I have been negotiating a retail business purchase in a tourist area in a western state. Their sales are down 30% YOY. I have been evaluating the reasons why to see if they can be overcome.

Glad to hear you are seeing yours pick up.

 

[CamillaF]

I think were getting back to normal, but i dont seem to be as busy as i would nornally be in the spring/summer.
My situation is a little odd (timing-wise) tho, so my results could be out of the norm.

Thank you. What part of the county/world are you in?

 

[CamillaF]

My LOB that is closest to a retail type business has had a slow spring but we are finally seeing an uptick the last few weeks. It is still hard to find individuals that want to work 8-5 hours. We are paying $10 over minimum wage. This is in the Midwest.

I have been negotiating a retail business purchase in a tourist area in a western state. Their sales are down 30% YOY. I have been evaluating the reasons why to see if they can be overcome.

Glad to hear you are seeing yours pick up.

Thank you.

 

[easyas123]

Not in retail, and located in the Mid-Atlantic. We are slammed - so busy...still having trouble hiring but it's slowly starting to get a bit better in terms of responses to our employment ads. We've actually expanded.

 

[happily single]

I own a prenatal massage studio outside of Boston. I was slammed for April and May. I missed half of March due to surgery. So far I’m 90% booked for June. This weekend I’m hoping to run my numbers to compare last year to this year

 

[Chili327]

What part of the country /world are you in?

Northern California (rural)

 

[takemethere]

We own a small specialty doughnut shop and remained pretty steady thru out the pandemic (lots of curbside) Luckily both my husband and I can make our own hours at our full time jobs so that helped, Prices soared on supplies and are just going down now. We do alot of catering esp this time of year...i.e showers/weddings/parties. So things are looking up. We are in central NJ by the beach

 

[FreeTime]

Northern California (rural)

Interesting. The place I am exploring purchasing is near northern CA. The seller mentioned sales are much slower than usual. So it would seem they aren’t the only one experiencing it

 

[Chili327]

Interesting. The place I am exploring purchasing is near northern CA. The seller mentioned sales are much slower than usual. So it would seem they aren’t the only one experiencing it

I just ran the numbers for Jan 1st thru May 29 for 2023, 2022, & 2021, declining by about 18% year to year, but as I said previously I am in a unique situation (wildfires had a major MAJOR effect on my business over the last 5 years), & I also learned how to do my books better over the last few years. So I'd say it's not as bad as it looks.
Another factor, my line of business was considered essential, & there was a huge boom from the pandemic, so take that with a grain of salt on top of the rest... in decline yes, but not as bad as it would seem, I only started the business in 2015 so I can't really compare to 5-8 years ago to see what "the norm" is.

 

[MillauFr]

Thank you. What part of the county/world are you in?

Are you operating franchises in the city? We've stopping ordering delivery from Pags and Zeeks because the bill with tip was approaching $100. Outrageous. We just get the $10 pizzas from Costco now.

 

[CamillaF]

Are you operating franchises in the city? We've stopping ordering delivery from Pags and Zeeks because the bill with tip was approaching $100. Outrageous. We just get the $10 pizzas from Costco now.

No I am not a franchise. But yes last time I ordered Pizza I had a heart-attack on the price in Seattle. Those prices are no Joke.

 

[barkley]

Are you operating franchises in the city? We've stopping ordering delivery from Pags and Zeeks because the bill with tip was approaching $100. Outrageous. We just get the $10 pizzas from Costco now.

$12 tuesdays at papa murphys are the bomb although i have to say that the marketside brand of fresh flatbread pizzas that walmart carries are pretty darn good (their bbq chicken and spinach artichoke are great-and at less than $6 quite the bargain).

 

[Squirlz]

We sell herbal healthcare products for animals. My Wife formulated all of our products. Our growth has been steady and actually spiked during the pandemic. What we are hearing more of lately is complaints about the cost of shipping. We ship at real cost, no markup.

 

[MonBam]

Being a business owner, I also noticed a big drop in sales. I think inflation is the key to this problem (maybe I'm wrong). I'm currently working on implementing data-driven decision making in the business process. I read that a lot of companies use this tool for increasing sales as it is supposed to identify opportunities for growth, optimize pricing strategies, streamline sales processes, and personalize their sales approach.

 

[CamillaF]

Being a business owner, I also noticed a big drop in sales. I think inflation is the key to this problem (maybe I'm wrong). I'm currently working on implementing data-driven decision making in the business process. I read that a lot of companies use this tool for increasing sales as it is supposed to identify opportunities for growth, optimize pricing strategies, streamline sales processes, and personalize their sales approach.

what area of the country are you in?

 

[Chili327]

Being a business owner, I also noticed a big drop in sales. I think inflation is the key to this problem (maybe I'm wrong). I'm currently working on implementing data-driven decision making in the business process. I read that a lot of companies use this tool for increasing sales as it is supposed to identify opportunities for growth, optimize pricing strategies, streamline sales processes, and personalize their sales approach.

Let us know how that works.

 

[jerrywilliams]

We sell herbal healthcare products for animals. My Wife formulated all of our products. Our growth has been steady and actually spiked during the pandemic. What we are hearing more of lately is complaints about the cost of shipping. We ship at real cost, no markup.

Can you please share your website? How do you get new clients normally?
Do you a have a group on Microsoft teams whatsapp, cause i would like a part of it too.
Your business seem to be very unique and i honestly didn't hear of anything similar before.

 

[tcufrog]

My best friend and her husband import high-end audio equipment from Europe for sale to retail stores. Their sales are really suffering. My husband co-owns a business in oil and gas and they are incredibly busy.