Is the Customer Really Always Right?
Let’s be reasonable: No segment of the population is right 100% of the time. Customers are bound to make mistakes. That said, as a small-business owner, you should always give your customers the benefit of the doubt… Read more …
NRF: US should follow EU’s lead on limiting swipe fees
Credit-card swipe fees add up to more than $50 billion a year, or more than $400 per US household, in extra costs charged by banks and set by Visa and MasterCard, NRF General Counsel Mallory Duncan writes. The EU has set rules limiting the fees that can be charged...
6 Ways to Motivate Employees to Care About Your Business
Have you ever been on the receiving end of bad customer service? It often looks like this: A grumpy employee ignores you, treats you dismissively, acts in an unprofessional manner and makes you question why… Read more …
Inventories: A critical balancing act for retailers
Inventory management is a critical priority for all businesses. Balancing sales and inventory plans is truly an intricate job as retailers respond to an ever-changing, often uncontrollable market influenced by competition, weather, demographics, fashion, tastes and anytime-anywhere spending by consumers. NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz looks at how this...
8 books retailers should read in 2016
Local booksellers and other neighborhood businesses are kicking off the holiday season this weekend with Small Business Saturday and Indies First events. Resolving to read more in the new year? Three bookstore owners share their recommendations for fellow retailers. Read more …
Food Gifting Is on the Rise
Specialty food is at the center of a growing trend known as “food gifting.” According to a report by Packaged Facts, U.S. food gifting sales reached an estimated $21 billion in 2014. Sales are projected to increase 5 percent by the end of this year and again by 5...
Grocery Home Delivery Costs More to Provide than Traditional Retail Experiences
The introduction of e-commerce to the American cultural sphere took place nearly two decades ago, and many of the startups in the home delivery market have since come and gone. Groceries remain an important yet difficult delivery market due to lower-margin items that typically weigh more, increasing shipping costs....
3 Tips to Make Online Payments Easier for Customers
Building a pretty website, providing detailed product listings, coordinating orders and shipping, and maintaining efficient advertising, is already a tall order for most businesses that want to accept online payments. Unfortunately, those efforts just get potential customers to your shopping cart page, not through it, which is where you...
3 direct mail marketing best practices for small businesses
In today’s digital age, some say that direct mail is dead. Research, however, suggests otherwise. According to the Direct Marketing Association, the direct mail open rate was 3.4 percent in 2012—markedly higher than the 0.12 percent email open rate in the same year. While the digital marketing formats of...
SMB email marketing: Still an effective marketing tool
Despite the recent prevalence of SEO, pay-per-click ads, and other variations of online marketing, email remains a standard – and instrumental – tool for digital marketing. According to research, email marketing is not just versatile (marketers consistently ranked email as the single most effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion,...