Retail Smart Guys, a consulting firm specializing in assisting independent retail stores and boutiques with inventory planning, marketing, and systems, announced today that Jonathan Schwartz has joined the company. Schwartz will be providing consulting services to specialty retailers in the metro New York-New Jersey area. “I’ve known Jonathan Schwartz for more than 20 years, and [...]

Now is the time to develop a solid growth strategy. The economy is starting to rebound. With a great marketing and open to buy plan, it can be done.

With the economy in shambles you’d have to be crazy to start your own business, right? Wrong! This is a great time to work for yourself but do you know where to start?

Do you know the difference between an LLC and an S-Corp?

Do you know how to take advantage of this rough economy?

This last year has been crazy for retailers, and it’s certainly been a rocky ride, hasn’t it? The “new normal” does not mean that we’ve all succombed to living inside a mental prison filled with worry, remorse (“Why did I get into this business?”) and disaster. There are bright spots, you know. But you have [...]

This past week, Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update had this joke. Seth Meyers said, “The Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 10,000 this week. ‘Hooray!’ shouted 15 million unemployed Americans!” Funny in an ironic way, right? I am often struck by the tremendous variations in things I read, or opinions I hear, about the current state [...]

This is for retailers. One of our clients called us up. She wanted to talk to us about our services. She was trying to figure out what merchandise to bring in, and when. And then she said, “You know, I don’t know what you do, or how you do it. I only know I have [...]

Most people believe in social networking to a degree. They think that it’s a good idea, but don’t focus enough of their business on it. I used to think that way too – I thought it was “cute” but didn’t give it enough credit for helping retailers generate sales. Recently I changed my tune. I [...]

Retailers: If you cut costs, you played defense. But to win in this (or any) economy, you must also play offense! Name the sport: football, baseball, etc., and you’ll see that while you must play great defense, you cannot win without playing offense as well. (OK, maybe not badminton, but is that really a sport?) [...]

Hello all! Retail Smart Guys has a booth at the LA Gift show. Our booth number is 2059, and we are right on the corner of aisle 2100. Please come by and say hello! We will be talking about merchandise planning, open to buy, and a cool new way to market retail stores using the [...]

While at ICSC (International Council of Shopping Centers) we discovered that retailers need mobile coupons to promote their business. The solution is in this post.