The Retail Owners Institute®
The Retail Owners Institute® is a web-based resource at www.RetailOwner.com. Now the "foremost self-help resource" on retail finance, The ROI® serves independent retailers worldwide, 24/7. With its emphasis on the basics of retail finance, inventory management and cash flow control, The ROI is particularly relevant to owners and decision-makers of retail operations with up to 100 stores (especially those who may be accounting-averse!) The ROI has been called "a WebMD for retail owners."
By Retailers, for Retailers. 24/7
The ROI's information and resources about the business of stores is simply unmatched. It serves a fast-growing audience of more than 18,000 unique visitors each month from around the world. These decision-makers are seeking practical information on how to better control their retail business.
- more than 200 webpages of content exclusively for independent retailers, available 24/7, worldwide
- more than 50 in-depth articles by retail experts, usefully explaining the why's and how's of retail financial management
- performance benchmarks for 50+ separate retail segments/verticals
- online "calculators": key ratios, GMROI, turnover, cash flow, P&L planner, 3-in-1 integrated cash flow calculator
- multi-department Executive Open-to-Buy Calculator for merchandise buying plans online
Is Your Organization Dependent on Independent Retailers?
In addition, The ROI offers special programs for organizations and associations that serve independent retailers. These include:
The content featured at The ROI is the proprietary intellectual property of Outcalt & Johnson: Retail Strategists, LLC. It is focused exclusively on retail, and specifically on financial issues that are unique to retailers.
For the last nine years, the retail consulting team of Pat Johnson and Dick Outcalt have been assembling a unique self-help website to assist retailers worldwide with basic financial training, assistance and easy-to-use tools. Itʼs much like a WebMD for retailers. Amazingly, last year over 200,000 retailers accessed it!
The website is called The Retail Owners Institute® (“The ROI”), at www.RetailOwner.com. When you check it out, look for a wealth of information about cash flow, Open-to-Buy, turnaround strategies, financial statements, bank negotiations, etc. Plus, there are benchmark numbers for more than 50 different retail segments, from hardware stores to convenience stores to shoe stores. See how you compare to your industryʼs average performance statistics!
As Pat and Dick added more and more of their previously-published how-to articles, then their full-day basic financial seminar, 10-minute webinars on retail financial topics, and recently four dynamite simple calculators specifically for retailers, their own “economics” loomed. Now, for about two-thirds of the
total site, membership is necessary. But itʼs only $24.95 per month. In fact, organizations such as Hallmark Cards, Pet Industry Distributors Association, Consumer Electronics Association, QuickBooks Retail Solutions, and others are sponsoring full access to the Members-Only Collection at The ROI for
their retailers. For instance, all Hallmark Gold Crown retailers can click through from Hallmark Gold Crown Retail University directly to the entire Institute any time they have a financial question, 24/7, and do so for free!
As the president of one national retail trade association recently said in January 2009, “Thereʼs not much we can do to help our membersʼ top line. But by offering them all of The ROI, maybe we can help them with their bottom line.”
Pat and Dickʼs “mission” is to continually make The ROI more and more useful to owners of retail businesses everywhere. They welcome your ideas, constructive criticism, and suggestions. You may contact them directly: Patricia M. Johnson and Richard F. Outcalt, Co-Founders, The Retail Owners Institute®.
Patricia M. Johnson, CMC and Richard F. Outcalt, CMC
Co-Founders, The Retail Owners Institute®
Pat Johnson and Dick Outcalt, the Co-Founders of The ROI®, are recognized experts in strategic retailing. Working only as a team – Outcalt & Johnson: Retail Strategists, LLC – they have been consulting, publishing, and speaking professionally throughout North America since 1990. They focus exclusively on retail, or wherever retail is involved. They work with CEOs, CFOs, boards and owners of retail operations, as well as manufacturers or wholesalers expanding into retail, retail property owners or developers, equity partners, and lending institutions. In addition:
- Their how-to articles on retail management have been purchased and published more than 1,100 times by trade publications from more than 40 separate retail niches;
- They have been retained by associations and organizations to present their concepts at conferences and trade shows, reaching more than 10,000 independent retailers;
- Outcalt & Johnson have been quoted regarding retail issues in Business Week, Time Magazine, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, as well as local and regional publications;
- And, on four different occasions, Pat & Dick have been invited by The National Retail Federation to speak at its annual international show and conference in New York City.
Pat Johnson is a graduate of Whitman College, and founded her own strategic planning consulting practice in 1976, working with businesses and institutions based in the Pacific Northwest. Prior to that, she was an officer of a national bank, director of a college news service, and co-published a national newsletter for practicing design professionals. She has served as a trustee of an independent K-8 school in Seattle. Pat is a Certified Management Consultant, the highest accreditation in management consulting, and is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants and the National Retail Federation.
Dick Outcalt is a graduate of Duke University, and earned an MBA in retailing from the University of Pittsburgh. He was an executive for a national department store organization, and for ten years was owner/operator of three independent specialty stores. In 1977, he formed his own private consulting practice (thus making him the "junior" partner of OJRS). He was president of both the Foundation for Private Enterprise Education and a national board member of the Institute of Management Consultants, Washington, D.C. He is a Certified Management Consultant, the highest accreditation in management consulting, and is a member of the Institute of Management Consultants and the National Retail Federation.
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