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It's all here - links to hundreds of Web pages on every subject today's retailer should understand. Visitors to this site can access solid, timely information on technology, management strategies, staffing, record-keeping and much more. As an added bonus, a featured news article on the retail industry will be available every week. Making sales has never been so easy!

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• Young Retail Entrepreneurs Find Columbus Attractive
  

  Small-business owners on the younger side diving in and finding success in Columbus

  By Tim Feran

  At 208 square feet, “and not an inch more,” the Robert Mason Co. pop-up store inside Sugardaddy’s on Gay Street is almost comically tiny.

  But the young owner of the new stationery and office-accessories company has huge plans. He’s part of a growing group of upstarts ready to take on the retail world — and not in the online world often associated with young entrepreneurs.

  Among the large and growing flock, such stores as Tigertree clothing and accessories, Elm & Iron home decor, Homage vintage T-shirts and the Robert Mason Co. are bringing a fresh vision and drive to the old bricks-and-mortar store.

  The new group is different from past generations, said Marcie Merriman, founder of PrimalGrowth, a retail and brand strategy firm.

  “As a generation, they are more pragmatic, and their pragmatic nature allows them to think through the details and understand the fine points,” Merriman said. “They think things through very strategically — what everything costs, how they can afford it.”

  About 50 percent of people in their 20s say they want to be their own bosses, “and there’s more interest in having retail careers among college grads than maybe 20, 30 years ago,” said retail analyst Chris Boring, principal at Boulevard Strategies.

  “Younger people have had a lot of trouble finding jobs, so they’ve decided to open their own businesses,” Boring said. “Also, technology has lowered the cost barrier for many types of businesses. In retail, it’s becoming more and more important for small retailers to master technology to keep up — and younger people are more likely to have those skills.”

  They’re setting up shop all over town.

  “It’s not just Gay Street and the Short North,” said Kacey Campbell Brankamp, business recruiter for Capital Crossroads special improvement district. “Olde Towne East has an exciting pocket of activity with places like Angry Baker and Olde Towne Tavern. I’ve been seeing some new German Village businesses with younger folks, too, like Kittie’s Cakes.”

  Robert Mason

  Robert Grimmett, owner of Robert Mason Co., has been honing his skills since he started his first business — at age 12 — selling office supplies from the basement of his parents’ West Virginia home. By the time Grimmett graduated from high school, his business had grown into a legitimate retail store and passed $100,000 in annual sales.

  In 2000, he sold that business to his employees — his parents — so he could attend art school. In the years that followed, Grimmett began systemically learning various sides of retailing, working for Bath & Body Works, Abercrombie & Fitch, Pizzeria Uno, Bombay Co. and Office Max.

  Combining that experience with his mastery of technology and his own background as an artist, Grimmett created his new retail concept.

  Like many iconic retailers in Columbus, such as Victoria’s Secret and Abercrombie & Fitch, Grimmett isn’t selling just office goods — he’s trying to sell an image, packing his store with custom video, music, scents and signs.

  Elm & Iron

  Daniel McClurg, the owner of Elm & Iron, has so much confidence in his business skills that he opened the vintage and industrial-style home-decor store without a written plan.

  “But that’s because I’m not new to starting up a business,” McClurg said. “This is my third business, actually. My main business is a painting company, Buckeye House Painting. That’s where I started in this entrepreneur business, when I was 19.

  “I see lot of cool things in different cities that I think maybe Columbus is lacking. I’ve seen stores similar to this, and wanted to bring that feel to Columbus.”

  The entry into retail was also partly prompted by serendipity. “The building became available and I said, ‘I guess I’ll do it,’” he said. “This business just fit this space,” a brick service station built in the 1920s in Clintonville.

  “Really, everyone told me that retail is too risky. But what I found is that it isn’t any different from any other service business. It’s simple — you just have to work harder than anyone else. It’s no different from my other business.”

  McClurg recognizes his own limitations, however. “I have a merchandiser on staff full time who came over from Crate & Barrel,” he said. “My strong point is the buying part. I give it to her, and she makes it look awesome.”

