Without a solid grasp of the target customers, there is simply too much merchandise for a buyer to choose from. Unfocused stores are usually overstocked. With a little of this and a little of that, the dollars add up much too fast. When the notion of the target customer is clearly understood, the buying gets noticeably simpler. There are fewer vendors to contemplate, fewer styles to consider and price-points become less of an issue.
Independents have trouble with focus when they lack conviction.
While they may initially have a decent sense of their intended target, their desire to maximize sales frequently takes them off course. For the want of a sale and at the whim of a customer, a thoughtful and focused merchandise assortment gets needlessly watered down. Done several times a month over the course of a season, chaos can easily overtake even the most careful merchandising strategy. This unintended but costly misstep is a big problem for many in our industry. It's the specialty retailer's responsibility to educate and shape the selection criteria of these wayward customers, not vice-versa.