http://www.snewsnet.com/ If it happens in the outdoor and fitness markets, SNEWS® is there so you can listen in. Always insightful, sometimes humorous, absolutely invaluable. No one covers the outdoor and fitness markets better than we do, period. In print since 1983, on the web since 2000, and now in audio for your listening pleasure. Interviews, special reports, event coverage, and more. en Copyright SNEWS® LLC, all rights reserved Sat, 4 Jul 2009 17:00:02 -0600 60 http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/You_are_more_important_than_just_a_whatever-blog.html "Lately, in the course of phone calls to various companies and in emails, I have had folks respond to a question I’ve asked with, “I’m just a…” (fill in the blank e.g. intern, receptionist, sales rep, warehouse employee, stocker, cashier, delivery person, etc.)“I am just a…” What does that mean, really? http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/You_are_more_important_than_just_a_whatever-blog.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Think_About_It_OIWC_best_way_to_negotiate.html How can people be more successful at getting what they want? Good communication skills go a long way, but we've laid out six effective tactics to help you negotiate or persuade someone to accept your point of view -- whether it's getting your project approved or finagling a pay raise. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Think_About_It_OIWC_best_way_to_negotiate.html Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/SNEWS_Mini-Survey_stores_view_customer_buying.html The SNEWS® Mini Survey that ended June 15, 2009 asked, “What do you feel most motivates your customers to buy from your store?” We asked retailers to select from a list of 20 categories the top five motivating factors they believed drove customers to buy from them and not elsewhere. We were happy to see that 85 percent chose “customer service.” http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/SNEWS_Mini-Survey_stores_view_customer_buying.html Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/TMA_launches_first_dealer_camp_in_the_northeast.html As retailing clinic time and budgets are getting stretched even thinner, an increasing number of rep agencies are turning to putting on dealer camps as a means to ensure quality time with front line retail staff. Such was the motivation for the inaugural Mad River Glen Dealer Camp put on by Three Mountain Associates (TMA), a northeastern rep agency representing Big Agnes, G3, Jetboil, Leki, McNett and Osprey. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/TMA_launches_first_dealer_camp_in_the_northeast.html Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Psychology_of_Shopping_understand_that_customer.html “It isn’t so much a traffic issue as it is a sales issue. You need to do a better job with the people already in your store.” —Ron Hornbaker, vice president of Retail Minds, citing ShopperTrak data showing that 70 to 80 percent of people walk out of stores without spending money. Specialty retailers trying to wheedle sales from consumers who are afraid of losing their jobs or life savings are coming to terms with a harsh reality: The marketing tactics that worked in previous downturns aren’t as effective in this current storm, which is proving to be wider, deeper and more intractable than many economists anticipated... http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Psychology_of_Shopping_understand_that_customer.html Wed, 20 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Know_thy_media_please-Blog09.html Just as a writer needs to know how to tailor an article to suit a particular magazine’s audience, subject matter or interests, the same holds true for PR: PR agents must know the media, its audiences and needs where they are pitching story ideas. It is not one-size-fits-all. Forgetting this leads to very bad experiences for the PR agent, the publication, and quite likely, the writer very often caught in the middle. And could also lead to less good press for a company. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Know_thy_media_please-Blog09.html Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Think_About_It_OIWC_what_can_a_mentor_do_for_you.html When you take stock of the business relationships in your life, do any of them qualify as mentors? For some businesswomen, influential mentors seem to flow seamlessly in and out of their lives. For some, however, the appearance of mentors has been infrequent at best throughout their careers. Are they missing out? Perhaps. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Think_About_It_OIWC_what_can_a_mentor_do_for_you.html Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Platinum_level_customer_service_creates_customer_for_life-Blog.html "How often do you deal with a store or retailer and end up wanting to holler from the rooftops how wonderful the place is? Yeah, that’s what I thought…likely far less than you’d like. I had a rooftop-hollering wonderful experience recently with a non-sports retailer -- The Container Store, to be exact. I have been in and out of the store in San Francisco numerous times over about three years..." http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Platinum_level_customer_service_creates_customer_for_life-Blog.html Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/The_customer_is_NOT_always_right_Blog.html The customer is always right” is a term that some trace back to Harry Gordon Selfridge, founder of London department store Selfridge’s in the early 1900s. That phrase has been bantered about to prove to customers that they will always receive stellar service and to encourage employees to, well, treat the customer like family. But, let’s face it – when are family members always right?... http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/The_customer_is_NOT_always_right_Blog.html Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Hey_Skubedo_what_are_you.html With apologies to the cartoon, Skubedo is no treat-loving mutt. Rather, it is an online solution that while pronounced the same as Scooby-Doo is focused on helping manufacturers, reps and retailers solve the problem of workbooks. Let's face it -- even the SNEWS® team ducks workbooks at trade shows because they are so heavy and, more often than not, they are outdated nearly by the time the show ends. