|
|
|
America's Best Independent
Retailers
By Emily Schmitt
In
Retail Superstars: Inside the 25 Best Independent
Stores in America, retail consultant George
Whalin profiles successful independent retailers
Great location, fantastic selection, competitive
prices. These are the oft-cited qualities that help one
retailer prosper while another fails. But there are
other, often larger forces that not only keep a store in
business, but ensure that its customers return on a
regular basis. In his new book, Retail Superstars:
Inside the 25 Best Independent Stores in America, author
George Whalin profiles 25 successful retailers and
discusses why they've withstood the test of time, some
for over a century.
To be considered for the book, stores had to be
profitable, have been in business for at least 25 years,
and distinguish themselves in some way from their
competitors. Whalin, a retail consultant, has visited
hundreds of retailers across the nation for the past 20
years. He found that the best stores often employ
similar practices.
Customer Engagement
To start, the stores engage their customers. By
walking the aisles and talking to shoppers, the
management team gets a sense of what the customer wants.
This gives it an edge when ordering inventory, and
making the store a place where shoppers want to return.
Whalin points to Gallery Furniture in Houston, Tex.
as an "extreme example." The furniture store displays
only merchandise that is stocked in its warehouse. So
when you buy something, it's delivered to you the same
day. And although the selection is limited, the
guarantee of timely service creates a loyal customer.
Operating an independent retail store during a
recession is tough, regardless of its customer
engagement and loyalty formulas. One of Whalin's
superstars, golf supplier In Celebration of Golf in
Scottsdale, Ariz., recently closed its doors to focus
exclusively on its golf course management business.
When Recession Hits
Some of the same things that make indies competitive
in good times can turn against them when things are bad,
according to Whalin and other industry experts. The
level of in-store service that customers expect from a
local independent compared with chains is expensive to
provide, especially with niche stores that demand a high
level of expertise among its staff. Those retailers need
to sell at a premium price to subsidize that service.
During a recession, penny-pinching customers may
eschew that premium for cheaper goods, says Bryan
Eshelman, managing director of Alix Partners, a business
advisory firm based in Detroit, Mich. He recommends that
independent stores look beyond their customer service to
keep shoppers in the store. "In normal times, it makes a
lot of sense that if you know the product well, you'll
maintain business," he says. "But it's a risky
proposition to assume that will always work." He
suggests cutting costs that customers don't see-such as
by reducing hours of operation and payroll.
Whalin highlights Bronner's Christmas Wonderland in
Frankenmuth, Mich., as a retailer that's avoided a
plunge in sales despite the recession. He says the
company, which sells only Christmas merchandise,
attracts nearly two million customers yearly-and not
just during the holiday season. Whalin attributes the
turn-out to the flamboyant displays throughout the
store. The rationale behind the decor is that even if
shoppers aren't ready to do their Christmas shopping,
they still have a reason to go to the store. Bronner's
also sells window dressings to other companies
throughout the year to keep cash coming in.
Whalin says the key to Bronner's success lies in its
willingness to stay true to its core offering. He points
to Toys 'R' Us, which recently introduced a food and
household items section in some of its stores, as an
example of a company that is losing touch with its main
draw. "If it's appropriate to branch out, it can be a
great thing," he says. "But companies that do things
completely different than their main business endanger
themselves."
Source:
BusinessWeek
http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz/content/jun2009/sb20090619_158029.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_top+small+business+stories
| | |
|
|
|
|
Frequently Asked Questions
Regarding PCI Compliancy
PCI is
new and confusing to most of us. So, we have
completed some research and found some very good
Frequently Asked Questions. It is important to
realize where these compliancy regulations for credit
card processing are coming from and why every merchant
must adhere to them. In regards to your Retail Pro
software, the only way we can guarantee your compliancy
to the PCI-DSS regulations is for you to update to
Version 8.6. The only way to qualify for this
release is by having a current Software Assurance
Plan. It is not too late to renew your Software
Assurance in preparation of this release.
Q:
What is PCI?
A: The Payment Card Industry
Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of
requirements designed to ensure that
ALL companies that process,
store or transmit credit card information
maintain a secure environment. Essentially any
merchant that has a Merchant ID (MID).
