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TUCSON, Ariz. — Members of the American Apparel & Footwear Association must harness the power of Internet marketing and focus on consumers in growing Asian economies as the U.S. economy falters, experts said.
Amid worries about the downturn that may worsen with inflation, almost 100 members of the trade group gathered to strategize at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort here from Wednesday to Friday.
Rising costs were targeted as a major concern, along with sinking consumer confidence, high gasoline prices and a buckling housing market. Several members said they already had resigned themselves to a recession and were cutting costs and imposing stricter inventory management.
Inflation "is a real problem and it's getting worse," said Jeffrey Garten, former dean of the Yale School of Management and undersecretary for trade in the Commerce Department under President Bill Clinton.
In his evaluation of the economy, Garten said the Federal Reserve Board is taking a gamble by cutting interest rates to spur the economy before controlling higher prices.
"We will have slow growth and we will have inflation that will take many, many years to cure," Garten said, noting that this scenario last occurred in the Seventies. "The weaker the dollar gets, the more inflation we'll have, given our heavy dependency on imports."
Garten predicted that the U.S. faces at least one year of a substantial slowdown, with no growth for six months. Lower-income consumers will have to endure the downturn even longer than the middle class, he said.
However, the rapidly expanding economies of China and India are generating new members of the middle class — at least 1 billion combined by 2025 — who can buy U.S. exports. "The implications here are not only new markets [for American companies] but also new competitors," Garten said.
The power of the Internet is another terrain to explore.
Though Quiksilver Inc. operates more than 600 stores selling its board sport clothing worldwide, the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company is focused on growing its online sales channel, said Nicholas Nathanson, senior vice president for direct sales.
Among the techniques for boosting Quiksilver's Web presence is tying its marketing to Google maps, such as including a Quiksilver photo and logo when a user does a search for a Quiksilver-owned store on Google's online mapping service. "We view the Web site as a primary mechanism for marketing our product," Nicholson said.
Amid worries about the downturn that may worsen with inflation, almost 100 members of the trade group gathered to strategize at the Loews Ventana Canyon Resort here from Wednesday to Friday.
Rising costs were targeted as a major concern, along with sinking consumer confidence, high gasoline prices and a buckling housing market. Several members said they already had resigned themselves to a recession and were cutting costs and imposing stricter inventory management.
Inflation "is a real problem and it's getting worse," said Jeffrey Garten, former dean of the Yale School of Management and undersecretary for trade in the Commerce Department under President Bill Clinton.
In his evaluation of the economy, Garten said the Federal Reserve Board is taking a gamble by cutting interest rates to spur the economy before controlling higher prices.
"We will have slow growth and we will have inflation that will take many, many years to cure," Garten said, noting that this scenario last occurred in the Seventies. "The weaker the dollar gets, the more inflation we'll have, given our heavy dependency on imports."
Garten predicted that the U.S. faces at least one year of a substantial slowdown, with no growth for six months. Lower-income consumers will have to endure the downturn even longer than the middle class, he said.
However, the rapidly expanding economies of China and India are generating new members of the middle class — at least 1 billion combined by 2025 — who can buy U.S. exports. "The implications here are not only new markets [for American companies] but also new competitors," Garten said.
The power of the Internet is another terrain to explore.
Though Quiksilver Inc. operates more than 600 stores selling its board sport clothing worldwide, the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based company is focused on growing its online sales channel, said Nicholas Nathanson, senior vice president for direct sales.
Among the techniques for boosting Quiksilver's Web presence is tying its marketing to Google maps, such as including a Quiksilver photo and logo when a user does a search for a Quiksilver-owned store on Google's online mapping service. "We view the Web site as a primary mechanism for marketing our product," Nicholson said.
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