  Since opening in October, Elm & Iron has done so well that McClurg is expanding the original store by 1,000 square feet, bringing it close to 3,000 square feet; and opening another location, in Powell.

  Homage

  Before Ryan Vesler opened his vintage T-shirt store, Homage, “I actually was afraid of retail, to be honest. Everybody said, ‘It’s too expensive with the overhead. You have to pay employees. On the Internet, there’s better scale, lower overhead.’

  “But if you have a brand deeply rooted in a story, you need a space to tell that story. I felt I had more to add to the conversation. From that point, it became necessary to control the shopping experience more.”

  Like Grimmett, Vesler started his business working out of his parents’ basement.

  After three years of good sales, the business had expanded considerably, so Vesler opened a full-fledged Homage store in 2010, in a small Short North space formerly occupied by Tigertree. He opened a second store in July 2012 at Easton.

  Technology has helped him open quickly and efficiently, he said. “There’s just so many cool small-business tools to help people. But as much as the Internet offers, there’s still something about the retail experience you can’t capture online,” he said.

   

  Vesler has watched enthusiastically as other retailers of his generation launch their businesses in Columbus.

  “The common thread is we’re essentially taking something we’re especially passionate about and turning it into a retail brand, knowing there’s an opening in the marketplace,” he said. “I think consumers are always looking for unique products.”

  Tigertree

  Tigertree owners Josh and Niki Quinn almost went elsewhere to start their business. “Basically, we were living in Los Angeles and originally wanted to go to the East Coast,” Mr. Quinn said.

  The two got into business in a roundabout way. “I was in a band, visiting my wife here, and I crafted a wallet out of a book cover,” he said. “I made samples and we kind of bootstrapped from there,” eventually selling their handcrafted items to retailers such as Bergdorf Goodman and Henri Bendel.

  Constantly traveling to sell their wares, “We were immersed in several retail environments a day,” he said. “We felt we could do a good take on a store.”

  His wife had gone to OSU’s Fisher College of Business, but, “Neither of us had run a retail operation before, although we both had jobs in shops at some point,” Mr. Quinn said. “We are both just good problem-solvers and pretty agile. …

  “But we had no idea what we were doing when we started. The essence of our shop is my wife and my personalities. We only care about clothes we would wear.”

  In the seven years that Tiger-tree has been in business in the Short North, that approach has worked well.

  His generation’s facility with digital technology has helped overcome any hiccups. Tiger-tree’s “e-commerce side is pretty far-reaching,” he said. The company’s blog attracts “an interesting group of people who have come to expect us to explain our every move. We try and lift that veil as much as possible. We tell everyone literally everything we’re doing — even something as mundane as retagging merchandise.”

  Mr. Quinn said that the reason that Tigertree and other young retailers are succeeding is partly because of the good environment that Columbus provides.

  “We are a pretty remarkable Midwest city in fashion sense and offerings,” he said.

  “And the fact that many of (the young retailers’ shops) are sustainable and succeeding is pretty impressive. It really says something about Columbus at large, that this is the kind of community where a business can take root.”

  Source: The Columbus Dispatch, April 28, 2013, (http://www.dispatch.com)

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• Customer Relationship Management Solutions
  

  By Lawry Matteson, webCRM

  Customer relationship management (CRM) is an essential business strategy for independent retailers. For CRM to create an impact, it can be integrated with CRM software designed for business profitability. CRM software manages customer information and helps in building and strengthening the business-customer relationship. The software plays a vital role in maintaining new and current customers, and it is responsible for customer information record keeping. This includes purchases made, phone number, call history, number of visits, address and the right time to receive calls.

  CRM software is integrated with Inventory Management Solutions and the Sales Order Process to increase business automation and efficiency. With this software, operational costs are reduced as the need for support staff is eliminated, and return on investment and productivity is enhanced. The two major kinds of CRM software are campaign management software and sales force automation software.

  Campaign management software

  Campaign management software deals with customer data processing. It provides the company with all customer details and purchases made. The software has a feature, called cross sales campaigns, that acts as a mediator in the usage of other features. It is responsible for notifying the company about the changes made in prices. It also enhances the development of the product that the company is selling and shares the Oracle files information. Other features can be added, such as those that maximize the sales ratio.

