Operations

Are you providing good customer service both online and in person? A recent survey from the National Retail Federation shows that customers’ expectations for online service are the same as what they want when they walk into your physical store. More than likely, …

Your business should always be growing, or it will eventually die. What questions should you ask when you think you about expansion? And which route should or can you go? These topics and more were covered in Hardware Retailing‘s October issue that …

View a PDF of this story and download a brief store expansion guide that helps you analyze growth opportunities if you want to expand.  Overcoming the Challenges That Come With Growing Your Business In 1998, Jeremy Melnick made a risky life change. He …

Several large corporations have invested in Fitbit devices to motivate their employees to improve their health, and Target has joined the club. Target is offering activity trackers from Fitbit Inc. to its 335,000 U.S. employees. This move is an attempt to improve workers’ fitness levels …

To view a PDF of this story, click here. Visit hardwareretailing.com/peer-critique for a critique sheet and hardwareretailing.com/store-tours for a tour of the two different stores. The partnerships started as a pact between three California retailers who knew each other through their co-op. The store …

Some California retailers’ model for offering each other business feedback inspired this peer critique that Hardware Retailing tested with two retailers in the Midwest. The goal of the project is to provide you with resources and ideas for connecting with and learning from …

“I’ll be brutally honest with you if you’ll be brutally honest with me” is what three retailers in California promised each other when they started visiting each other’s stores to offer feedback. Those retailers started what they call the Pterodactyl …

Prior to 2011, the three Ace retailers would call each other to ask for retailing advice, share stories and brainstorm ways to boost business. That was before they called themselves the Pterodactyl Management Group. The friends realized they could visit each other’s stores and offer more thorough …