An update of a popular blog post from 2015 Sending an email blast to your customers doesn’t do any good if your message doesn’t get opened.  And yet even with a permission-based list of people who have agreed to receive emails from your shop, you would be doing well to get an “open rate” of… Read More

Faire is such a dominant player on the retail scene that it was big news when they started to offer American retailers the option of paying through Plaid. Several shopkeepers have asked what this is, and whether using this ACH platform is a good idea. (If you’re not already familiar with the basics of ACH,… Read More

I’m not sure what might be an appropriate way to commemorate closing our store due to the pandemic, but the 5th anniversary of that sad day is coming up soon.  What a tough time it was for independent retailers –  and almost every other business.  Back in March, 2020 the majority of us thought that… Read More

An update of a blog post from 2010 Permission-based e-mail marketing and social networking are now considered essential promotional tools for all retailers (which wasn’t the case when this post first appeared 15 years ago). They’re fast, free, and relatively easy ways to stay in touch with customers.  But how do you turn your existing… Read More

Buying decisions have always involved an element of gambling. Will the products I’m reordering continue to sell well? Do my customers share the national passion for this year’s hot color combination? Can I count on a strong holiday season, despite all the unknown economic factors? Today there is a new gamble added to the mix:… Read More

This is an update of a popular blog post from 2010 I love learning something new from my sales reps, and was delighted to hear from one of them back in 2010 that the most popular initials for monogrammed items spelled out Mrs. Jackel. Unfortunately using M,R,S,J,A,C,K,E, and L no longer works, because while today’s most… Read More

I do miss the days of “shop till you drop” – an expression coined when consumer culture and the concept of shopping for pleasure became popular. Younger shopkeepers may not believe it, but once upon a time people (mostly women) enjoyed spending hours browsing in malls and shopping streets for items they didn’t necessarily need.  The… Read More

This is an update of a popular blog post from 2011 One of my favorite store tasks (for reasons I can’t fully explain) is pulling older invoices from all my vendor files.  I do this twice a year, removing the those from over a year ago so that only the most recent twelve months are… Read More

You may have heard of the Pareto Principle, usually known as the “80/20 rule.”  According to this tenet, 80% of a company’s sales come from roughly 20% of its customer base.  Assuming this is true, it’s essential that you keep the 20% of your customer base that is most loyal engaged by constantly refreshing your store. This… Read More

This is an update of a popular blog post from 2010. “Every product tells a story” read the sign in a display of handmade African items at the New York Gift Fair. It was a great reminder of the fact that one of our jobs as retailers is to communicate the story behind the merchandise… Read More