  Extra features are also used in creating full access to the needed information. The software can track social media sites and emails, and is one of the best marketing methods for products and services. It ensures that all transactions carried out are saved under specific features like statistics or accounting to ease the search for those visiting the web.

  Sales force automation software

  [This] tracks customer calls and customer information. Customer information comprises time and purpose of call, customer address, phone number and call duration. By installing the software, a company can record each sale made and account for all services and products the company provides. If a customer is interested in accessing the information of a certain product, it is the duty of CRM software to avail the important information.

  Customer relationship management is a key element to a successful business. Customer relationship management software provides a comprehensive, easily updated system for managing customers and prospects, and is one option for independent retailers.

  Lawry Matteson is a content writer and supplier for webCRM, a web-based CRM software solutions provider using the SaaS model.

  Source: Independent Retailer, April 9, 2013 (http://independentretailer.com)

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• Mom-And-Pop Stores Still Thriving In Bethesda
  

  By Agnes Blum, Gazette.Net

  Rumors of the death of the mom-and-pop store might be greatly exaggerated — at least in Bethesda, where small independent retailers continue to show signs of life.

  In the past few months, several small businesses in Bethesda have shut down — Zelaya Shoes on St. Elmo Avenue, Kae Robin in the Bradley Shopping Center on Arlington Road and Just Cakes, which closed its brick-and-mortar shop on Rugby Avenue and now is open only online.

  But are the closings emblematic of tough times, or just the natural ebb and flow of small businesses?

  The standard narrative goes something like this: Big-box stores, online retailers and a bad economy all contribute to the demise of the small business.

  Magazines, newspapers and books have described this phenomenon. The Atlantic Monthly ran an article in January titled “Hoboken Passing: Photographing the Last Mom-and-Pop Shops,” and Alex Marshall warned in his 2001 book “How Cities Work” of the possible end of the small retailer. “The general trend has been bigger wholesalers and retailers gobbling up or displacing smaller ones,” Marshall wrote, “until we arrive at our present era of OfficeMaxes, CompUSAs and Home Depots.”

  But is it really true?

  While there is a Home Depot behind Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, Chuck Kelley, manager at Strosnider’s Hardware, said it has little effect on the small family-owned hardware store chain.

  “They’re really not our competition,” Kelley said. “We’re a small, intimate store with enough employees that really help the customer.”

  Prices might be a bit higher at Strosnider’s, Kelley said, but the excellent customer service has fostered a customer loyalty that helps secure its success.

  It’s a message that several small business owners repeated.

  “Customer loyalty is what’s going to keep everything from turning into big-box stores,” said Linda Ridenour, one of the owners of Bruce Variety. “It’s a matter of relationship with customers.”

  The beloved Bethesda institution’s January closing caused such an outcry, the owners decided to reopen the store somewhere else. The move, into a retail space with less expensive rent, has allowed Bruce Variety to expand its offerings, Ridenour said, and to keep prices competitive.

  Bruce Variety [reopened] March 30 at its new location at 8011 Woodmont Ave., and a sidewalk sale is planned for Easter Sunday.

  Linda Siou, who has been with Bradley CARE Pharmacy in the Bradley Shopping Center for 13 years, agreed that loyalty keeps people coming back to the drugstore. The small business is directly across Arlington Road from a CVS Pharmacy, part of a large chain.

  Justin McIreny, the buyer and manager of Capital Beer and Wine, which opened on Norfolk Avenue in March 2011, said operating a small business is always challenging. You need to do the math, he said, and have a good business plan. After that, it comes down to good-quality products and knowledgeable service, which breed customer loyalty.

  Those sentiments support what Ron S. Jarmin, an economist with the Center for Economic Studies at the U.S. Census Bureau, and two other authors found in a research paper published in 2009 called “Mom-and-Pop Meet Big-Box: Complements or Substitutes?” The study examined the effects of chain retailers within the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. They found that small businesses that weren’t both nearby and in direct competition with a big-box store did not suffer.

  Most new businesses are small businesses, Jarmin said, and while it’s a volatile sector, small businesses are not going the way of the dial-up connection.

