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One of the marvelous things about owning a store is the opportunity to indulge yourself in buying product for your own use, and at wholesale prices. How cool is that! Frankly, it’s the reason a lot of retailers get into the business in the first place. In fact, the better you are as a buyer, the greater the “indulgence factor” can be! Unfortunately, when the practice gets out of hand, it can destroy what would otherwise be a healthy business. And is it ever easy to have it get out of hand!
A high percentage of new retail operations fail within the first three years. In many cases, self-inflicted wounds like big owner discounts and/or personal expenses charged to the business are to blame. read more ...
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No matter how well you watch cash flow, manage inventory, or make your store attractive to customers, you will lose business if you don’t work to develop your employees. In a high-service industry like specialty-store retail, contact between the salesperson and the customer can make or break the bond between your business and your customers.
As an independent retailer, you are missing a true strategic opportunity if your only employee compensation is handing them a periodic paycheck. Creative compensation, using means other than money, has proven to be a highly successful motivating force from which both management and employees will benefit. And in many instances, thoughtful compensation plans can reduce employee turnover, which saves significant expenses of recruiting, hiring, and training of new staff.
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No retailer really wants to pay for bookkeeping or accounting. But it's necessary for two reasons: (1) to accurately satisfy the I.R.S.; (2) to accurately show where the business has been and where it is now. This second reason is essential for what REALLY matters: doing better in the future! The ROI has developed The Screening Test for Retail Bookkeepers. As an ROI Member you may download a free copy of that test to use as you interview prospective bookkeepers. For more information, see The ROI's "Bookkeeping Articles."