Showrooming is a bit of a new trend. Your customers, even in small towns, are standing in your store and using their smartphone to compare your price with online retailers. If the product is cheaper at the online store, they order it immediately, and you just lost a sale. For small town retailers, this can…
As we walked through downtown Belton, Texas, we stumbled on this live window display. The little girl and boy were clearly enjoying being part of the window display, and they certainly caught our eye. We didn’t step in to buy anything, but stopping people in their tracks is a first step. It gives you a…
Another weird retail idea from who-knows-where in my brain: Hide an item. But hide it so people can’t avoid noticing it. Premium items in boxes and bagsbeg to be opened. In a retail store, cover an item with a cloth or box it. You can label it “open me to see the new ___.” Or…
When I recently co-hosted an online chat with Jim Kukral for NFIB, one attendee asked about how to get more people to come through the doors during the holiday season. It’s a great question and I have some tips that can help. Want more people to come throughthe doors? Dress up your external spaceand put…
At the Revitalize WA conference I sat in on a session by Scott Day with Urban Development Services, on Fifty Ideas for Retailers That Cost Less than $50. This is part two of the best of his tips. Go back and catch part one: Small Town Retail Ideas.Floor Plans Boehs Hardware in Helena, Oklahoma,has an open floor plan,baskets…
At the Revitalize WA conference I sat in on a session by Scott Day with Urban Development Services, on Fifty Ideas for Retailers That Cost Less than $50. People are not buying the same way they did three years ago. People are thinking and buying “inexpensive” far more often. Scott recommended a few tactics to…
“People are four times more likely to buy something they can touch.” That’s quite a promise. The quote is from Scott Taddiken, of the Washburn Small Business Development Center, quoted in the Agurban in 2009 and repeated this week. Photo by revger, on Flickr I went searching for the source of that “four times more likely to buy” statistic….
Setting retail prices is like some arcane art form. How the heck are you supposed to figure out what to markup items in your retail business when no one wants to give you real numbers? Here are two starting points for setting retail prices and markups. Keystoning Keystone pricing is simple and fairly common….
Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.
We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.
Meet our authors on the About page.
Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.
If you would like permission to re-use an article you’ve read here, please make a Reprint Request.
Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.
We partner with campaigns and organizations that we think best benefit rural small businesses.
