Starting Up A Retail Business
If you have a passion, then plan carefully and execute your plan smartly, there’s no better time to get into the retail business.
Baseball Statistics and Retail Numbers
What small and independent retailers can learn from baseball statistics.
Competitive Shopping: Studying Your Competitors
Looking for new ideas to keep your store fresh and dynamic? Time to go shopping.
Greatness Is A Moving Target
As times change, small retailers must continually reassess what they're doing in order to thrive.
Marshall Field, R.I.P.
Smaller retailers should never try to compete on price alone. By focusing on customer service and quality, they can avoid the fate of big department stores that are losing the ability to offer a compelling customer experience.
Niche Retailing and The One Thing
What do you do better than anybody else? Identify your "one thing" and everything else will fall into place.
Is There A Future For Small Retailing
A few thoughts on what it will take to succeed.
Retail Gross Margin - The Overlooked Metric
The small retailers who actively manage their gross margins will quickly discover that profitability and cash flow will consistently beat their projections.
The Markdown Blues, Revisited
Thoughts on what smaller retailers can learn from watching their larger competitors wrestle in the mud.
Retail Demand Forecasting and Inventory Management Applications: A Tool, Not a 'Solution'
For all of the capabilities that have been built into these applications, it still requires a merchant's touch to take the information, interpret it, and utilize it to generate sales and gross profit increases.
Vendor Management for Small Retailers
By managing your vendors, rather than the other way around, you save time and energy for other things -- like growing your business.