If you’ve borrowed money to capitalize your store, you are probably paying around 8% interest on the loan. Assuming you can’t negotiate that down to a lower rate, you may want to look at what you are paying for toilet paper. Yes, you heard me right.  If you can’t save money on your business loan,… Read More

“I don’t want someone who’s just friendly — I want someone who is knowledgeable,” posted a consumer in the comment section in a blog about what customers want.  As we all know, a cheerful staff is an important part of making customers feel welcome. But having a well-trained sales staff is a key  means of differentiating… Read More

One of the interesting social science experiments in Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton’s Happy Money has to do with expiration dates.  They discovered that consumers logically said they would prefer a gift certificate to a local pastry shop with a two month expiration date rather than a three week deadline. But in reality, only 6%… Read More

Every four years retailers in the US are faced with a challenging time as the public’s attention turns to the presidential election.  Although the impact may not be as bad in a year when an incumbent is on the ballot, we can see already this year is shaping up to be a difficult one for many stores… Read More

The 4th of July seems like an appropriate day to consider the challenge retailers today face in sourcing American-made products.  We  just got word that Peggy Karr Glass will be closing at the end of this month. We of course wish Peggy and Tim Karr all the best in their retirement, but the loss of… Read More

“Retail has a savior and, ironically, it’s a new type of technology,” according to Kenny Kline in a Huffington Post blog. And what is this new technology? Small devices called Bluetooth beacons, which can communicate wordlessly and wirelessly to customers as they walk past an enabled display.  These beacons take advantage of the fact that… Read More

“We’ve tried that and it didn’t work.”  “That might be practical for big stores, but not for us.” “Our customers don’t like ____.”  “We can’t afford to do that.” There are so many reasons to reject an idea that an employee comes up with.  And we know that not every suggestion is going to be… Read More

I’m always willing to borrow a good idea from a mass merchant (I’m sure they won’t miss it).  I like the  fact that Kohl’s offers a concrete incentive for customers to return within a week or two of their original purchase. The concept is simple — offer a reward based on the amount of the… Read More

It’s no longer such a small world — the other day I listened in as two of our friends in the British a cappella group The King’s Singers conducted a conversation on Facebook live from Japan.  The 43 minute talk, which cost virtually nothing to produce, garnered almost 200 comments from around the world. It… Read More

You have until December 1 to get ready for the changes in the US Department of Labor’s Fair Labor Standards Act — but why wait until the holiday season to make sure you’re in compliance?  The update to the overtime law will extend overtime benefits to 4.2 million workers, and it’s possible that some of… Read More