Excerpts from The Profitable Retailer

56 surprisingly simple and effective lessons to boost your sales and profits!

book details

Paperback: 228 pages
Publisher: Acanthus Publishing (November 7, 2005)
ISBN: 1933631260
Price: $19.95
Shipping Information: Free ground, Priority Mail upgrade only $2.00

preface

....My first job was in retail; I had just turned sixteen when I was hired to work in the stationery department of a regional mass merchandiser, Turnstyle, owned by the now defunct Jewel Corporation. I remember I was so proud when they gave me my blue vest and pinned my nametag on me.

My first task was to build an end-cap of back-to-school supplies. Being my first end-cap, I wanted it to be perfect, so I spent a bit more time building it than my new boss had planned.

When it was done about eight hours later, I couldn’t help but spend a few minutes admiring this monument to retailing I had just created. All of a sudden, I heard my boss roar loudly, “Fleener, I have never, ever had anyone take so long to build an end-cap. From now on I’m calling you Flash Fleener.” Of course, being a new employee and a naïve teenager, I took that as a compliment. I mean Flash Fleener did sound like a retail superhero. I was picturing it as I stood there. 

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introduction

.....Our challenge as retailers is we’re so busy running our stores that we don’t have time to run our businesses. (I define running the store as performing the tasks necessary to be in business and running your business as the strategies and plans necessary to be successful.) To achieve long term success you, the owner, must find the time to run your store and run your business.

Time is a precious commodity for all of us. Besides having a business to run, most of us also have to juggle families, spouses, children, hobbies, civic involvement, and a host of other everyday events. Who has time to plan? Or learn? The bigger issue: who can afford not to?

This book is written specifically for you, the overworked, overextended independent retailer. It’s written with the understanding that you’re busy and you don’t have a lot of time to read about theories or case studies. It assumes that you’re already a retailer. This is not another how-to retail book; there are plenty of those already written. Rather, this is a collection of lessons I’ve learned, if you want to sell more products, be a better marketer, make more money, and live a more comfortable life.

If you’re looking for easy answers, this book is not for you. If retail success could be distilled from a single book, then every store would be wildly successful, or none of them would, since everyone would be trying to be a retailer. The fact is no one will know your business better than you. The goal of this book is to offer up new perspectives, ask questions, and stimulate your thinking so you expand your mind, your sales, and your profits.

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