myRetailer.ca

Find Your Fire event at Ryerson University was a tremendous success.

Click here to view the video highlights and podcasts.

Zoran Kocovski, Principal of Sassafraz kicked off the event and shared his passion for the restaurant industry with a tribute to his journey to becoming one of Toronto’s foremost dining destinations. The round table panel then engaged in discussions with the audience on topics ranging from how to create a business plan to how to use marketing and public relations tools to promote a restaurant business.

Dr. Roy Morley began the second session with his 30 tips for small businesses, followed by a moving presentation from keynote speaker Tom Mihalik of Tom’s Place. Tom shared his emotional journey to becoming a Kensington Market institution. The second round table discussion covered topics related to social media and start-up businesses. (more…)

Chip technology gives customers a reason to shop at your business

With Christmas fast approaching, Canadian small businesses would be wise to get chipped. New findings compiled by Moneris Solutions, the largest payment processor, show merchants who process chip card transactions are experiencing far fewer chargebacks related to increased security and fraud detection.

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Be an ember, Lululemon’s leader says

A coach’s job is to ignite the flame and nurture the team’s success, Christine Day tells entrepreneurs. I’ve probably been organized since I was about two,” says Christine Day, president and CEO of yoga-inspired clothing retailer lululemon athletica since June of 2008. “I’m one of those people who just orders things. Part of relaxation for me would be organizing a closet.”

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Flaherty seeks voluntary changes to card fees

Proposed code would level playing field for retailers, finance minister says

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty has proposed a voluntary code of conduct for credit and debit card providers that he says will “level the playing field” for consumers and small businesses.

“This proposed code would promote fair business practices and ensure merchants and consumers clearly understand the costs,” Flaherty said Thursday at Mrs. Tiggy Winkles, an Ottawa-area toy store. “Today is the start of a conversation to be had in the weeks ahead.”

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It’s now fall and before we know it, the new-year will be upon us. With the calendar year quickly drawing to a close, have you started your 2010 planning yet? If you haven’t – what are you waiting for?

Like many retailers, we’re starting to place orders for early 2010 inventory purchases. While doing this, we’ve already started creating our marketing plan for next year (The Government of Canada has a great tool for Developing a Marketing Plan). This is a crucial component to our success. As we review vendor programs and place orders for the new-year, we schedule our marketing plan and featured products well in advance. This allows us to purchase specifically for our features, as well as source and jump on great opportunities when they come across our desk.

To give you an example, we’ve just negotiated a special buy with one of our vendors on a line of good quality solar pathway lights. They would normally cost us approximately $6 each to get them into the store (retail $11.99). However on a direct import program, because of the quantities we’re committing to, we can get the price down to under $3.50 each. So instead of buying maybe 48 units, we’re committing to 288 and will be featuring them as a Door Crasher Special at $4.97!

Now you might think that we’re sacrificing margins, down from 50% to 30%. I challenge you to do the math. A profit of $6 on 48 units equals $288, and will create little to no excitement. However if you make $1.50 on 288 units, you will have a profit of $432 and you will create lots of excitement.

Between now and the end of November, we’ll have our marketing schedule 85% complete to the end of August 2010. Then by the time we hit the Christmas trade shows in January, we’ll have the remainder of the year 85%+ completed.

Now we always leave room for last minute changes and add-ins, but by planning well in advance, we’re able to exploit opportunities that will create excitement in our stores. Our goal for 2010 is to have 104 Door Crasher Specials (two per week average) that will create excitement all year, and give our customers a reason to visit regularly.

What are you going to do to create excitement? And don’t you think you should start the planning now?

Women have special talents for small firms, adviser says

When it comes to starting a small business, women have special talents that can be a blessing in weathering an economic recession. But many remain plagued by personal circumstances that can hinder their development as an entrepreneur. That’s the word from Janine Brunelle, a business adviser for the Women’s Enterprise Centre, which helps women start their own businesses.

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How they managed to rise to the top

Women who lead have the ability to see opportunities in setbacks, and the will to make themselves heard, a new book contends

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An opportunity to grab uncontested market share

A strategy to win over the ‘un-customer’. Amid fierce competition, owners of small and medium-sized businesses who get inventive about broadening their market stand to come out at the top of their sector once the economy recovers; their normally threatening rivals preoccupied with licking their wounds will take months to recoup lost ground and catch up.

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Build your confidence like Buffett

Executive coach Marshall Goldsmith rarely encounters self-confidence problems among his CEO and potential-CEO clients. But when he gives seminars at university MBA programs, with students drawn from lower echelons of organizations, self-confidence is a topic they want to talk about. On Harvard Business School blogs, he offers this advice for those struggling with self-confidence:

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Does your company have a website? How about a blog? Are you on Facebook and/or Twitter? What about videos on YouTube?

Want to see something incredible about how the face of marketing is changing? Watch Is Social Media a Fad.

Incredible stats. Makes you think about the future of marketing.

Also, read David Meerman Scott’s book The New Rules of Marketing and PR. It’s a great read with tons of practical advice. I’m just going through it now and learning a lot of things that I’m really excited about. I’ll keep posting new ideas as I get through the book.