Q: To
whom does PCI apply?
A: PCI applies to ALL
organizations or merchants, regardless of size or number
of transactions, that accepts, transmits or stores any
cardholder data. Said another way, if any customer of
that merchant ever pays the merchant directly using a
credit card or debit card, then the PCI DSS requirements
apply.
Q:
What are the PCI compliance
deadlines?
A: All merchants that store,
process or transmit cardholder data must be compliant
now. However, as a Level 4 merchant, you will have
to refer to your merchant bank for their specific
validation requirements and deadlines. All
deadline enforcement will come from your merchant bank.
For example,
Visa will require that VNPs and agents decertify all
vulnerable payment applications by October 1, 2009 (this
would include Credit Pro &
PPM).
Visa will
also require that Acquirers ensure their merchants, VNPs
and agents use only PA-DSS compliant applications by
July 1, 2010 (only V8.6 or above, in the Retail
Pro 8 Series, will be PA-DSS
compliant).
Q: Do
organizations using third-party processors have to be
PCI compliant?
A: Yes. Merely using a
third-party company does not exclude a company from PCI
compliance. It may cut down on their risk exposure and
consequently reduce the effort to validate
compliance. However, it does not mean they can
ignore PCI.
Q:
What are the penalties for
noncompliance?
A: The payment brands may, at
their discretion, fine an acquiring bank $5,000 to
$100,000 per month for PCI compliance violations. The
banks will most likely pass this fine on downstream till
it eventually hits the merchant. Furthermore, the bank
will also most likely either terminate your relationship
or increase transaction fees. Penalties are not
openly discussed nor widely publicized, but they can
catastrophic to a small business.
It is
important to be familiar with your merchant account
agreement, which should outline your exposure. We have
also included a few links below for your
convenience:
PCI
Security Standards Website
USA
Visa Website
Please contact us today to
discuss your Software Assurance renewal so that you are
eligible for the Update to Version 8.6 this
summer.
Best
Regards,
Inside Sales
Team
Advanced Retail Management Systems,
Inc.
(800) 305-0461
insidesales@armsys.com
| | |
Tech Tips
Customer Tax Area
Customer tax areas may be overridden if
the user manually changes tax area information on a
document. The customer tax area feature only sets the
tax area at the time the customer is added to the
document. Any manipulation of the tax area after that
may cancel out the customer tax
area. | | |
|
In Tough Times, Companies
Coddle Their
Regulars
Better Terms of Credit, Free Services Are
Offered to Loyal Customers; 'We Are On Our Best
Behavior'
By ANJALI CORDEIRO
With the recession making it tough to
win new clients, small businesses are stretching their
resources to keep loyal customers.
Some companies are allowing regulars
to stagger payments or place smaller orders, and even
throwing in free services to keep long-time customers
interested. With fewer new clients coming in, small
businesses hope that holding onto regulars will help
maintain stability and possibly boost sales when the
economy bounces back.
Faryl Robin LLC, a New York company
that sells high-end women's shoes, is giving better
terms of credit to retail customers with whom it has had
a lengthy relationship. Some long-time customers can now
pay a certain amount within its standard 30-day payment
period, and spread the rest of the money over the next
60 days, says Chief Financial Officer Jim
Biolos.
"It's financially more difficult to
replace those sales in this environment than to be a
little flexible," he says. The firm -- whose shoes sell
for $170 to $350 a pair -- has annual sales of about
$4.5 million.
The company also is allowing
retailers to place smaller orders of shoes -- nine pairs
instead of the traditional 12 -- and founder Faryl Robin
Morse is spending more time with regular customers,
visiting stores to help sell shoes and training
retailers' staff on sales techniques.
Without such efforts, which the
company says helped boost sales 20% in the first quarter
from a year ago, "it is possible we would have lost some
customers," Ms. Morse says.
Going the extra mile to retain
customers is especially critical for small companies
that "typically don't have the marketing and sales
budgets to lose customers and quickly get new ones,"
says Dan Oglevee, a professor of finance at Ohio State
University who does consultancy work with small
firms.