  “In a place like Bethesda,” Jarmin said, “I don’t think there’s any evidence to say they’ve decreased over time.”

  But for those who have shuttered a small business — whether because of the economy, competition or just the vagaries of customer taste — the experience can be painful.

  Tony Zelaya recently shut down his namesake shoe store after 10 years in Bethesda.

  “I think it’s a sad situation. Everyone shops big-box stores and online,” Zelaya said.

  In a “if-you-can’t-beat-’em-join-’em” move, the Bethesda native recently moved to Dubai, where he accepted a job as buyer for what he described as the “Zappos of the Middle East,” referring to a large online shoe and clothing company.

  “I loved my store for a long time,” Zelaya said. “But when it comes to shoes, they go to DSW and then wonder why small stores can’t make it.”

  Source: Gazette.Net, Maryland Community News, March 27, 2013 (http://www.gazette.net)

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• Lolly Wolly Doodle Shows How to Profit From Social: Tech
  

  By Danielle Kucera

  Brandi Temple, a 39-year-old mother of four, transformed a living-room hobby into a retailer that ships 30,000 kids’ garments a month using online social tools that giant competitors haven’t mastered.

  Lolly Wolly Doodle Inc., the retailer founded by Temple in 2010, makes most of its sales through Facebook Inc., using the social network to set prices, take orders, forecast production and even market and design clothes.

  “I just snapped a picture and put it on Facebook,” said Temple, chief executive officer of Lolly Wolly Doodle, which is based in Lexington, North Carolina. “I said, ‘I have these 25 dresses, here’s how much I want for them.’ Within 30 seconds, they sold out.”

  Clothes retailers, from Gap Inc. to Saks Inc. (SKS) and Macy’s Inc. (M), have been seeking ways to profit through sites such as Facebook (FB) and Pinterest Inc., which offer access to more than a billion consumers. While many big companies have brand pages and let users “like” items, few sell directly through social networks. That threatens to keep the clothing industry from profiting from the annual $30 billion of goods that Booz & Co. predicts will be sold through social media by 2015.

  “Large retailers still have a long way to go in making the most out of social commerce and social networks,” Clark Fredricksen, vice president at researcher EMarketer Inc., said in an interview.

  Likes, Comments

  Lolly Wolly Doodle is pioneering the use of social media, generating 80 percent of sales through Facebook. To place an order, users “like” the retailer’s page and comment on an item, expressing an intent to buy. The company then e-mails an invoice and ships the product. Two weeks of sales via Facebook brought in as much revenue as two months on EBay Inc. (EBAY)’s site, Temple said.

  “On EBay, sometimes you’ll get feedback and questions, but you don’t have that immediate reaction that says, ‘Maybe you can make this in zebra,’” Temple said in an interview. “You’re able to see what sells, why it sells, hear directly from them and engage with them. We don’t plan two seasons ahead.”

  Temple’s company isn’t alone - Combatant Gentlemen LLC and Southern Tots have also won sales by engaging customers through the direct link afforded by social media. These startups can interact personally with buyers, who can order directly from the seller through e-mails, social-network postings and messages.

  Separate Websites

  For bigger retailers, social networks have remained a place where products are discussed - often more than on merchants’ own sites - yet aren’t directly for sale. While Macy’s, Saks and Gap have popular Facebook pages, they mostly use photos of products and coupons to entice users to visit their websites to browse and buy. There’s little personal interaction, which would be difficult to manage because of their larger scale.

  “We do not view social as a platform for hard selling but more of a means to provide engaging content to those customers that want to enhance their shopping experience with us,” Kinjil Parikh, Saks’s vice president of digital marketing, said in an e-mailed statement.

  Saks provides Web links to individual product pages, offers coupons and lists phone numbers users can call to buy a shoe or ring. Gap’s Facebook page connects to product pages for new styles and merchandise. While company postings can garner thousands of likes, and retailers such as Macy’s and Gap do sometimes converse with customers through Facebook comments, turning that interaction into a sale ultimately depends on the user clicking through to the company’s website or visiting a store.

