Reading the Tea Leaves
While the economy continues to be front page news and on everyone's mind because it's front page news, I thought I'd offer up what might be a sliver of a ray of sunshine.
Pundits and experts seem to agree that at the core of this meltdown there are toxic assets and troubling fundamentals and interdependencies that certainly extend beyond anything I learned in business school. But mixed in with all that is the impact of consumer confidence. You might not have lost your job, you might not be in danger of losing your job, but you might keep your wallet closed shut because of the breaking news on CNN.
Acclivity feels the ebb and flow of consumer confidence as much as anyone. The purchase of new software or upgrades for existing customers is closely tied to a consumer's willingness to part with their hard-earned money. And, as noted in previous posts, we've felt the slowdown since December.
All of which makes me pleased to share our Checkout sales for April, which broke all internal records. March was pretty good, too. Keep in mind, Checkout is for that brick and mortar retail store. Main street, in today's parlance. The unsuspecting financial victim in this mess.
What's the takeaway? Maybe our team is building a great product and finding the right audience and we'd have achieved even higher levels of success in an up market? Or maybe it's an indicator (leading or lagging?) of consumer confidence? Regardless, it's about a store owner evaluating whether to part with $399 for cool point of sale software for his/her Mac and feeling safe doing it. Call me self-serving, but that's a good thing.