Manage & Grow

By Shari Waters, About.com Guide to Retailing

It's not easy competing in today's retail environment. Understanding how to provide top-notch customer service, merchandising and marketing is critical to maintaining your share of the market. The following resources will provide insight into managing and growing a successful retail business.

1. Customer Service
2. Inventory Management
3. Store Operations
4. Staffing

Customer Service

Customer service is the heart of retailing. Retailers can keep the customers coming back with customer-friendly policies and by training employees to provide excellent customer service. Learn how to personalize your shop's customer service, create a loyalty program, use Mystery Shopper services or simply deal with disgruntled customers.

• 5 Ways to Lose Customers
• 10 Ways to Turn Off Customers
• 15 Things Retailers Should Never Say
• Convert Returns into Sales

• Customer Comment Cards
• Dealing With the Disgruntled
• Retail Store Evaulations

Inventory Management

Learn how to find products for resale, negotiate the best buying terms, and get tips for writing an inventory plan. How much markup should I put on a product? What's the best merchandise mix for my store? What can I do with my overstocked merchandise? Get answers to these and other inventory buying and management questions.

• 4 Drop Shipping Tips for Retailers
• 10 Tips for Vendor Negotiations
• Choosing Products to Sell
• Benefits of Product Knowledge

• How to Buy Wholesale Merchandise
• Open-To-Buy Planning: Controlling Your Inventory
• Pricing Your Products
• Using Loss Leaders

Store Operations

Running a retail business requires a set of day-to-day policies and procedures. The following resources can help retailers create those daily operating procedures, manage internal control systems, and establish other retailing functions to grow a retail business.

• 10 Ways to Better Your Business
• Establishing Store Policies
• Balancing a Cash Register
• Create a Beat Yesterday Book
• Daily Cash Drawer Report

• Petty Cash and the Cash Drawer
• Retail Store Recovery
• Retail Store Evaulations
• Going Green: Ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
• Store Operation Tips

Staffing

Hire and train new employees, schedule salespersons and be the boss of your retail staff. We'll help define the role of store manager, tell you where to find good employees and give advice for conducting the exit interview.

• 8 Low-Cost Perks: Staffing Incentives
• When and Who Should You Hire?
• Scheduling Employees
• Staff Management Tips

• The Store Meeting
• Staff Meeting Topics
• Retail Store Organization
• The Exit Interview