  Developing Loyalty

  Facebook has been “working very hard to show that people who like Gap’s page are people who like to buy something from Gap, which is something that hasn’t always been clear,” EMarketer’s Fredricksen said. “At the same time, there are many examples of large retailers that are using social to develop loyalty to improve engagement with the customer, all of which ultimately benefits them.”

  Macy’s is trying to key in on conversations consumers want to have with friends while shopping, and to capitalize on increased browsing time that computers and mobile phones have created, said Jennifer Kasper, vice president of digital media and multicultural marketing at Macy’s. The point is to make the store’s content more findable and relevant, she said in an e- mail.

  Tracking Trends

  On Pinterest - an online photo-sharing site that’s estimated to have more than 40 million users - only 11 percent of items mention brand names, according to Curalate, which helps 325 brands track trending merchandise. And about half of brands’ top 10 most-discussed products on San Francisco-based Pinterest’s site are out of stock or no longer sold by the retailer.

  “The consumer is let down when they get to a company’s site,” Curalate CEO Apu Gupta said in an interview. “If brands know someone is looking at a blue sweater, they may be able to suggest one that’s in stock when someone actually gets to the site.”

  For example, a pair of pink flats sold by Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB), or H&M, was briefly one of the company’s most-shared items on Pinterest. The photo that more than 50,000 consumers were sharing featured the shoes from the top down, while H&M’s website pictured the footwear in a different color - yellow - and from the side, Gupta said.

  Clinching Sales

  That’s the moment a store should aim to clinch more sales by featuring the shoes prominently on its home page, changing the camera angle or sending out an e-mail to customers that shows the product, he said. By comparison, the photo of the yellow version of the shoe was shared 3,000 times.

  Andrea Hicklin, a spokeswoman for Gap, declined to comment. H&M representatives didn’t respond to a request for comment.

  Other firms that help retailers harness social media include BloomReach Inc. and Pinfluencer Inc.

  Combatant Gentlemen, a direct-to-consumer clothing seller that caters to young professional men, was started by a team of cousins - Vishaal and Mohit Melwani - who design patterns, cut samples and handle fulfillment with one other employee in a Los Angeles warehouse.

  Ideas for new merchandise - shirts with French cuffs, slim-fit suits and a casual-Friday section - have come primarily from Facebookers. The feedback has prompted the company to create an area on its website where users can say whether they love or hate prospective designs, and suggest changes.

  Lower Costs

  Using Facebook as a primary sales and marketing channel has kept costs low, Mohit Melwani said. Combat Gent projects about $3 million in revenue this year, compared with $570,000 at an 86 percent gross margin in 2012. The social networks themselves don’t receive any commission, since their sites are only the medium the retailers use - the transactions aren’t processed through the sites.

  The success that Combat Gent and Lolly Wolly Doodle have found on Facebook has been on a relatively modest scale. Lolly Wolly Doodle’s sales have been small enough to manage through the comment section on posts, and supply is limited, prompting users to act fast to snap up available inventory. Combat Gent directs users to its website to complete each transaction, while Lolly Wolly Doodle invites users to post their e-mail addresses on Facebook, a tactic that could invite inappropriate use of the information.

  Pinterest Experiment

  Daily Grommet, an online retailer that features hand-picked manufacturers with compelling back stories, focuses more on Pinterest. In November, the company invited users to pin products they’d like to buy on Daily Grommet. The retailer ended up adding items to its inventory, said Tori Tait, senior community manager at the retailer. That included a to-go lid for mason jars, called Cuppow, which was the fifth-best-selling product on the site last year and the most-pinned as of Jan. 30.

  The promotion was part of an experiment created by Daily Grommet and Curalate to increase the amount of images shared on Pinterest from the retailer’s site by 10 percent over two weeks. The end result was an increase in pinning of more than 600 percent, and the level of activity didn’t slump when the trial ended, Tait said. Daily Grommet also increased its Pinterest follower base by 14 percent, more than its goal of 5 percent, she said.

  “People were digging into the catalog - a product on page four was one of the most-pinned products,” said Tait, adding that about 80 percent of users coming from Pinterest have never shopped on Daily Grommet before. “We think the traffic and revenue this year coming from Pinterest will exceed that coming from Facebook.”