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Hey_Skubedo_what_are_you.html Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Gene_Treacy_discovers_retail_after_SNEWS_sales_director.html When SNEWS LLC was acquired by Active Interest Media on Dec. 21, 2007, our friend and business partner, Gene Treacy, had made a decision it was time for him to chart a different course. Treacy, always a wine connoisseur, got wind of a 14,000-square-foot commercial property for sale that included a liquor store. By August 2008, Gene and his wife, Pam, had signed a sales agreement to purchase Campbell Station Wine and Spirits... http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Gene_Treacy_discovers_retail_after_SNEWS_sales_director.html Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/RetailMinds_specialty_retail_consulting_April2009.html The executive team from Golf Galaxy, known for its hands-on and educational retail format, has stepped back into retail -- this time with a consulting agency called RetailMinds. Based in Minneapolis, the company will emphasize taking an A-to-Z, under-the-hood peak at specialty retailers to buff into shape any specific areas or the whole business. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/RetailMinds_specialty_retail_consulting_April2009.html Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Mystery_Shopper_Dicks_Life_Fitness_Sport_Chalet_Precor_April2009.html With the first quarter of the New Year behind us -- and plenty of time for Life Fitness to settle in at Dick's and Precor at Sport Chalet -- SNEWS® dispatched its shopping team into a number of each chain's stores on both coasts to see how it was going in the fitness department for the high-end equipment suppliers. Not officially going through an entire SNEWS Mystery Shopping experience, we nevertheless had our team members take a peek in the stores, get a feel at the layout, size up the presentation, talk to staff and, generally, find out how the recent experiments at sporting goods was treating the two largest North American specialty fitness equipment manufacturers. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Mystery_Shopper_Dicks_Life_Fitness_Sport_Chalet_Precor_April2009.html Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Mystery_Shopper_Precor_Home_Fitness_April2009.html At the end of March, which is pretty early spring in New England, the thoughts of our mystery shopper, Jane, turned to shedding a few layers of both clothing and excess flesh. Toward that end, she decided to pay a visit to Precor Home Fitness in Newton, Mass. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Mystery_Shopper_Precor_Home_Fitness_April2009.html Fri, 03 Apr 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Mystery_Shopper_Buffalo_Peak_Outfitters_Mar2009.html Having pioneered kayak fishing off the southeastern coast of Louisiana, the folks at Buffalo Peak Outfitters in Jackson, Miss., know a thing or two about this emerging sport. So, when we learned that a member of our Mystery Shopper team was going to be in the Magnolia State, we dispatched him to Buffalo Peak to go undercover and shop for a boat. Would the salespeople encourage our undercover man to go whole hog, or counsel him to not bite off more than necessary? http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Mystery_Shopper_Buffalo_Peak_Outfitters_Mar2009.html Wed, 18 Mar 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Economic_times_call_for_brutal_retail_plans_Mar2009.html Surviving vicious retail markets can require difficult and unpleasant action -- bankruptcy, staff reductions, renegotiating leases or shuttering underperforming stores. Although the navigation of today's challenging marketplace can be brutal, those steps are often necessary. That was the consensus of a group of business attorneys, retail real estate experts and specialty retailer financial officers who gathered recently for a conference in Seattle. The goal: offer tips and suggestions for distressed retailers to help them get a handle on the extreme downturn in the economy. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Economic_times_call_for_brutal_retail_plans_Mar2009.html Mon, 09 Mar 2009 00:00:00 MDT http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Promote_your_stores_eco_conscious_product_mix_Feb2009.html Does your outdoor specialty store boast an array of eco-friendly products? If your merchandise mix does have green leanings, you could boost sales by making the consumers in your area aware of your specialty. Savvy green-oriented retailers are using everything from promotional mailers and catalogs to print advertising and street-side merchandising to get the word out about their eco-friendly product mix. Could any of these strategies work to strengthen your bottom line? http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Promote_your_stores_eco_conscious_product_mix_Feb2009.html Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/SNEWS_Retail_Merchandising_Training_article_finder.html Welcome to our Article Finder to the 10-part Retail Merchandising Training series produced by SNEWS® and authored by Michael Hodgson and Geoff O'Keeffe. This 10-part series (plus one bonus feature, an online merchandising calculator) will provide in easy-to-read and understand format, the essential tools to being a good store buyer. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/SNEWS_Retail_Merchandising_Training_article_finder.html Wed, 18 Feb 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Merchandising_Know-How_Enhancing_your_store_appearance09.html The key to creating a visually compelling store appearance is appropriate fixture and product placement. Even with limited fixture budget, improved results are easily achievable through better product placement. Making product more visible and providing easy accessibility to that product immediately impacts sales and improves the overall customer experience. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Merchandising_Know-How_Enhancing_your_store_appearance09.html Mon, 16 Feb 2009 00:00:00 MST http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Fitness_How_To_Sell_Article_Finder.html At SNEWS® want to make life easier for our retail friends, so we've developed this handy article-finder chart for our numerous Fitness How To Sell articles published since 2003. With a quick glance, you can scan the chart to find the subject matter that fits your immediate training need. Also, you can read a summary to make sure that the article provides the info you need for the job at hand. Simply click on the article headline link to access any article. http://www.snewsnet.com/cgi-bin/snews/Fitness_How_To_Sell_Article_Finder.html Wed, 11 Feb 2009 00:00:00 MST