As the Holidays approach it seems that is the only thing that is on everyone’s mind. Small retailers, big box stores, consumers and experts all have a prediction for the “Holiday Sale” season. This being so, you will see many articles featured in the upcoming weekly roundups about the Holidays but be sure to keep tuned in as many of these will be tips and suggestions for small retailers. This week we start off with a genuine point of sale software review which caught my eye since it’s about our featured sponsor. The next is a follow up article from Business Week naming the three small businesses they will be following during the next month. This week the must read is the Holiday Survival Guide put out by the National Retail Federation and that’s followed by a great suggestion about promotion to your customers. We end the weekly roundup with a few things all retailers could learn from Apple.
1. MerchantOS – Point of Sale Goes to the Cloud – As I said above this is an honest review I found posted by a brick and mortar PC shop that recently decided to go with MerchantOS as their POS software solution. Chris, the owner of Charm City Networks explains why he needed a point of sale solution for his business, why he chose this solution and how the entire process went.
2. Introducing: Tales of Holiday Retail – Last month we featured an article by Business Week stating that they were looking for a few small retailers to follow during the next eight weeks of the Holiday shopping season. Well the results are in…read the article to see the three small retailers that BW will be following.
3. 2009 Holiday Survival Kit – This is actually a downloadable pdf file that is provided by the National Retail Federation (NRF). They cover past holiday sales, sales by sector, theft/fraud, advertising, gift cards and much more. Go on over and grab your free copy, its well worth a couple clicks of your mouse.
4. Shop Local: Authenticity as a Key Holiday Promotion – Another great article by John Tozzi over at Business Week. Ever think of focusing on Thanksgiving instead of Christmas? It’s not to late, find out how to boost your Holiday sales early. Use the buy local movement and giving some authenticity.
“Independent brick-and-mortar retailers have a key advantage over big box competitors: Their stores are rooted in their communities. Small business owners can leverage that sense of place and connection to people who live there in a way that’s very hard for Target or Best Buy to replicate.”
5. Five things any retailer can learn from Apple – I first thought WHAT? Then I thought HMMM…this is good. The Retail Customer Experience again delivers a clever, useful article on five lessons you could learn from Apple.