You Can Do It Opening your own store may be a dream come true. Paying for this dream may be an entirely different story. How you structure the finances for your business will have long-term effects on your entire life. If it were as easy to get started as digging through your couch to find … Continue reading How to Finance Your Business
Category: white paper
Marketing Your Business
Baby [b]oomers have changed every market we entered, from disposable diaper market to the stock market to the job market. We like to be marketed to.Lynn Lancaster, Author, When Generations Collide What if you opened a store and nobody came? It’s a nightmare all retailers have in the days, weeks and even months before they open their … Continue reading Marketing Your Business
Basics of Retail Math
Retailing is all about change, because consumers change and so do their tastes. If you don’t change, you don’t grow.Marvin Traub, Former President & CEO of Bloomingdale's [N]o matter what your collateral reasons for opening a retail store—[setting your own schedule, being your own boss]—the numbers are obviously what drive your decision about whether or … Continue reading Basics of Retail Math
Dealing with Vendors
In our free enterprise system, companies and industries develop and improve through competition, and a key requirement for competition is knowledge about the operations of all major competitors in the market. Such knowledge inspires one competitor to gain or protect an edge over another and motivates lesser competitors in a market to emulate the operations … Continue reading Dealing with Vendors
Nonprofits Buying in the Profit World Online
Since the beginning of time, buyers have always intended to acquire goods at a low cost, and this is what drives competition. On the Internet, competition is even more intense, because comparing products and prices from one company to the next is only a click away, whereas in the traditional shopping experience, customers need to … Continue reading Nonprofits Buying in the Profit World Online
Business Plan & Business Structure: The Twin Foundations of Any Successful Business
Walmart last year accounted for nearly 8% of overall U.S. retail sales. That leaves 92% for others—for now.Advertising Age, October 6, 2003 I begin this crucial chapter with one of my favorite stories. Two retailers are located directly across the street from each other in exactly the same business. One is doing quite well; the … Continue reading Business Plan & Business Structure: The Twin Foundations of Any Successful Business
Internet Marketing: What Are You Waiting for?
If you do it right, a website can enhance your company’s image, build customer loyalty, and get information to customers and potential customers quickly and cheaply. If you have a website, it makes your small business look big...Natalie Sequera, Spokeswoman for Claris Corp. To maximize its potential, every business must have an online presence. E-commerce … Continue reading Internet Marketing: What Are You Waiting for?
Firing, Hiring & Training Good People
Gen Xers come into a retail environment well-informed. They do research on the Internet, especially on bigger-ticket items. They’ll come in with price-comparison charts that they have printed out. But they still need guidance from a trusted retailer. Customer service can make or break a retailer.Jennifer Ganshirt, American Demographics (05/04) You might think that finding … Continue reading Firing, Hiring & Training Good People
Should I Drop-ship?
Before you ask yourself this question, you need to fully understand what drop-shipping is all about. The short explanation is drop-shipping is a service manufacturers and wholesale distributor suppliers offer that let entrepreneurs sell products by the piece without having to stock the goods in their own warehouses. You, as a drop-shipping retail site, really … Continue reading Should I Drop-ship?
Is Your Business Protected?
Have you ever said, "I wish that someone would have said something earlier—we could have saved a lot of money"? Do you know if your employees are stealing from you, or if a manager is sexually harassing one of his/her subordinates, or if you have an employee who is about to “go postal” at your … Continue reading Is Your Business Protected?