Musings from Dennis #72: It is so gratifying to work with retailers who don’t see themselves as ‘king’ but treat their wholesale suppliers (our licensees) as equal partners who together with them can bring product to shelf in the most mutually beneficial way for the best retail sales outcome. They understand the concept of ‘free to buy and free to sell’, on both sides of the table and do all the initiations. I recall a Singapore retailer who dropped their asking margin for the short promotional window for ‘special buy’ products so that it attracted a great volume of product participation thus getting everyone the desired outcomes of stupendous sales - and the sales volume of these merchandise outdid any normal margin they could enjoy if the margins were not dropped. How about that Indonesian department store who organizes annual lunch treats for their suppliers as a way to thank them (in the words of their senior buyers). Then there is the Filipino retailer who organizes annual Chinese New Year dinners and play fun table-based ‘Bo Bing’ 跋狀元餅 dice games for a great way to interact with their suppliers (I attended once and it was such a great evening). Most memorable for me was this Malaysian department store who invited me into their staff breakfast meeting and there I got to enjoy a fabulous meal of ‘Nasi Lemak’ (fragrant rice cooked in coconut milk and pandan leaves) just before our meeting. How’s that for hospitality and partnership!