Shoppers with dogs may be willing to leave them outside while they browse in your store, especially if you provide a bowl of water and a place to tie the leash. But shoppers with children are going to bring them in.  Ready or not, here they come! The shopping experience will be more pleasant for… Read More


Bienvenido The most important welcome sign you hang in front of your store may not say “welcome.”  According to the 2008 census figures, about 18% of all U.S. residents speak a language other than English at home.  And that does’t take into account foreign visitors who are in the U.S. for business or pleasure.  But… Read More


How are you using your Facebook fan page? Starbucks recently used theirs to send out free ice cream, according to Springwise.  Sounds messy, but it turns out that the promotion was actually for a coupon entitling several hundred fans to a free pint. The promotion was set up so that a certain number of coupons… Read More


You don’t need to do much advertising if your store is located across the street from the famous Wall Drug in South Dakota.  Wall Drug does that for you, promoting their famous “free ice water” and 5¢ coffee to anyone traversing the state’s highways.   But the question is how to get the Wall Drug tourist… Read More


A recent study by the digital division of the National Retail Federation showed that over half the consumers queried occasionally used video to research products.   Of course many of the respondents to the Consumer Use of Online Video for Shopping survey used the information they gained to make their purchases on the web. But good… Read More


A “locavore” may sound like a type of dinosaur, but it is actually a term coined by Jessica Prentice in 2005 for someone who tries to eat only locally grown food. The idea is to build a more locally based, self-reliant society that supports small-scale farmers by emphasizing the produce that has not been trucked… Read More


You may think that the Swiss shop with the chocolate-themed name “Truffle” sells chocolate, and you would be right. But they also sell “lifestyle.”  Do you? And if you do, what kind of lifestyle are you selling? Everyone has a lifestyle, of course, whether you are a college student living on ramen noodles in a… Read More


At the recent New York International Gift Fair, a saleswoman explained to me that one of the products in her line was perfect independents wanting to make some extra markup.  The cost was $7.50, and her locally-owned accounts all sold it for $19.95.  But when I asked whether a major retailer marked another item, at… Read More


In England, he might have been knighted. In Italy, a bronze statue in the piazza might have been thought to be fitting.  But in America, the highest accolade accorded to Seth Godin, “marketing guru,” is his own action figure.  Of course Accoutrements (a great source for truly bizarre products) affords that honor to some highly… Read More