One of the most difficult things to manage in the Great Recession of 2008-09 is the flow of misinformation. With communications vehicles so ubiquitous, rumors spread like wildfire, and quasi-accurate reports have to be corrected and amended continuously.
Last fall, the nation's email inboxes filled repeatedly with a list of struggling retailers and a warning not to buy gift cards at uncertain stores. Some of the items in the email were as much as a year old, but they sounded good, and the email looked authoritative enough, so it spread quickly.
This winter, rumors abound about stores and locations. The latest trend? Gossip that businesses are doomed, like this mall in Michigan that insists it's not going out of business.
The high degree of uncertainty makes its way up the chain, too. AccountingWeb published two opinion pieces for retailers on the same day this week. Their titles? What advice are retailers getting in these tough times? Close the doors and What advice are retailers getting in these tough times? Keep going!
"Keep going" is what everyone is, or should be, trying to do. The question, of course, is how hard it will become to do so.
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