July 11, 2019 – Independent Retailer magazine, the official publication of WholesaleCentral.com and a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumner Communications, is excited to announce the promotion of Ms. Krystina Morgan to Managing Editor of the magazine and its associated web site. Adding to her original duties as editor of The Merchandiser magazines, Morgan will lead the […]
Retail News
How Your Store’s Layout and Presentation Can Help Sales
by Lizzie Weakley The front end of your store is responsible for most of your customer experience. A great layout and thoughtful presentation will result in increased sales across the board. Impressions Are Everything A store sells an experience as much as it sells a product. In a world where customers can order most items […]
Refunds Don’t Have To Be the Pain Point of Retail
Returns have always been a touchy subject for retailers. You have to know your battlegrounds and find that sweet spot to not only keep customers happy, but also to keep your store up and running. Returnly, the post-purchase payments company for retailers and brands that care about customer loyalty, is changing the return experience for […]
Amazon Prime Day Boosts Sales Across Entire Retail Industry
Amazon Prime Day is an annual sale event for Amazon members typically held in mid-July. Prime Day, though recently founded in 2015, quickly grew to one of retail’s biggest shopping days. In 2018, Prime Day brought in over $4.2 billion in sales, with 40 percent of consumers making impulse purchases. The sale includes Amazon’s private […]
The Complexities of Being an Independent & Small Retailer
The past decade has brought about a number of new challenges for independent retailers. To survive and thrive in today’s fiercely competitive market, sellers of all kinds need to change how they think. This infographic from Storetraffic looks at some of the challenges of being an independent retailer in 2019 and offers a handy survival […]
Robots are Finally Rolling Into Retail Stores
In April, employees of Stop & Shop, a grocery chain in New England, went on strike for eleven days. However, there was one notable exception. Marty, Shop & Shop’s newest employee, continued his work in the stores’ aisles. Marty is also a robot. At the beginning of the year, Stop & Shop deployed Marty the […]
How BOPIS Can Boost Your Bottom Line
According to Retail TouchPoints, 90 percent of retailers plan to implement buy-online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) by 2021. And, for good reason: more than half of consumers nationwide have used BOPIS within the past year. 61 percent of shoppers that use this pickup tool end up buying more products when they visit the store to pick […]
6 Tips for Sizzling Summer Sales
With Memorial Day Weekend just behind us, the summer season is officially in full swing. The summer season is an exciting time for retailers and shoppers alike as temperatures rise, vacations are planned, and impulse buys soar as more people are spending time outdoors. Tap into this excitement with creative marketing campaigns and a refreshed […]
Bath & Beyond Falters
Bed Bath & Beyond is struggling. After seven back-to-back quarters of declining same-store sales, the company has announced that it’s reconsidering leases. Last month, the retailer also laid off 150 employees. It’s shares have dropped about 80 percent since Bed Bath & Beyond’s heyday in 2015. Now, the retailer is struggling to find investors, according […]
11 Ways to Combat Showrooming
According to Techopedia, showrooming is “when a shopper visits a store to check out a product but then purchases the product online… This occurs because, while many people still prefer seeing and touching the merchandise they buy, many items are available at lower prices through online vendors. As such, local stores essentially become showrooms for […]
