There are several marketing strategies you as an independent retailer can use to your advantage when it comes to pricing. Read about three below: Establish a Price Image First, take a step back and look at the big picture. What …
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Win at Retail: Build a Great Staff
“You have great employees,” is the comment I want to hear most from customers. It goes right to the heart of a strategy that is essential to compete in today’s volatile retail environment. Customers’ expectations are higher than ever. Whether …
Read More »Know the Basics of Forklift Training Safety
This 142-page training presentation from Compliance and Safety LLC, a supplier of safety training videos, encompasses a lot more than just the forklift itself. It also covers OSHA standard requirements that involve areas around forklift operation. Click here to download the presentation.
Read More »‘Independents’ Day’: Smaller Stores Can Stand Up to Their Behemoth Rivals
“City hardware store survives despite bigger retail options.” So ran the headline last November in the local newspaper for Pottsville, Pa. (population 14,229). The story focused on the seemingly unlikely survival of Pottsville’s Centre Street Hardware, which had managed to …
Read More »Hot Commodities: Five Ways to Cope with Fluctuating Raw Material Costs
Most retailers know there are just some things beyond their control. For those heavily selling building materials and lumber, constant changes in commodities pricing are almost always at the top of that list of variables. Between slowed domestic new-home construction …
Read More »Do You Have A Health Care Game Plan?
Health care is a big topic on every retailer’s mind right now, especially as more elements of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) come to fruition. The ACA comes with plenty of questions: What, in the way of insurance, is a …
Read More »Wisconsin Retailer Local Source for Winterizing
When tourists in Siren, Wis., need to get their cabins ready for the winter or opened up in the spring, they know Jenneman’s Hardware Hank will lend a hand. “We’re in a tourist area with a lot of lakes,” manager …
Read More »Let Customers Try It Before They Buy It
Mario Giannetti wants customers looking for new bathroom fixtures to have a one-of-a-kind shopping experience. With Preston Bathroom Design Centre, they can do just that. The 10,000-square-foot, two-story center, located at Preston Hardware in Ottawa, Ontario, features two floors of …
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