An anniversary passes--without fanfare

It wasn't on my list of Things to Do, so I missed it. 1-800-Flowers didn't send me a reminder message so that I could get something to commemorate the occasion. To be honest, it didn't even register on my radar until I started looking at old blog posts.

This is (more or less) the three-year anniversary of Coach's exit from the market. Remember? Nothing before or since caused as much speculation, gossip, or conjecture. Livelihoods were altered--some significantly. Program participants were denied a market-leading brand. The Rumor Mill overloaded.

So, three years on (I just love the sound of that phrase--yet another example of how the Brits' version of the language is more robust than ours), where are we? Let's see:

1. The market didn't implode. Many thought Coach was just the first, that many more upscale brands concerned about their distribution would exit. Didn't happen.
2. Nobody replaced them. Nobody really thought Coach COULD be replaced, and time proved it. Not D&B, not Kate Spade, not anybody. Program developers just found something else to offer.
3. Coach reps didn't go out of business. Not to say they weren't impacted, some severely, but reps, like customers, sold more iPods or whatever else was in the bag.
4. Coach didn't come crawling back. The Vegas line on Coach's return was three years--those who believed that said they'd find out they liked that incremental revenue and would re-enter the market. Well, the Over is in. And there's no sign anywhere that they're returning.
   

It was a Big Deal. I can't count the hours of speculation everyone put in about it--who did what to whom, who was "at fault", what did Coach know, and when did they know it, all that. It made for fabulous theater and created more "buzz" about our business than anything I can remember. It certainly was more fun than turning Gift Cards into the Antichrist.

But in the end it was a single decision made by a single company based on circumstances unique to that entity. It wasn't the harbinger of doom, not the first of several men on horseback, not the beginning of the end. Just a corporate decision that impacted 2.5% of a publicly-held company's sales (according to Coach's CEO).

We survived. We even thrived, at least until the Great Recession and grandstanding legislators turned Corporate Recognition into The Great Satan. Who knows--perhaps 2008 would have dealt a death blow to Coach's business given that "bling" was "out" last year.

Anyway, I need to put it on my calendar for next year. Such a Momentous Event deserves to be remembered...


Pete