Dancer in the Aisles
With her veteran's-eye view, editor-in-chief Caroline Kennedy comments on the highlights and sidelights of our gift industry and the everyday world around us.
NPD Survey Says …
The NPD Group's Kids Industry Data Service (KIDS) recently asked: "Where do you plan to do most of the back to school shopping for your child(ren)"?Compiled from 1,785 mentions of back-to-school shopping destinations for kids ages 0-14, findings revealed that 61 percent of responses were for mass merchants; 12 percent, department stores; 6 percent, office stores; 6 percent, major chains;... Read More
Comments (2)Are You Communicating Properly?
Are you sure that you and your sales associates are communicating properly with customers? Are you sure there is not a generation gap of understanding between your older customers and younger sales help that is losing you both sales and customers? This applies both to you vendors out there dealing with buyers at market, as well as you retailers dealing with consumers. What follows is a somewhat fi... Read More
Comments (2)No Problem
Since when did those two words replace "You're welcome" as the accepted response to "Thank you"?Now don't get me wrong. I am as guilty of using that response upon occasion as the next person, and do have to acknowledge that there are some instances where it may be appropriate. But overall, it really is a bad habit that we have and one of my pet peeves.Where I particularly find... Read More
Comments (7)What Kind of an Impression Does Your Store Make?
Sometimes even the best stores can go wrong. One weekend, my friend Nancy and I met in Manhattan take advantage of one of the wonderful things that New York City has to offer - its museums. Even though we both work in "the city," we rarely have the opportunity to visit its wonderful cultural venues. Of course, after we finished our visit to the exhibition, a visit to the museum's gift sh... Read More
Comments (0)Things Happen and Customers Will Complain
This is just a fact of being in a retail business, especially at this busy time of year. Handling customer complaints is not always easy or pleasant. But the way that you deal iwth the situation will most likely result in whether you keep the individual as a customer or lose their business. A recent article in USA Today, "Nine steps toward handling customer complaints," offers some good... Read More
Comments (0)More Aisle Dancers
It seems that I am not the only one who "dances in the aisles." It seems that employees at Global Views have a "little dance party break" on Fridays, according to the company’s Facebook page. It seems like a great way to end the week, build team spirit and relieve stress and tension all at the same time. What things do you do where you work to create employee bonding, stress relief and just plain... Read More
Comments (2)Finding Inspiration
Once again, my friend Nancy has chided me about this blog. "Yes!" she complained to me more than once recently, "I have read your blog lately (that’s the tagline on my email signature), but you haven’t posted anything new for me to read." And she is right. I have been remiss. It has been said that writing is 1 percent inspiration and the rest is perspiration. That can be said for much of what we... Read More
Comments (0)What's New Isn't Necessarily What's New
At market, generally the first question a buyer asks is, "What’s new?" And in this industry, that is the one thing on which we are primarily focused — that and the hot trends. We tend to forget about or overlook what is or has been successful, things that are the tried and true. The tried and true just doesn’t get our antenna tingling with excitement, until maybe we rediscover it and look at it in... Read More
Comments (1)What Kind of Loyal Customers Do You Have?
Do you have such loyal customers as Willow Glen, CA, retailer Natalie Thompson discovered that she has? Who is Natalie Thompson and why do I ask, you wonder … Her story, which ran in the San Jose Mercury News was brought to my attention. As with many independent retailers, 2009 was difficult year for Thompson’s gift store Fleurish. Her 8-year-old business was struggling in a difficult economy, s... Read More
Comments (3)Get Ready for Tax Time Early
I know, I know. We haven’t even rung in the New Year yet and I’m reminding you about filing taxes? Well, we all get very busy this time of year and we all need a nudge to help us get organized and plan ahead. I ran across a press release today that brought this subject up and I thought that I would share. Af ter all, sharing is caring, as my friend Nancy says. The points in the release are direct... Read More
Comments (0)Carol Schroeder's Savvy Store Solutions
Ask for the Money “Self service means no service,” as I wrote in last week’s blog. We all know what kind of service we hope to offer our customers through our friendly, sales personnel well-versed in the benefits of every product we sell. Certainly Ron Popeil, who you may know as the king of television marketing, is friendly and well-versed in the benefits of the products he is selling — many of... Read More
Comments (0)Carol Schroeder to Blog for G&DA
Veteran retailer Carol Schroeder shares her blog with Gifts & Decorative Accessories. Our "Savvy Store Solutions" contributor will share her experience and perspective on the everyday ups and downs of being a gift and decorative accessories retailer. Carol Schroeder is author of Specialty Shop Retailing: Everything You Need to Know to Run Your Own Store published by John Wiley & Sons. She is also... Read More
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