Marketing & Management

Current Issue

Creating a Satisfied Customer: Living Up to Their Expectations

There is a great deal said about the importance of retailers delivering on their service promise, and how that impacts ongoing customer retention, engagement, loyalty and spending. It’s obvious really.

Taking Baby Steps in Goal Setting

As the owner of a small boutique store, allow me to be your “goals” virtual coach for next 30 minutes. Let me help you set some goals in key areas of your business so that your employees and you have some agreement around what matters most to all of you: the success of the business. But, first let me explain a little about why you would want to set goals and how to set them.

Successfully Managing Employees

Organizations face environments of rapid change, economic uncertainty and increasing competition, making it difficult for organizations to survive and prosper, so managers are challenged to find ways to make their organizations prosper. A major way, and possibly the only sustainable way, for organizations to gain a competitive advantage is by efficiently managing their employees.

Shopping for Shopper Insights: Get Smart About Evolving Consumer Lifestyle Trends to Better Reach Shoppers

Retail prognosticators touted a slew of trends as being critical to retail success in 2012: From leveraging social media, growing mobile commerce, the Boomer opportunity and rising numbers of male shoppers to the new American family, niche brand opportunities, big stores building small and reinventing the customer experience.

Independents: Impact, Connect, and Engage

Independent Retail is vital to the world’s economy. Not only does it create numerous jobs for each country, but it also helps to keep individual ‘boutique’ brands circulating in villages, towns and cities, and gives customer service the greatest opportunity to shine.

How To Increase Sales with Baby Gear Test Drives!

Be it free samples, test drives or even money-back guarantees, the try-before-you-buy merchandising model is very much alive and well in many retail sectors. More and more, baby gear retailers are joining the ranks of beyond-the-store demonstration providers and seeing big benefits.

Ready, Set, Listen!

I have a colorful word on my desk as a reminder to do something that is not always top of mind for me. It simply says: LISTEN.

When To Hire a PR/Marketing Firm

We live in a world where small businesses are created every day. Technology has made it easier for us to communicate, and social media has allowed us to connect and engage with our consumers. While this may be beneficial to small business owners, it also adds more tasks to their already full plates.