Last week, due to an extenuating circumstance I was unable to bring our faithful readers the weekly roundup. BUT I’m back this week, a day early and with an extra news story as an added bonus. The first feature article this week provides fantastic point of sale advice for small retailers involved in the fitness industry and it comes straight from a know business fitness expert. The second article in this weeks roundup focuses on something many of you might not have thought of…spring cleaning your point of sale area and other select areas of your small business. Getting organized and presenting a clean environment will defiantly help improve customer satisfaction in turn leading to an increase in overall profit. The third article offers a list of ten strengths your small retail employees need to have. The next feature is an impressive story of a small retail mom that used RatePoint as a way to gain trust and grow her business. The fifth article (which is usually the last) is proof that small businesses using Facebook as a way to communicate with their customers is working in a very positive way. The last bonus featured article is an invaluable list of six Web 2.0 tools that every small retail business should be taking advantage of to grow their customer base.
1. POS: Are you leveraging this? – This is an excellent article written by Sean Greeley, a leading fitness business owner. In the article Sean outlines the importance of a POS in your retail business and how improve the efficiency of your point of sale.
2. How to Increase Sales With a Company-Wide Clean-Up – This article reminds a small retailer of something you might overlook that could be costing you time and profits. Cleaning and organizing the clutter around your point of sale and other areas of your business is an easy to do task that will bring a ton of benefits. The author offers tips on where to start along with five steps to getting organized in your small retail establishment.
3. The 10 essential strengths of front-line retail employees – All small retailers know how important your retail staff is in retaining customer satisfaction. This article offers some wonderful tips on helping your employees have a better initial engagement with customers. There are also 10 essential traits or skills your retail employees need to have in order to provide the quality you need to succeed.
4. Retailer SmartMomma gains trust, grows business with RatePoint – an inspiring story of a small retailer that has used RatePoint’s small business service to grow her business by establishing trust through her customer relationships. RatePoint offers a 30 day trial for small retail business that would like to try their services.
5. New study reveals impact of Facebook on retail – The latest Morpace Omnibus study shows that small retailers using Facebook to connect with their customers have a distinct advantage over their competitors. This is positive news for small retail businesses that have implemented some type of Social Media strategy for marketing customer service.
6. Six Web 2.0 Tools Retailers Need to Know About – This is the bonus article of the week and the most important especially after reading the article above. The author lays out six essential Web 2.0 tools that small retailers should be using. Some of these tools are Foursquare, Groupon, Yelp and more. The author does an excellent job at describing the service as well as the potential of each for small retailers.