by Board Retailers Association | Jul 11, 2021 | Resources, Retail Strategy
Christmas in July…or August. We’ve all heard the phrase but planning for successful holidays is more important. It’s summer and a lot of retailers need to be thinking about what they will do differently for the upcoming holidays. The good news is Covid is on the wane in the U.S. But with labor shortages and supply chain issues still impacting us for the foreseeable future, you can’t just hope you’ll have a better holiday season. Even though the NRF is expecting a 10-13% jump in sales for 2021, the media will still be broadcasting how expectations are soft for retail sales this shopping season. To get your piece of the retail renaissance, take action now. Here are my top nine actions you need to take to have a successful holiday season. Clean out your stockroom. A few years ago the FDA admitted that they found smallpox vials from the fifties in a walk-in cooler no one had regularly looked at. Old merchandise in your back room is just as deadly. Take a helper and remove every box, open it, sort it and throw out the junk. Put anything possibly salvageable on sale prior to Labor Day. Clean out your store. I’m talking about down to the fixtures here. Remove every box, bag, or tag. Sweep or mop every floor surface. Get your carpets cleaned. The whole goal is to look as new as possible. Repair, repaint and relight. Once everything is clean, notice the chipped paint, the broken furniture, the yellowed signage and fix them. Have someone take a razor blade to your glass surfaces and get rid of all those tape residues from mask and...
by Board Retailers Association | Jul 10, 2021 | Associate Members, News, Resources
To the members of Board Retailers Association: We have exciting news to share with you! As you may have heard Board Retailers Association has partnered with LIG Solutions to bring our members comprehensive and affordable health coverage solutions that are designed for individuals, families, and business owners along with their employees across the United States. They have just released a brand-new element to this program that we are excited to introduce to you! As a part of the LIG Association Health Program, our members can now take advantage of the brand-new LIG Solutions Rx, which is a national pharmacy program that is revolutionizing the way you get your Prescription Drugs and their pricing. This is a cost-effective monthly membership program (NOT a discount/savings card or insurance) that has real pharmacists, based out of Akron, Ohio assisting you, the member. They are focused on helping our members achieve the highest quality of life through medication, counseling, education, and adherence to the latest pharmacology standards. The LIG Solutions Rx Benefits include: Set pricing on all medications:Acute medications (immediate need)Chronic medications (maintenance)Over-the-counter medications (ex: Allegra, Advil, Tylenol)Pick up at any pharmacy at a set price for acute medicationsHome delivery service for chronic and over-the-counter medicationsExclusive SaveOnDiabetes program, which includes:No cost meters and a starter kit with test strips/lancetsLow-cost test strips and lancetsFREE oral diabetes medicationsInsulin for $19.88 per vialMost acute medications are $5/21 day, and chronic medications are $15/90 day supply.All medications are American sourced and shipped securely with trackingLicensed Pharmacist coaching to ensure you’re getting the most cost-effective options To learn more about this program, visit www.LIGmembers.com/boardretailersassociation and click on the...
by Board Retailers Association | Jul 7, 2021 | Associate Members, Local Search, Point of Sale, Resources, Retail Strategy
Consumer Behavior is Changing One of the most inescapable business themes of the past decade is the evolution of consumer shopping behavior. Nearly every business news story about consumers involves the application of new technology to everyday life. Whether it is something as simple as reserving a table for dinner or as complex as renting a vacation home in a foreign currency on the other side of the world, internet-based technologies have raised the bar for what’s expected in day-to-day commerce. Locally was founded by a group of retailers in 2013 to address the gap between what evolving consumers expect and what’s needed for local retailers and their suppliers to thrive. Identifying the Problem for Retailers When we read stories about how these changes have affected various industries, physical retail is often held up as an example of an industry that has failed to stay current with technology-based solutions. Stores have limited hours, significant physical location costs, a smaller assortments of merchandise, and usually require shoppers to get in a car and come to them. It’s easy to see why pundits would expect physical retail to be toppled by a more modernized shopping paradigm. Still, these issues are not insurmountable, and physical retail continues to play a major role in shopper behavior (arguably the largest). Stores like Apple and Lululemon that have combined digital and physical retail have absolutely thrived in recent years. It seems that having physical locations near customers is less of a problem than creating digital connections to shoppers. Locally has served as a natural extension of our business – and aligns perfectly with our goal...
