Cadence VP Mike Donahue Speaks at National Retail Tenants Association
June 10, 2004
Cincinnati, Ohio – June 10, 2004 – With consumer spending unaffected so far by record high gasoline prices, June comparable retail store sales growth nears six percent and is up over five percent from this time last year. While sales are generally on the upswing, most multiple site organizations have some percentage of stores that are not performing up to expectations.
During the National Retail Tenants Association Regional Conference in New York, Cadence vice president Mike Donahue will detail how retail sales executives can save jobs, increase profitability, and improve their cost cutting efforts. Donahue says the answer lies in the aggressive management of all sites, by gaining visibility of the expenses at the site level and finding ways to save money on leasing, utilities and telecommunications expenses.
“True, store sales are growing, but in many instances operating costs are increasing at similar or greater rates,” Donahue explained. “The costs of occupancy, utilities and telecommunications typically make up nearly a third of the cost of doing business, therefore businesses must take a close look at these expenses and develop an aggressive management plan to ensure compliance and optimization.”
Donahue said it is important for businesses to understand that a variety of internal and external strategies exist that will improve the performance of business sites. Business executives should not approach the problem with a one step solution, but rather take several factors into consideration. Significant savings can occur when energy, telecommunications and leases are procured at the best rates, and those invoices that have a history of billing errors are analyzed and corrected.
“Every large multiple site retailer with at least 50 stores has some sites that are under performing. These stores must be identified and addressed”, Donahue added. “You can't manage what you can't measure, and until retailers realize that there are significant dollars in hard costs and time to be saved, bottom lines will remain less than optimal for stakeholders and sites will continue to appear to under perform.”
Donahue said that by implementing a performance management program, the actionable intelligence brings clarity to executives so they can make informed decisions that save significant time and money. Specifically during a recent comprehensive review, Donahue points out that Cadence executives found and recovered over $300,000 in lease overcharges for a 650-site retailer.
About Cadence:
Cadence Network, Inc., is an expense management firm that delivers comprehensive expense management solutions for chain store and multiple site businesses in the banking, restaurant, retail, and grocery industries. The people and products of Cadence allow successful businesses to monitor and manage the third largest costs of doing business – electric, gas, water, sewer, trash, lease and telecommunications. The solutions designed are customized to address the unique business requirements of companies with many sites and many departments managing many vendors across many geographically dispersed locations. Cadence offers accounts payable outsourcing, web based software applications and professional services.
CONTACTS
Cadence Network Contact: Ben Dolan, Cadence Network, Inc. 866-CADENCE (866.223.3623) bdolan@cadencenetwork.com