Five Minute Friday: The 4 Mistakes Costing Retailers Profit Going Into 2026

Hey, guys, welcome back to 5 Minute Friday. And as we close out the year, welcome. In a new year. I love this time of year because it's out with the old and with the new. But I think in order to plan our way forward, we have to do a really good job of looking back at not only what worked and what we want more of, but also what didn't work. So I would say most businesses aren't going to fail in 2026 because of the economy, but I think most businesses that are going to fail in 2026 are because they're operating like it's 2019. And I think that is one of the biggest mistakes I saw in the last year is people just not adapting to how fast our industry is changing and the new trends and the new content strategy, all of it. So today, my word of caution is just if you feel like your business is busy but it's not profitable, then one of these four mistakes might be the reason that you're feeling like you're in this trap. And it's definitely one of the top four mistakes that I saw happen over the last 12 months. You're costing yourself time, you're costing yourself money, you're costing yourself momentum if you don't address these four mistakes. So do you want to hear what they are? All right, let's hear about it. So mistake number one is confusing activity or being busy with progress. Right? Being busy isn't effective. So doing things like posting every single day but not understanding your traffic or. Or your conversions. Right. Running constant promotions like blanket sales, but not really maintaining margin and profitability, or you're feeling like you're just always working. Right? You're doing the next thing. It's the to do list that you're crossing off, but you're not actually looking at the things on your list that are the things proven to move the needle. Right? Being busy, but not effective. And it's a trap that every single one of us can fall in. I've fallen into it myself many times. And it's just a strategy. It's a mindset. It's a conscious awareness of pulling yourself out of this cycle, this hamster wheel that we're on. So if you feel like you don't actually know what's driving revenue and you're just guessing, right? Guessing is expensive. And it's time to work your way backwards and understand what are the leading indicators in your business that are going to get you to success, not just being busy and hoping for the correct outcome. Right? We've Got to go to the core of the issue. So it's mistake number one. Mistake number two is ignoring your cash flow and your margin in favor of sales, right? So revenue really doesn't equal safety and revenue doesn't equal the profitability that you get to keep and pay yourself with and keep in the bank at the end of the year. Sales are just sales if you don't get to actually keep any of the money. So what this looked like in the last year was businesses that had strong sales numbers but really struggled to pay the bills, to pay the quarterlies, or to keep any of that revenue for themselves. And let me tell you guys, this isn't just new business owners. This isn't, you know, $10,000 a month businesses. This is also businesses that I've worked with in the last year that have been million dooll businesses that failed to actually pay themselves anything worthwhile, anything more than what they could already get if they went out and got a job working for somebody else. And that's not why you're in business in the first place. So this also looks like that really overwhelming feeling of inventory, right? Inventory overwhelm without any type of solid markdown strategy or a plan of what you're going to do to move that inventory through in specific period of time to achieve maximum profitability from that inventory. This also looks at reinvesting into inventory without a plan of actually knowing what worked in the last year. It's kind of like just going to market and on a whim, buying all the things that you feel like are pretty or that you hope that your customers like without the knowledge and the data to back it up. And then finally, this looks like running sales but not knowing if you're going to have any margin left over. And this is definitely something that's crippling to business over the holiday season because a lot of businesses get into the holiday season thinking, man, this is it. This is my time to make all this money. And they're so focused on a sales number, but they are not focused on a profitability or a margin number. And so they sell their way down to zero. They sell a lot of crap for not a lot of money. And then when it comes time to pay that quarterly estimate in January, there's no money to do so and there's no money left to reinvest in themselves or their business in the new year. So huge mistake. Mistake number three is this is a big one in 25. And this was underutilizing AI and automation. Now we talk a lot about AI. And I hear a lot of boutique owners that'll say things like, oh Yeah, I use ChatGPT, like, oh, I dabble. But AI is no longer just an option for us. It's leverage that we have to do because time is money. And the only way to grow our business is to invest in something that creates more time, which means creating more money. And that's what AI does for us. So businesses who did not use this leverage in the last year, what this looked like for them was still writing every caption manually, still, still writing every product description manually, not having automated follow up sequences or a really strong abandoned cart strategy or email flow strategy, and then making decisions without actual data and insights. You know, I hear this excuse all the time, like, I'm not a numbers person. Like, I don't know, I'm imitated. Imitated, that's not the word. I'm intimidated by the numbers. But you guys, with AI, there's no excuse anymore because you can literally take every report in your business, any type of report, ask it to run a scenario, ask it to run the numbers, ask it to analyze the numbers, ask it to tell you to have the numbers tell you a story, have it make decisions with you based on the numbers in the data. And now you are empowered by the numbers and the data. So no more do we get to say, I'm overwhelmed. I don't understand, I'm not good at numbers. Yes, you are, because you have AI. So what I want this to look like for you in 2026 is I don't think AI is replacing businesses. I don't think AI is replacing jobs. I think AI is replacing the overwhelm that all of us have in business and that we refuse to face and do something about effectively. So all those old excuses we've told ourselves, AI is a solution to solve a lot of them. And I think we have to square up with the fact that we've got to learn how to use it and