Wholesale Central and Pinnacle Cart Forge Partnership

Wholesale Central, the Internet’s leading directory of wholesale suppliers, has joined forces with leading eCommerce provider Pinnacle Cart in an effort to make selling wholesale merchandise on the Internet easier than ever before. The partnership launched with the latest release of Pinnacle Cart, version 3.7.11, which includes an automated data feed to Wholesale Central’s proprietary product search feature. In addition to Wholesale Central’s product feed integration, the new version of Pinnacle Cart includes new quality templates, an eCommerce... 

NRF Video Finalists

What is retail? Who better to tell us than those committed to the industry and making a livelihood from it. With sponsorship from the NRF, a national video contest known as, “This is Retail,” was launched to learn more about the role of retail in the U.S. Kicking off the contest, NRF president and CEO, Matthew Shay, announced, “We’re on a hunt to find the best retail stories in America, from marketing geniuses to customer service superstars, to small business owners who are the fabric of every local community.” Between March 5 and 16,... 

Web Sales Top Charts

Digital shopping channels are undeniably a growing trend among bargain hunters, special occasion shoppers, and even shoppers looking for everyday merchandise, enticing many brick and mortars to try their hand at a B2C site. The web has become a powerful resource for fast browsing and convenient purchasing, and as a result, ecommerce merchants continue to generate the most sales. According to an analysis of 100 web only merchants, 59 retail chains, 27 catalog and call centers, and 14 consumer brand manufacturers for the forthcoming 2012 Top 500 Guide,... 

Pet Product Marketing

It is undeniable that the pet industry continues to be a lucrative area of retail, but MarketWatch.com suggests, “The U.S. pet market has yet to come fully into its own.” Shoppers of pet products have shown great favoritism towards high priced specialty retail channels, with discount stores vying for attention, but with a close eye on trends, the pet market can be profitable for any retail outlet. A great resource is the recent March 2012 consumer survey, U.S. Pet Market Outlook 2012-2013, a go-to source for a complete understanding of the U.S.... 

Spring Sales Fever

For many store owners it was an early spring, with warm weather and high demand for spring fashions, and retailers saw a clear boost in revenue. From discount and department stores to smaller brick and mortars, retailers reported better than expected sales in March, a sign that Americans are feeling better about the economy. And as Industry Leaders magazine points out, “Even though only a few retailers report monthly figures, industry analysts believe March sales itself is a strong reason to be optimistic. This is because the numbers offer a picture... 

NRF Video Contest Finalists Left to Public Vote

What is retail? Who better to tell us than those committed to the industry and making a livelihood from it. With sponsorship from the NRF, a national video contest known as “This is Retail,” was launched to learn more about the role of retail in the U.S. Kicking off the contest, NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay, announced, “We’re on a hunt to find the best retail stories in America, from marketing geniuses to customer service superstars to small business owners, who are the fabric of every local community.” Final Round of Judging on... 

Web Presence a Priority

While a retailer’s ultimate goal is to sell, other strategic initiatives need to be met in order to attain the best profitability. For instance, “Though customers have always been a company’s top priority, customer satisfaction will get a huge facelift this year,” says NRF president and CEO, Matthew Shay, after seeing the results of, “Retail Horizons: Benchmarks for 2011, Forecasts for 2012,” report, sponsored by NRF and KPMG LLP. According to the survey, nearly 67 percent of companies rank customer satisfaction as the top strategic... 

Strong Teenage Market

Independent retailers finding retail space in today’s increasingly vacant malls and shopping centers may experience greater benefits beyond negotiable rent and lease terms, particularly for those mom and pops serving a younger demographic. While it may seem a cliché, teens make up the majority of traffic flow in today’s malls. However, their presence goes beyond the food court and the Friday night date scene, browsing the storefronts as a savvy, cash carrying market force that no retailer wants to turn away. A recent Scarborough Research survey... 

Tax Refunds to Savings?

Tax season, a time of celebratory credit or sometimes miscalculated debt, means more than compiling a list of deductions to hand over to the accountant. For retailers, it typically means increased sales, as consumers go out to spend some unexpected money provided by their tax refund. According to NRF’s Tax Returns Consumer Survey conducted by BIGinsight, retailers should not expect an early spring spending spree. This year, 43.8 percent of those expecting refunds will stash some of the cash as savings, up from 42.l percent last year, and the most... 

Strict Return Policies

The return of stolen merchandise and used non-defective merchandise, including special occasion apparel and certain electronics, continues to pose a huge problem for online retailers and brick and mortars alike. These all too common types of return fraud cost American retailers $14.4 billion in 2011, according to the National Retail Federation, up from $9.4 billion in 2009. The holiday season alone cost retailers an estimated $3.48 billion in return fraud. While both the online and offline communities suffer, online stores are particularly vulnerable,... 

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