An update of a popular blog post from May, 2014 Summer is here, and vacation time means that almost every area of the country will be receiving visitors.  Whether they are nearby residents who now have time to explore, people visiting family in the area, or international travelers who have come from afar, tourists bring… Read More

It’s important to know what your competitors are doing in order differentiate your shop from what they are offering. There are three questions essential to this exercise: When I first started sharing insights with my fellow retailers, Walmart was the biggest threat to independent shopkeepers in many communities. Their extensive hours and impressive buying power… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from 2010 When I wrote about our store’s 35th anniversary celebration 15 years ago, our shop’s identity had just been stolen. I decided that rather than dwelling on the negative, I’d write about Orange Tree Imports’ upcoming big staff reunion. We had invited over 150 past employees to join… Read More

A shop I visited recently had a “to do” list for their sales staff posted where I could easily read it. While I was waiting for my turn to be served, I skimmed through the memo, and wondered how often their employees did the same. It looked like it had been up for a while,… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from 2015 When I first wrote about the importance of responding individually to reviews, the the main platforms for consumers to give feedback were Facebook and Yelp. Today customers mostly give feedback on Google when they are pleased — or displeased — with a retail experience. This makes it… Read More

Can shopping make someone happier? While we all acknowledge that money can’t buy happiness, we know that some people find the experience of purchasing something to be relaxing and enjoyable. In fact, shopping does sometimes release dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. This is not always the case, of course. Shopping to fulfill… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from 2008 The 4th of July holiday is a great opportunity to celebrate Independence Day by shooting off some PR fireworks calling attention to the importance of shopping with independent retailers.  The Independents’ Day effort started as part of the Buy Local movement, drawing on the interests of… Read More

The saying that you can do well by doing good has never been truer in the retail world. Both our shops and our suppliers often benefit from the “halo effect” that helps influence consumers’ positive impression of our businesses. It’s interesting to note that the term was coined by psychologist Edward Thorndike in 1920 in… Read More

An update of a popular blog post from 2016 Every year since 1999, a Pantone shade is selected as the Color of the Year by the Pantone Color Institute. The purpose of this program is to “engage the design community and color enthusiasts in a conversation around color, highlighting the relationship between color and culture.… Read More

There is a new way in which artificial intelligence is influencing our customers: as a means of researching products they’re interested in buying. Google has long been the standard search engine, and therefore a key way in which consumers found out about our businesses. But artificial intelligence is starting to change that. AI agents are algorithms… Read More