not let it be one more thing that we fall behind in. So my goal for you this year, you're going to hear a lot about AI from me, how to use it, especially, especially our Ask Ashley AI bot inside of the boutique hub. There's literally thousands of you using it every single day because it's the only AI bot trained on the last 15 years of expert level knowledge, not only from the boutique hub and myself and our team, but literally hundreds of experts across the retail industry. So every podcast episode, every blog, every course, everything we have ever created trains our IBOT that you get access to so it can help train you, do tasks for you, leverage all of the data and the knowledge in your business. So it's like one on one coaching with me every single day inside of your membership at the Boutique Hub. So leverage that. And then finally mistake number four in the last year was building a brand without a personal relationship with your customers. So marketing has changed a ton in the last 12 months. I literally just did a brand audit for somebody the other day who was still very interested in just like the curated perfection and photos and only kind of like surface level connection with their customers. So I have to tell you, followers don't equal customers. Pretty posts don't equal profit, right? So when this went wrong for people, I think in the last year, here's what it looked like. It looked like a heavy focus on just the social media feed and followers and things being pretty, but not a real focus on traffic, on building an email list, on building relationships and engagement in that list and then building conversion. It looked like curating the perfect feed. Right? This is a millennial trait for many of us, but then not really leveraging live video and short form video, which the two have to be a part of your strategy going forward or you are irrelevant. In my opinion, it is a huge opportunity to leverage video of any kind. It is the way of the future. We cannot pretend it is not here to stay. This also looks like building a sales channel, but not really building a community. And I feel like I've been saying this for the last several years, but it definitely came true in the last year because I think the more people rely on a or they're overwhelmed by all the stimulus inside of the feed. No matter what platform they're on, people are still really longing for a personal connection and to feel like they're seen, they're heard, they're understood, they're a part of something, they're in a community. And so a community has never been more important than it is right now. So whether that's in your Instagram stories or a Facebook group, or on your private email list, or in in person events and pop ups, that personal relationship and that sense of community has to come from you and it has to come from you sharing real and relatable content, not just what's pretty, not just what's sells. But show me a little bit of the messy middle behind the scenes because that makes you feel much more relatable to me because I know that my day, every single day has a lot of messy middle included. So we want to be able to relate on that. So thinking about this in 2026, what does that look like? Well, I want you to think about your best customers are the ones who come back again and again, right? Not just the ones who make one purchase or the ones who just they follow you and they've been there for a long time, but who is actually paying the bills. There's only three ways to grow a business, right? To attract new customers, to get customers to buy more, or to get customers to buy more often. It is the most expensive to attract more customers. So let's double down on what the opportunity is, and that's getting current customers to buy more and buy more often. And they do that when they feel like they have a relationship and they're in a community with you. So get real on your content, use the video, build a relationship and build a community. So my prediction for 2026 and really walking away from a lot of the mistakes that I saw retailers make in 2020, that the retailers that are going to win in 2026 are not the ones that are working harder. They're working clearer, right? They are leveraging CEO level thinking. Honestly, it's leveraging understanding the overall mission of the company, leveraging the data in the company, leveraging AI for the company, knowing where they have to plug themselves in to be the face of the business, but then knowing what they can say no to. Outsource or ask for help or streamline so that they can focus on the things that really move the needle. Because growth and scale and business doesn' come from you, the CEO, wearing all the hats. It does not come from you doing all the things. It comes from you being really strategic about doing the things that matter the most and then asking for support and help in all those other areas where your time and your workload can be duplicated. So momentum comes from small corrections in your process, not massive overhauls. So as you're leveraging this thought process going into the new year, you don't have to overhaul everything. But I want you to think about making one small correction at a time to the mistakes that we've been seeing across retail in the last year. And it might just be as much as spending an hour today and tomorrow on chat, GPT or ask Ashley AI. It might be digging into what your new content strategy might look like. Small wins can build big results. So I want you to leverage those in the new year. And of course, if you need any help along the way, you guys, I'm here. I would love to help you inside of the Boutique Hub anytime, any day. So come join us. Maximize your membership. Come to our live weekly trainings. Use our free curated monthly map which is your action plan to help you do what is working the best right now for everyone in retail across the board. So thanks for listening to the podcast you guys. Thanks for hearing me out on these four mistakes I saw retailers make in the last year and I'm wishing you all the success inside of the New Year. I can't wait to start it with you. That's it for five Minute Friday you guys. I hope you found some quick, actionable steps you can put into play in your business right away. As always, if you're not yet a member of the Boutique Hub, I would love to personally invite you to join us. It's where all of the daily conversations happen. The up to date what is working now in the industry conversations, the latest trainings, trend reports, discounts, resources and of course access to thousands of wholesale brands that you also know and love. So please take a minute, follow the link in the show notes and we would love to invite you to join us inside of the Boutique Hub.