Do you know the term “onboarding?" This business buzzword refers to the process of helping new employees acquire the skills, knowledge, attitudes and behaviors necessary to become effective members of your staff.  Another term for onboarding is organizational socialization, and it is this integrating of a new employee into the social aspects of your business… Read More

Looking for an original way to display jewelry, a fresh window idea — or perhaps inspiration for a remake of your storefront or sign? You can find all this and more by following the countless B2B (business to business) boards on Pinterest. As you know if you are already on Pinterest, it is easy to… Read More

Owning a pushcart was once the natural way to get into retailing — in fact, on the lower east side of New York in 1930 there were 47,000 families depending on the earnings made from selling merchandise this way, according to an article by Suzanne Wasserman. Some of these peddlers ended up opening “indoor” stores… Read More

Visual merchandising has come a long way from the early days, when the invention of plate glass inspired shopkeepers to use their new, large windows to show one of every item in the store. Today’s windows, especially those by the chain Anthropologie, go to the opposite extreme — featuring only one or two pieces of… Read More

‘Show appreciation to those who make your business possible: your employees.’  This is the lead-off slogan for a 2013 campaign entitled A Thankful Life being spearheaded by the Seattle-based gift and stationery vendor Compendium. The company’s goal is to inspire the writing of 1 million thank you notes, and they suggest that you start by… Read More

Good news for American manufacturing (and American jobs): Trendwatching predicts that “again made here” will be one of the top 10 Trends for 2013. They quote a recent statistic from Perception Research which shows that “Four out of five US shoppers notice "Made in the USA" claims and labels, and are more likely to purchase… Read More

As you head off to the gift shows in January, you will be looking for new products that will get your customers excited and in a buying mood.  Hopefully the steadily recovering economy will mean lots of product introductions by existing suppliers, and perhaps even some new vendors. Even if you have enough lines to… Read More

What is a flash sale?  A poll in the current issue of Gifts and Decorative Accessories magazine shows that 21% of the suppliers surveyed by Brandwise (from an anonymous representative sample of companies) sell through an online flash sale site.  And yet many of us are not familiar with this phenomenon, and how it impacts… Read More

With Christmas Day only about two weeks away, Santa is not the only one who should be making a list!  It’s time to re-evaluate your inventory on hand, and also to take notes for next year.  Happily much of our major buying for the holidays takes place at the winter gift shows, before we’ve forgotten… Read More

Smart Phones = Smart Staff? We all see our customers using their phones while shopping to get more information about a product, to find out which color Aunt Mary likes best, and even sometimes (much to our dismay) to order the item they’re looking at from an online source.  But how do we feel about… Read More