Last week, here in GROUPtalk, we covered three new Group Innovations: The Group Intel Reports, The Group Knowledge Vault (both shared a few weeks earlier), and the news of The Garden Center Group APP, which is in the works and will be ready to download soon. Watch for more details!
This week, we share a glimpse into two more Group Innovations coming...
As Group Centers report their numbers each week through the WDR, Tim Quebedeaux compiles the weekly summaries that give us a clear view of where each Center, each Region, and The Group as a whole stand—both for the week and year-to-date. Every week, we dig into the numbers looking for new trends, patterns, and insights that can help us better understand what's happening in our businesses.
One area I pay particular attention to is a group of categories I call our Standard Greengoods Group. I started tracking these categories years ago and, while there are certainly a few inconsistencies, they provide a valuable way to identify long-term seasonal patterns and shifts in consumer buying behavior.
What are the REAL BENEFITS of being CONSISTENT?
Years ago, Dan Parsons, a senior CPA who served an association that Karen and I managed for 18 years, made a comment that has stuck with me: "In bookkeeping, if you are wrong, it is best to at least be consistently wrong."
Last week Tim Quebedeaux, The Group's Financial Management & Analysis Guru, released our Mid-Year Weekly Department Review Report.
As I dug into the numbers, I found some interesting stats on how our categories stack up against each other. If you are reporting in the WDR, you may have already done some of this yourself. If not, I hope this is of interest to you.
As of last week, "the number" is 864,936.
At this point, I hope I have your attention, and your curiosity is fully engaged.
We are just 2 days away from the arrival of the New Year 2025 and in some ways, it has already begun. Just look at Week 1 above!
We have been busy working on a number of changes, tweaks, modifications and leap-forwards in a number of Group programs. Most of these have come through your input and suggestions along with sharp observations by our Service Provider Team.