by Board Retailers Association | Jul 4, 2021 | Associate Members, Industry, News, Resources, Retail Strategy, Surf
Well, you can. And it starts at just $10 a month. Posted by: STAB What’s worse: breaking your new board first session, or watching every person you love getting mauled by a voracious pack of lions? Answer: the lions, but only just. New Board Anxiety is a serious medical condition that affects millions of surfers worldwide. If you or any surfer you know has suffered from this debilitating ailment, we present you with a viable (if only marginally costly) solution: Surfcare. First and foremost, and despite how that intro read, this is not an advertisement. Or, I guess technically it is, but the crew at Surfcare didn’t pay a penny for it, so good on them for creating a product so inherently fascinating that we couldn’t help but write about it. Second, Surfcare is exactly what it sounds like: AppleCare for your surfboard. It’s actual, genuine, real-life protection that you can buy as financial protection against a dinged or broken board. Here are their available plans: Below we chatted with Nick Stolz, founder of Surfcare, to get more info on his product and see if the juice is truly worth the squeeze. What inspired you to start this company? Well, I grew up breaking a ton of boards! Maybe I took that “stomp it” saying a little too literally [laughs]. I came up with the idea in Indonesia three years ago after running through a quiver at HTs. It’s a bad feeling when you spend a bunch of money on a new board and break it first session, or even at all. We all know the feeling. So Surfcare was...
by Board Retailers Association | Jun 30, 2021 | Associate Members, Educational Opportunity, Industry, Resources, Retail Strategy
Yesterday, Board Retailers Association hosted the second of many relevant and helpful quarterly webinars on a variety of topics in collaboration with BRA Supporting Vendor Partner Management One. “Embracing the New Metrics in Retail: How To Ride the Wave of Post-Pandemic Success” Presented by Paul Erickson of Management One SPECIAL GUESTS: Doug Works of Board Retailers Association and Coco Tihanyi, BRA board member and co-owner of Surf Diva While no one was prepared for the severity of the impact from COVID-19, some businesses were able to better withstand the shutdown. The pandemic exposed overly leveraged retailers. Retailers with too much debt. Retailers with poor inventory management techniques. The good news is that it is possible to right the ship and develop new habits that will shield your business from future disruptions. As retail continues to evolve and adapt to changing consumer preferences and new technologies, it is increasingly critical to develop newer, more relevant metrics to accurately value and measure retail finances. Our live Q&A included Paul Erickson of Management One along with Doug Works, Executive Director of Board Retailers Association and Coco Tihanyi, BRA board member and co-owner of Surf Diva to explore viewpoints from both sides of the equation. Board Retailers Association kicked off the first of many relevant and helpful quarterly webinars on a variety of topics in collaboration with BRA Supporting Vendor Partner Management One on March 30, 2021. “Alan Roseman at Management One has been a great partner to have for my business. He helps not only manage inventory and cash flow but has proven to be a valuable consultant on marketing, expansion, hiring, advertising...
by Board Retailers Association | Jun 29, 2021 | Resources, Retail Strategy
When looking to handle objections, you have to ask one more question to really get to the heart of the matter. You’ve heard me say the worst thing you can say when trying to sell something at the end of a sale is Anything Else? That’s because you are closing the door on the customer’s interest. After a customer has decided on one item, a good salesperson would paint a picture of suggestively selling an additional item that goes with the first item the customer chose to purchase. Sometimes though, particularly with higher-priced retail sales, you can ask Anything else? to smoke out hidden objections. Linda Abrams Fleming, a salesperson with Haynes Furniture in Virginia Beach, Virginia, shared the following story about refusing to give up on a customer by asking this one final question. She had engaged a woman who needed new carpeting for her home. Her pet had passed away and the carpet needed replacing. The shopper had not purchased new carpeting in over 10 years. They had a conversation about her lifestyle…she had just retired, was on a fixed income, had a new puppy, and lived alone. Discover 12 Tips To Become Top Salesperson “Jane” fell in love with three products and Linda worked up an estimate. The price was much higher than Jane expected. Linda mentioned they had interest-free financing for 36 months but Jane wanted to pay for it at one time and not have a monthly bill. They looked for alternative products that would be less costly but Jane kept coming back to her original selections. As Linda tried to close the sale it became apparent Jane wanted...