  SOURCE: Bloomberg, March 5, 2013 (http://www.bloomberg.com)

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• Portland Startup Your Brandlive Infuses Online Retail With In-Store Interaction
  

  By D.K. Row, The Oregonian

  Shopping has increasingly become an online experience, including the way in which retailers interact with consumers.

  That’s where a Web application from Portland-based Your Brandlive comes in. The tool allows retailers to reach consumers through live video chats akin to Home Shopping Network or QVC events. Consumers can pose questions from their PCs directly to the retailer, who in turn can direct a pitch or demonstration to a captive audience.

  Co-founder Fritz Brumder says the startup has worked with more than 45 retailers of various sizes across the country since launching in July 2010, including Marmot, Levi Strauss, Gerber Legendary Blades, and Nordica. In November, Your Brandlive closed on a $200,000 seed round led by $25,000 from the Portland Seed Fund, and is now looking to triple its revenue and client list during 2013.

  Andy Meyer, a marketing manager at California-based Marmot says Your Brandlive could prove to be pivotal for the retail industry. The company is showing that it’s possible to infuse online retail with the personality and social interaction of in-store experiences.

  “To launch a live video chat and allow viewers to buy products appearing on a page under that video, and then to have a video of someone showing that product, that’s hard to do,” Meyer said. “It’s beyond the capability of most companies. And if their technology hadn’t been brought to our attention, we’d never have even considered it was possible.”

  While Your Brandlive is similar to video chat tools Skype and Facetime, Brumder says, it allows an unlimited number of users to tune in at once.

  “If a consumer asks: ‘If I could Skype or Facetime with a retailer, would I like that?’ If the answer is yes, then they’d like the Your Brandlive experience because we offer that and more.”

  Participation at Your Brandlive events range from a few hundred to a few thousand. There are no downloads: Users just have to access the web application through a browser, like Internet Explorer, Google Chrome or Firefox.

  Small Etsy-style businesses usually don’t need help producing or running their events because their needs are simpler, Brumder says.

  But bigger companies that often partner with different retailers who sell their products often require some level of consultancy or support to customize each Your Brandlive event. This might include logo changes, background image changes and different kinds of product descriptions.

  The cost to use the Your Brandlive application ranges from $199 to $499 a month and users can produce as many events as they want. Support and consultations from the Your Brandlive staff costs extra and vary by client.

  Brumder says that many consumers at Your Brandlive events have purchased a product while watching. Still, many retailers don’t expect these events to affect product sales directly.

  Meyer, for instance, says products have “moved” during the several Your Brandlive events Marmot has hosted with such retailers as REI and Paragon Sports. But he regards these events as ways to build brand awareness and connect with consumers who then buy Marmot products at brick and mortar stores or purchase them later online.

  The application was actually developed by another Portland company, Cascade Web Development.

  Brumder, who graduated from Bates College in 2001 with a film and video production degree, started working there in 2006 as the director of Internet strategy and business development. The Your Brandlive tool was one of three products developed during the past decade by Cascade, which was founded in 2001 by Ben McKinley.

  When the company realized the web application had even more commercial potential than initially thought, Brumder and McKinley formed the new company in July 2010, with Brumder signing on as chief executive officer.

  Brumder, 34, who earned an MBA from Babson College in Massachusetts while working at Cascade, has spent the past two years building up the company. In 2012, it was part of the Portland Seed Fund’s third class, and capitalized the seed fund’s initial $25,000 investment into an additional $175,000 from other investors.

  Brumder says the startup has generated revenue every month since launching and that it’s grown 190 percent two years in a row. This year, the goal is to aggressively build up both the company’s enterprise and small retail clients and pursue a Series A funding round.

  Angela Jackson, the Portland Seed Fund’s managing director, says Brandlive stands out from the many startups she’s mentored or evaluated over the years.

  “All startups claim to address a pain point,” she says. “But it’s clear that they’re solving a real pain point. Look at their customer acquisition. There are many name brands there. The company’s also unique in that those guys have deep domain expertise, especially Fritz, with his film and video background. He’s been thinking about and doing this for a long, long time.”