But an advantage that small companies
have over larger counterparts with myriad management
layers is the ability to tailor tactics to individual
customers and make decisions faster. "Their size makes
them more flexible," says Joseph Astrachan, executive
director of the Cox Family Enterprise Center at Kennesaw
State University in Georgia.
Mark Pollaci, owner and president of
Nucor Construction Corp., a New York company that
remodels office spaces, retail stores and bank branches,
estimates about 85% of his business comes from repeat
clients. Mr. Pollaci has been providing free
consultation services, such as visiting places that
long-time customers are considering leasing to give them
his opinion. With his customers turning more cost
conscious, he is putting in more hours than before to
ferret out the most affordable
subcontractors.
Mr. Pollaci has also sped up the time
frame of projects, completing them faster and at a 15%
to 20% lower cost than a year ago to retain customer
loyalty. He is able to lower project costs partly by
cutting into his own profit margins, and also because
costs for materials and contractors have come
down.
Retaining customers is particularly
important to him, he says, because he doesn't have a
sales and marketing division. "There are people coming
out of the woodwork to compete," he says.
His retail and banking customers have
been badly hit by the economy themselves. Helping them
get their stores up and running as quickly as possible
and at a more affordable price helps their business and
raises the possibility he will be hired again, he
says.
Simon Graj, founding partner of Graj
+ Gustavsen, a small New York firm that offers branding
and marketing services, says that when a client in the
apparel business was recently looking to expand its
brand overseas, he flew to many of the emerging markets
the client was considering, covering six cities within
India and China over two weeks.
"We are on our best behavior," he
says. In the past, as one of the heads of the firm, he
may not have been as liberal with his time and may have
delegated the extensive travel to one of his colleagues,
he says.
The firm is also being more creative
in how it allows clients to pay, sometimes accepting
equity stakes or a percentage of sales from a brand.
That allows the firm to "bet on the future" with the
customer, Mr. Graj says.
Source: The
Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124571863733739347.html?mod=dist_smartbrief | | |
 $500 for 5 Minutes
Receive $500 credit on
account or 4 Client Service hours every time you refer a
new customer that purchases Retail Pro.
Retail
Pro has grown to be the premier Inventory Control / POS
software for small to mid-tier retailers. Whether you
know a single store or a 100 store chain, Retail Pro
provides the technology for retailers to
excel.
Call your sales person today at
800-305-0461 or click
here to complete
the form to refer another retailer and start earning
valuable rewards!
| | |
|
Word-of-Mouth
Marketing Spend Hits $1.5 Billion
July 29, 2009
-By Kenneth Hein
Now
that's a lot of chatter. Spending behind word-of-mouth
marketing hit $1.54 billion last year, according to PQ
Media. While most traditional channels saw spending
slow, spending behind w-o-m tactics including buzz,
influencer, community and viral marketing grew 14.2
percent in 2008. Food and drink brands led the way
accounting for 30 percent of all w-o-m
spending.
PQ Media is forecasting the
w-o-m spending will increase another 10.2 percent this
year despite the recession. Total spending is expected
to grow at a compound annual growth rate 14.5 percent
between 2008 and 2013. "Brands value and invest in
w-o-m," said Patrick Quinn, CEO of PQ Media, in a
statement. "Our research indicates that brands are
allocating more their budgets to long-term w-o-m
campaigns, executing effective online and offline
activities that resonate with consumers and their core
groups."
Reaching consumers via online
communities like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace was an
obvious priority for marketers. Spending increased 26
percent in those channels to $119 million, per the
report. The largest amount of marketing dollars ($832
million) was dedicated for w-o-m strategy and
consulting. W-o-m agencies grew 18.7 percent to $197
million.
Adding a little perspective,
Quinn said, "Despite impressive growth in the industry,
w-o-m remains just a fraction of the overall advertising
and marketing landscape. But, double-digit growth in
this economic environment is a strong sign of an
increasingly prevalent roles in the future."
Source:
http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/content_display/news/media-agencies-research/e3i98008be32bed3d6cf5b7e3d0a7c934d6
| | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
8100 Southpark Way # A-10, Littleton, CO
80120
303-738-1800 | Fax 303-738-9563
Denver -
Chicago
www.armsys.com
| |
