Positioning Your Brand for Success in 2024, by Andrew Barone for The Daily Outdoor Retailer

With 2023 safely in the rear view mirror, now is the time for outdoor companies to take a hard look at what worked and what didn’t last year. While there are positive signs that inflation may be cooling and that interest rates might be starting to come down, the overall economic uncertainty and inflationary pressures that underscored 2023 are not expected to let up anytime soon. Given that, finding the most effective ways to manage growth in this challenging environment – including giving your financing and capitalization strategy a serious review – will make all the difference in the year ahead.

Throughout 2023, we saw major domestic banks, regional banks and other financial institutions pushing out clients, tightening credit parameters and making it more difficult to access capital. While this credit crunch is nothing new, the impacts are being felt across the retail sector. Add to that ongoing inflationary pressures and a possible recession and you can see why it still feels like we are on shaky ground.