  Startup profile

  • Company name: Your Brandlive
  • Founders: Fritz Brumder and Ben McKinley
  • Founded: July 2010
  • Street address: 2100 S.E. Water Ave. Portland, OR. 97068
  • Website: www.yourbrandlive.com
  • Product description: Live video product sales and communication tool. Brandlive enables product companies to do “QVC”-style product demonstrations on their website, in their social networks and through affiliates.
  • Staff: The two founders plus Tony Pullen, Scott Harrah and Josh Cox
  • Seed funding: $200,000
  • Revenue: The company has generated revenue every month since starting and has grown 190 percent two years in a row.
  • Number of clients: More than 45, including diy-ers on Etsy, and bigger name brand retailers like Marmot, Jarden Home Brands, Crock-Pot, Jans.com, FoodSaver, Nordica, Gerber Legendary Blades.
  • Cost to use product: Ranges from $199-$499/month
  • 2013 Goals: Triple revenue and customers.
  • In their words: “Too many retailers forget that what works is good customer service. Retailing and shopping by nature is a person-to-person, social process. While the Web has given us tools to sell and merchandise and make it utilitarian, I think human nature is about putting people in front of people and have them interact around a product or market” - co-founder Fritz Brumder

  Source: OregonLive, The Oregonian, February 12, 2013 (http://www.oregonlive.com)

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• Retail Forecast: Competitive Expansions, Key Year For Small Businesses
  

  By Miriam Valverde, Sun Sentinel

  As retailers look forward to planned expansions and grand openings in 2013, the state’s retail federation hopes consumers will build on spending confidence, while others have no expectations this will be a positive, record-breaking year.

  “We have grown our way out of the recession now,” said John Fleming, communications director for the Florida Retail Federation. “We are at pre-recession levels in terms of sales and employment. We are projecting that trend will continue.”

  As employers are adding jobs, people feel more comfortable about keeping their jobs in the upcoming years, Fleming said. And it can motivate consumers to buy big-ticket items that may take years to pay off, like a car or furniture. That’s a sign that consumers are “feeling more confident about the economy,” he said.

  But not all have an optimistic outlook.

  “This is going to be another sluggish year just like last year,” said Robin Lewis, a retail consultant and CEO of The Robin Report, a retail strategy newsletter. “There’s not going to be any spikes up.”

  With ongoing debates in Washington about the debt ceiling, an international economic situation “that isn’t getting any better,” and the resurfacing of gun control issues, consumers are just going to be “shaking their heads” and reluctant to open their pocketbooks, Lewis said.

  “It’s going to be tough,” he said. “It’s going to be a year of competitive struggle.”

  The Promenade at Coconut Creek plans to open an upscale 12-screen theater, Silverspot Cinema, toward the end of 2013 as well as four other stores, according to Darren Seys, CEO of Peak Seven, the shops’ advertising agency.

  It’s an attraction that won’t be available in at least a 20-mile radius, he said.

  Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise is expanding The Colonnade Outlets wing and relocating retailers like Gucci and Prada to larger spaces, said Luanne Lenberg, vice president and general manager of the mall. It’s opening of the 140,000-square-foot Fashion Row at the end of 2012 already has the mall “leading the way” with exclusive retailers, she said.

  Yet Lewis predicted this will be a year that favors smaller retailers and independent boutiques.

  Retailers catering to narrow consumer groups will likely be more successful than larger stores because people are willing to pay extra for something if it’s “very special” and can’t be found elsewhere, Lewis said.

  An executive for a company that develops and operates shopping centers nationwide agreed that what will attract customers are places that are “reflective of their community.”

  “People don’t really want to live in isolation, people want to have shared experiences,” said Jodie McLean, president and chief investment officer for EDENS. “They want to be in places that inspire them and make them feel unique.”

  Other trends that will gain popularity in 2013 are online shopping and temporary popup stores at malls and shopping centers, Fleming and Robin said.

  But the key to a successful retail year is the creation of a “compelling” shopping experience, Robin said.

  “To have a reason for the consumer to leave the living room and physically go to the store and really get excited,” he said.

  Source: SunSentinal.com, Florida, January 21, 2013 (http://articles.sun-sentinel.com)

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