GENERAL BUSINESS - LA/CC/ML/LV - Sept. '10

   Business in Los Angeles and The Central Coast of California has been predictably slow.  September is notoriously a slow month, but the retailers are telling me that this September is the slowest that they have ever seen.  The problem with these slow months is that the retailers start to feel like they are over inventoried, so they hammer you for RA’s.   Luckily most of the RA’s are coming in with a/o orders to offset the return.   The truth is that the accounts are uneasy with the state of the economy and it's affecting the SP '11 pre-books.  I am stoked that Volcom is one of the few brands that is still getting pre-books.   As the core market continues to struggle,  Zappos continues to show big growth.   Most of my shops are hanging in there and trying to remain positive thru all of this.

   As far as selling direct to consumers from volcom.com, the impact has been minimal. I'm curious to see the selling reports from the web sales, especially which part of the nation is purchasing off the web.  Overall I think the look of the site looks really good simplified. However, I do think that we need to work out some of kinks in the retailers resource center.  The logo’s on the content pages do not upload as individual items, instead they upload as the entire page. 

   So in the end, the good news is that the retailers are seeing what we’re doing as a Brand.  They’re taking notice of our multilevel marketing skills and that nobody comes close to our unique style of Branding.  Ultimately we have strengthened our relationships with the shops in my territory, and we are positioned for growth