retail

Must Read

Creative Ways Small Retailers Can Cut Costs

By Eric Reyes Thursday Dec 10, 2009

As a small business striving to get past this downturn, there are still ways to trim the fat without cutting people, product or wages. Rachel Richmond on Small Business CEO writes that analyzing the ebb and flow of your business' typical day can lead to all kinds of insights. Richmond said that analysis may lead you to discover that you need to adjust your hours to coincide with peak traffic or that you can close in the middle of the day when there are fewest sales.

Best Practice

The ‘Daily Download’

By Jeff Davis Friday Nov 13, 2009

Each morning before the opening shift at most Apple Retail Stores, store managers call staffers together for a short, all-hands briefing called the “Daily Download.” Managers call out highlights and star performers from the previous day, and hand out new assignments to mobilize staff around key goals.

Must Read

Why Less Is More in Retail

By Eric Reyes Monday Nov 2, 2009

Having too many choices may work well for Netflix and women's shoes, but for most retailers, fewer choices will most likely lead to a sale. Mike Michalowicz made this clear today on Toilet Paper Entrepreneur. There are reasons customers won't buy when confronted with too many products to choice from: The familiar is better. When confronted with too many choices, says Michalowicz, people would rather stick to something they know. Rather than make a new decision, they go with an old one.

Must Read

What Bee Traps Can Teach About Retail

By Eric Reyes Friday Oct 16, 2009

What's a small craft seller in Upstate New York going to teach you about retail sales? Everything. Well, the four most important rules, according to entrepreneur Bob Phibbs at the Retail Doctor. While observing an arts and crafts seller in his booth in Coxsackie, NY, last week, Phibbs was suddenly struck with how this old guy selling hand-woven bee traps exemplifies the golden rules of retail sales: Obey the Laws of Scarcity. The seller displayed just one at a time. Phibbs noticed the guy had a few hidden out of eyesight.