10th December 2009
In previous articles, I've outlined how consumer buying mentalities have changed throughout this recession. Back in 2006 I successfully predicted that during this period, consumers will be essentially driven by price as their top priority.
Here are ...
07th December 2009
The final push is on for Christmas. Every astute retailer has everyone on the sales floor and is focused on customer service, closing sales and building clientele as traffic levels increase. A recent consumer survey in Canada indicated that 47% of those ...
01st December 2009
The passing of the American Thanksgiving weekend marks the start of the Christmas Holiday season. Every small retailer by now has their holiday product line on display, their marketing plan in place and staff levels adjusted to the anticipated increase in...
27th November 2009
The passing of the American Thanksgiving weekend marks the start of the Christmas Holiday season. Every small retailer by now has their holiday product line on display, their marketing plan in place and staff levels adjusted to the anticipated increase ...
24th November 2009
There are less than six weeks to Christmas, even though it doesn't feel like it! There's still a window of opportunity to increase sales for the Holiday Season and into 2010. Retailers who understand how consumers have adopted price and value as their t...
18th November 2009
We're currently seeing elements of economic recovery but how solid is the road back to prosperity? Chairman Bernacke at the Federal Reserve recently stated that we appear to be climbing out of the recession but do not expect substantial increases in...
03rd November 2009
In an earlier article, I spoke about new buying mentalities for Baby Boomers and their offspring. These aging generations are trying to buy items that will preserve their youth. They're adopting younger lifestyles and embracing "green" products with g...
26th October 2009
Even though we're less than two and a half months from Christmas, there's still time for the retail entrepreneur to diversify their product line and offer more opportunity for their customers to make a buying decision. Approach your current merchandise ...
19th October 2009
These Large Retail Groups Try to Turn Back the Clock While Embracing the Environment
As the economy seems to be recovering (whether the recovery can be sustained is material for another article), Baby and Echo Boomers are still focused on price whe...
13th August 2009
Today, getting more traffic in your stores is harder than ever. Television, newspaper and radio advertising is prohibitively expensive for the smaller retailer. Even advertising on the internet is getting costly!
The Co-Op mail flyer was hot about twen...
07th August 2009
Store resources continue to be very tight in these challenging times. Labor and store schedules need to be approached with the greatest level of efficiency and effectiveness towards customer service.
In my travels I have some across these classic err...
31st July 2009
Some "experts" say that we're easing our way out of the recession, yet that fact can be debated. This recession whether at its end or not has taught us that helping one another through these challenging times can make the difference between success an...
16th July 2009
The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) in the U.S. has just released their latest survey on theft and shoplifting in the general retail market. In several earlier articles, I predicted that shoplifting by amateurs we well as organized professi...
12th June 2009
In this day and age, it's sad to admit that most customers are thoroughly disappointed with the level of service that most retailers offer. In a short sighted effort to reduce costs, most have eliminated training and adequate floor coverage leaving ...
12th June 2009
I decided to detour from traditional retail ideas and issues in this article because of something that is looming on the horizon that all small retailers should be cognizant of. It's worth talking about large scale economics because they drive all ind...
