All Posts in Retailing Tips

In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

Starting a business can be one of the most rewarding experiences of someone’s life, and the satisfaction that comes with owning a successful business can be life-changing. It isn’t all easy, but seeing your labor bear fruit can be worth the effort.

Starting a retail business, in particular, is one of the most popular small business concepts and can be highly profitable if done correctly. Fashions and trends change, markets shift, but one thing remains true: people will always want or need to buy products, and a customer-focused retail operation can empower people to find the products that are going to improve their lives regardless of the current trends.

Simply put, a retail business is one that sources, aggregates, and then sells goods or services directly to consumers. The specific goods or services are what make your retail business unique and can include anything from products in a small convenience store to a major department store, high fashion boutique, or an online business. The goal of the business, whatever the product, is to generate profit from selling the products and services offered. Retailers are rewarded with growth, profit, and repeat business if they are able to provide their customers with …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

Before you launch your brand in the United Kingdom, it’s important to know what’s going on in today’s U.K. retail market as it may differ from the markets your brand currently has a presence in. Whether the British market is familiar territory or completely new, here’s a deep dive into understanding the U.K.’s marketplace, retailers, and how your brand can understand a new set of consumers.

Understanding the U.K. retail market

Over half of the £456bn industry is dominated by supermarkets, presenting a lot of opportunity for food and beverage brands looking to expand into the U.K. market. For years, the “big four” retailers have been Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, and Morrisons, but discount supermarkets like Aldi are quickly expanding in the market. Now that Aldi is outperforming Morrisons in terms of the country’s grocery market share, the “big four” are no more.

As we’re seeing in many countries, rising costs due to inflation are changing consumer behavior and the U.K. market is no exception. Inflation of grocery prices is up 14.4%, causing consumers to gravitate even more towards private label or store-owned brands over name brands to cut down their weekly spending costs. It comes as no surprise that the …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

One of the most persistent trends of the last 30 years of CPG marketing has been SKU (Stock-Keeping Unit) proliferation – the addition of more products and a variety of products based on changes to the market, such as adding several new flavors of a top-selling beverage. However, this trend is coming to an end. 

Over the next five years, we will see a contraction in the number of SKUs in the typical food retail store, driven by several factors: retailers’ desire to free space for more service-intensive, higher-margin products; the need to use space more efficiently with faster turning, more popular items; and to reduce supply chain and store labor costs.

The reduction will be concentrated in the 20 or so large categories containing the most SKUs with duplicate attributes, such as those stocking 60 SKUs of vanilla ice cream or 30 SKUs of blueberry yogurt. A shopper seeking vanilla ice cream or blueberry yogurt simply does not need this many options.

As the person who literally wrote the initial efficient item assortment protocol for the CPG industry as part of the development of category management in 1994, I can assure you that retailers can provide adequate attribute choices …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:
Walmart Open Call Offers Three RangeMe Suppliers the Opportunity of a Lifetime

Walmart’s annual Open Call sourcing event is an initiative that supports Walmart’s investment in products made, grown, or assembled in the U.S. and gives thousands of American suppliers the opportunity to submit their products directly to their team of merchants. For the fourth year in a row, RangeMe and ECRM have streamlined Walmart’s Open Call submission process, making product discovery easier for Walmart’s team and the participating brands. 

During the application period, interested suppliers and manufacturers can submit their products directly through RangeMe’s limited-time sourcing campaign for Walmart Open Call for a chance to pitch their innovations live to Walmart merchants in one-on-one meetings. Selected participants will be able to choose between in-person meetings at Walmart headquarters or virtual meetings via ECRM Connect.

In 2022, more than 1,100 businesses were selected to pitch their products to Walmart and more than 330 products were chosen to be sold in stores or online. Each brand had a unique experience, so we’re sharing insights from three RangeMe suppliers who were selected by Walmart. Keep reading to hear about their experiences and tips to brands hoping to see the same success.

Walmart Open Call FAQ’s

Rancho Meladuco Date Farm 

Inspired by a lifetime of …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

Iconic music begins with an opening that you can’t forget. The lyrics are emotional, engaging, and personal. It pulls the listener in, inviting them to go on a journey hand in hand with the artist. Similarly, from a young age, we learn that the opening sentence of a story or play is the “hook” that reels the audience in and invites them to the table.

Like a song, the first line of a presentation paints a picture; it sets the atmosphere and allows you the confidence to continue. The first minute creates momentum for the rest of your story. Consider your last discussion, did the opening permit you to move forward, or did you lose the audience immediately?

Researchers believe that first impressions are created in under three seconds.1 Three Seconds: The First Impression – Books To Courses https://www.bookstocourses.com/tools/oc/…/Three_Seconds__The_First_Impression In the blink of an eye, people assess your competence, aggressiveness, intelligence, and trustworthiness. As you finish your first line, you’ve already been sized up and judged by audience members. Observers automatically and unconsciously conduct a mental shortcut, assessing whether they like or dislike, trust, or mistrust. 

Daniel Kahneman, psychologist, Nobel laureate, and author of Thinking, Fast And Slow, has …

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In: Retailing Tips|Last Updated:

Walmart’s annual Open Call sourcing event is an initiative that supports Walmart’s investment in products made, grown, or assembled in the U.S. and gives thousands of American suppliers the opportunity to submit their products directly to their team of merchants. For the fourth year in a row, RangeMe and ECRM have streamlined Walmart’s Open Call submission process, making product discovery easier for Walmart’s team and the participating brands. 

During the application period, interested suppliers and manufacturers can submit their products directly through RangeMe’s limited-time sourcing campaign for Walmart Open Call for a chance to pitch their innovations live to Walmart merchants in one-on-one meetings. Selected participants will be able to choose between in-person meetings at Walmart headquarters or virtual meetings via ECRM Connect.

In 2022, more than 1,100 businesses were selected to pitch their products to Walmart and more than 330 products were chosen to be sold in stores or online. Each brand had a unique experience, so we’re sharing insights from three RangeMe suppliers who were selected by Walmart. Keep reading to hear about their experiences and tips to brands hoping to see the same success.

Walmart Open Call FAQ’s

Rancho Meladuco Date Farm 

Inspired by a lifetime of …

Read More