Bringing customers into the store during the slower winter months is a challenge for many of us. This year our shop hopes to see a good return on the $10 gift cards we gave away on Small Business Saturday.  We noted on each card that it is only valid this in January, 2024, and customers… Read More

For most of independent shopkeepers, the 2020s have been quite a ride so far; starting with the pandemic in 2020, then the container crisis, the economy, and then more pandemic. There’s something about starting a new calendar that brings the expectation of better times – let’s hope that’s what 2024 has in store. But before… Read More

Credit cards, according to CNBC, now make up over 82% of all in-store retail transactions in the United States. Card-not-present payments such as Apple Pay are on the rise.  Digital currencies such as bitcoin may be the wave of the future.  Which brings up the question: do stores still need to accept cash? The downside… Read More

Budget Bicyle Center runs a couple of stores near us on Regent Street in Madison, Wisconsin – and their shop at 1230 Regent Street stocks hundreds and hundreds of bikes. This point was really brought home by a short, dramatic video created for them by drone photographer/videographer Oberon Jagodinski of OVJ Photography.  You can see… Read More

Your front window presents a great opportunity to entice potential shoppers into the store, usually by giving them a preview of what you offer. Visual merchandising can be a real art – and in fact Salvadore Dali and Andy Warhol are among those commissioned to decorate shop windows in the heyday of department stores. Most… Read More

It’s always a good idea to walk up to your store as if you were a consumer. What signage and displays invite you to come in? Once you enter, what do you see first? Does someone welcome you? Are there shopping baskets for your convenience? Is there an intriguing array of new merchandise to tempt… Read More

There’s an old joke in retailing that goes like this: “We’re losing money on every sale, but we make it up in volume.”  It would of course be bad to have such low markup on every item that you don’t break even – but not making a profit on a few things may actually be… Read More

“Consistent actions create consistent results.”  It may be obvious that your store needs to be open standardized hours, and that your branding needs to carry through from your advertising to your packaging to your signage. But have you thought about how consistent you are in your communications to your customers? According to Ashley Storck of… Read More

Has your shop tried offering grab bags? They can be a great way to get rid of odds and ends of merchandise, and to offer customers a fun experience. The AI feature in Constant Contact (not a bad place to look for promotional inspiration) describes mystery gifts as “a surprise party in a bag.” The… Read More

My friend Jan recently took a bad fall when she tripped over a bolt of fabric left on the floor of a national chain store. The entire place was a mess, she reported, with products in disarray and everything bedraggled and dirty. Who would blame her for deciding to shop online instead of exposing herself… Read More