A Shopkeeper's Manual from the Penny Pinching Retailer

Mary Liz Curtin

Salespeople often forget to add these magic words, or an adaptation of them. Think about your product mix and consider how to increase your sales simply by suggesting an additional item or two to each shopper.

>> Check out Mary Liz's tips on how to increase your add-on sales

Mary Liz Curtin

What is the difference between professional buying and just ordering a lot of stuff? Planning, organization and good information make the distinction.

>> Read more on tips for getting great margins

The beginning of the year in retail is really a big project. There are financial reports to run, inventory to count, merchandise to close out, buying trips to plan, and stores to re-merchandise. It’s also the time to think about the coming year and how to improve your business.

>> Read my 5 goals to run a better business

Christmas is done, your store is in order again and it’s time to head to the January shows. There’s lots of opportunities for the savvy retailer and good shopping advice from Mary Liz Curtin.

>> Read more of Mary Liz’s market tips

Seasoned retailer Mary Liz Curtin helps you face the reality of slow sellers. This week she offers great advice on how to make the slow or no-sellers move.

>> Read Mary Liz’s advice on cleaning up the slow sellers

Is there something that could make your customers happy and keep them in your store longer? Are you sitting on a big, fat asset that you are refusing to use?

>> Read more on Mary Liz believes retailers should offer to their customers

In honor of Father's Day, we'll focus on my husband, who is an excellent buyer and merchant. He is also prudent, frugal, and downright cheap, qualities that kept his business alive during the lean years and more profitable in the good ones. While he has declined to be named, he has reluctantly allowed me to write about him. We'll just call him "Steve."

>> Click here to read more of Steve's Lessons

There is no swifter or more direct route into the gift business than birth. Many famous merchants grew up above the stores their parents owned. I didn't grow up over the store, exactly, but I am definitely in this business because of my heritage, specifically my mother.

As we approach Mother's Day, I thought I would share with you some of what I learned from my wonderful Mother, Bert.

>> Click here to read more retail wisdom from Mom

Gift wrapping is highly targeted direct marketing. Every beautifully wrapped present that bears your store’s logo is an advertisement for your shop. Retailer and writer Mary Liz Curtin takes a look at the importance and costs of this marketing practice. She also gives examples of gift wrapping done right and wrong.

>> Read the details of Wrap This

It is amazing to most people that anyone as frugal as I would suggest you pay for something you can get for free, but purchase orders are an expense well worth incurring. Well-planned purchase orders can help you set retails, place orders with the terms that work best for your store, avoid pricing mistakes, and control your open-to-buy.

It isn’t just the department and chain stores with thousands of employees working in hundreds of departments that "drop paper" on their own forms. Even if you are the CEO, principal stock holder, general merchandise manager, clerk, bookkeeper, inventory control specialist, and janitor all rolled into one person (or even two), you will still benefit from having an order form that is designed with your business needs in mind.

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You are probably planning a trip to a trade show right about now, or you will be soon, or maybe you just got back. As I write this, I am planning a few trips to shows and setting my goals. This is my approach, which helps me maximize my time, makes my trips more profitable and lets me forget fewer things. First, I think of my key vendors and reps, make appointments with them during the show and make a list of what we need to accomplish together. I like to work with these most important resources early in the...

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Mary Liz Curtin is a retailer and the author of "A Shopkeeper's Manual from the Penny Pinching Retailer". Read her advice and prepare yourself to visit a OneCoast showroom.

SHOW SPECIALS
Retail success demands new products, exciting displays, and careful attention to the bottom line. You'll need every discount, freight allowance, and opportunity buy you can find. Your customers will be looking for bargains as well as consistent good merchandising. Go to the shows! Find the deals! While you are there, have a little fun, see a show, have a great dinner. Retailers deserve a break, too.

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