It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it: get consumers to open their wallets and make a purchase. It’s an especially tough job these days when we don’t know from one week to the next which way the economy is headed.

The good news, however, is that we all have what it takes to tackle this particular tough job. It’s our ‘inner customer.’ Sure, we may be retailers, vendors, reps, (editors), but we are also consumers. We often forget our consumer side when trying to “sell.”

Next time you are in the midst of a hard sell, try looking inward. Tap into your inner customer and ask: “What would it take to get me to buy the item I’m trying to sell? What would it take to get me to fork over my hard earned cash when I’m worried about the price of my next tank of gas?”

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It used to be that every time I picked up a newspaper and read about the rough retail road ahead, or watched Talking Heads blab about the soft retail landscape, I’d get that familiar dull ache in the pit of my stomach. You know the one. It’s part of the prehistoric fight-or-flight warning system.

I say it used to be. But these days – not so much. No, I didn’t stop reading the dire reports, or stop watching commentaries featuring retail pundits. The dull ache seemed to disappear somewhere between the Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market and New York International Toy Fair.

While the Fed was aggressively lowering interest rates and big boxes were realizing they had a disappointing holiday selling season; while mass marketers were lowering annual revenue expectations and others were preparing Chapter 11 filin...Read More

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Next to gift giving – which is the oldest documented tradition on earth – the custom of making New Year’s resolutions is ancient as well. According to some historians, in fact, it dates back to 153 B.C. when Janus, a mythical Roman king with two faces, was placed at the head of the calendar (ergo, January). A talented guy, what with having two faces and all, he could look back on past events as well as look forward to the future. 

And so…we have Janus to thank for the resolutions ritual: At the start of the year, we look back and then look forward resolving to improve on one thing or other. 

Hard on the heels of the resolution-making tradition is possibly the third oldest known practice: the breaking of New Year’s resolutions. Indeed, a recent survey by ...Read More

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They say the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, but after several centuries it apparently does. Especially when it comes to pet peeves about the Christmas holiday season; there’s a lot more than a pond that separates us Yanks from our British forbears, that’s for sure. 

This week a press release arrived in my mailbox containing the results of a survey conducted in the UK about pet Christmas peeves among Brits. Merely the top 50 peeves were listed in the press release (50!).

Hard to believe, I thought. That is until I received a voicemail from an agency in the UK wanting to check on something or other. The voicemail began with “Well it sounds like you over there have a jolly old time preparing for Christmas. We are not quite so jolly over here.” No ki...Read More

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“If the people don’t want to come out, nothing is going to stop them.”

Yogi Berra could have been talking about me with this one. Of course, he was referring to a ball park at the time he allegedly grumbled this logic-defying statement.

But I’m thinking it refers to me – as in, going Christmas shopping tomorrow morning at some ridiculous hour while my 22-lb. turkey roasts itself in a slow oven, releasing those delicious aromas that waft through my home. 

Not!

No, nothing is going to stop me from not getting an early start on my holiday shopping tomorrow, Thanksgiving Day. (Humor me; the sentence does so make sense.)

And nothing is going to stop me from not rising from a deep tryptophan – (the stuff in turkey that makes you sleepy) – induced slumber before dawn on Friday e...Read More

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Finally...Joe Torre, former manager of the Bronx Bombers has found himself a new home on the Left Coast. In Los Angeles, to be specific. As manager of the LA Dodgers, to be exact.

Good riddance, already.

Don't get me wrong: I love the Yankees. I've been a pinstripes fan since the Giants left the Polo Grounds and broke the hearts of my father and me – oh yeah, and hundreds of thousands of other fans who waved a tearful farewell to the Say Hey Kid back in 1957.

But frankly, I'm just plain tired of hearing and reading about how Joe Torre go...Read More

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“All the world is a stage, and all the men and women merely players.”

Isn’t that the truth? There is just no quibbling over this morsel of Shakespearian philosophy immortalized in As You Like It. The world really can be thought of as a stage where an infinite number of adventures are being played out.

But as a high school senior when I first read the sentence – which opened a monologue within the play – little did I know the extent to which it would eventually apply.

The old bard’s viewpoint came to mind during this past winter market, for example, as I sat in on workshops and conferences. A recurring theme during these events…retailtainment.

“It’s not enough to be a good merchandiser any more,” advised one presenter. “Today, retail is about the experienc...Read More

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Nothing awakens one's pet peeves like a solid month of business travel — living out of a suitcase and dining everywhere from a Starbucks between flights to a five-star restaurant in a thriving metropolis.

The peeves start almost immediately upon arrival at the airport. The problem? Infrequent flyers, the majority of whom seem to be right in front of me and are absolutely clueless about the regulations regarding anything and everything from proper carriage of liquids and gels, to removal of at least one layer of clothing — not including shoes and sneakers, which are counted separately. To those people, I say: "Get with the program already!"

To airport officials, I say: "How about an express line — like the 10-items-or-less checkout lines in supermarkets — for the road w...Read More

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