We are in the middle of a set of posts that talk about how listening can help a retailer stay competitive in today’s market place.  I think that there are three distinct groups that we need to listen to.  The first is the customer.  We need to try to learn what they want from us. […]

Over the last few posts we’ve been exploring the idea of being competitive in today’s retail market.  One of the ways be being competitive is to create or introduce new products and services to help your customers.  So the question became – where do we get the ideas we need to stay competitive?  I’ve suggested […]

In my last post I wrote about how “compete is a verb” is one of my favorite business sayings.  The bottom line is that if you are not competing every day your business is going to be left behind. So how do we find out what we need to do to stay competitive?  My answer […]

In my last blog I wrote about the sharing community – how technology is allowing us to share or borrow under-utilized things (cars, bedrooms, lawnmowers, etc) through sites such as Uber and Airbnb.  My point was that technology, rather than isolating us as we become more and more involved with our computers and smartphones, is […]

Over the last few years I’ve often heard how recent technology is causing society to break down.  Although social media is allowing people to be in touch with more people on a more frequent basis than ever before there is less and less direct physical interaction.  There are legions of virtual “friends” but nobody actually […]

Over the last two weeks I’ve posted thoughts about how the smart phone is creating a revolution in retail transactions and ways that the smart phone can be used to provide more convenience to the customer.  Although it is still too early to tell what the industry standard will be for both of these uses, […]

We are in the middle of a series of posts on how smart phones may affect your business.  My last blog was about mobile payment systems. The next one will be about showrooming.  This one is how we can use smart phones to speed up customer service in regards to food service. You’ve been in […]

Over the next few blogs I’d like to share some thoughts on smart phones and how they may affect the convenience industry.  This isn’t going to be about social media and the advantages/disadvantages of getting your message out to phone holders or the need to engage with them on Facebook, Twitter, or the dozens of […]

I must admit that I’m not much of a professional basketball fan.  But, being a native Texan, I couldn’t ignore the NBA finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Miami Heat.  As I’m sure you know, San Antonio won the series four games to one. The recent contest has created a great sports metaphor […]

Over the last four weeks you have indulged us by letting us tell you about our new suite of programs.  We find with the more people that we work with, the more opportunities we find to make business easier for them.  Our commitment is to make retail headache free and these new programs offer economical […]