 A regular contributor to Home Goods Online, Alixe MacRae is one of this country's best known merchandisers. She most recently served as assistant general manager for Stoney Creek Furniture. Based in Stoney Creek, Ontario, SCF is recognized as one of Canada's best recognized destination furniture stores. Prior to joining SCF, MacRae held senior merchandising posts at both The Bay and Sears Canada and was a long-time member of the Canadian Home Furnishings Awards jury.
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 Pricing has always been a tough nut to crack. Over the past decade or so, furniture retailers have seen almost mind-blowing changes to how the product on the floor is priced. For example, who would have predicted leather upholstery's fall into commodity price points? Telling a buyer in 1998 or even 2000 that a three-seat leather sofa would be advertised at $299 in 2013 would have generated a snort of disgust. |
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"How Might We' is a phrase coined by Warren Berger, a blogger the Harvard Business Review who claims these are the three words most commonly used by successful entrepreneurs. In a post to the HBR web site last September, he said: "Some of the most successful companies in business today are known for tackling difficult creative challenges by first asking, How might we improve X ... or completely re-imagine Y... or find a new way to accomplish Z?" |
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Many people, especially independent retailers of my acquaintance tend to think of older people as not being the customers that spend money. If that's your view, you could be very, very wrong. |
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Every retailer wants to differentiate themselves, to stand out from the crowd regardless of the product or service he's selling. It's the single most important key competitive advantage and it nothing to do with price points or profit dollars. Standing out from the crowd means yours will be the first store the client thinks of when it comes to service. |
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It won't surprise any seasoned retailer, especially one that studies retailing, to learn that Apple Stores are now number one in dollars earned per square foot and, at 42.4%; their margin isn't tiny for an electronics store. What's often more difficult to appreciate is their business model is to fish, not hunt, for customers. In other words, they capitalize on the customers that walk in the door. |
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