Will You Add? - Business

Unstable Oil Prices Affecting Many Industries from Airlines to Upholstery
Airlines sure. But upholstery? Hmmmm…Oil prices can affect a larger part of the economy than is usually thought of. The reality is that a large part of manufacturing (such as plastics) rely on petrochemicals to actually make their products. Upholstery is one of these industries. Many furniture manufacturers are seeing across the board increases in foam costs which are a primary raw material needed in the manufacturing of upholstery fabrics.To some people, it sounds like a repeat of the 1970s. The stock market fluctuations, the lines for gasoline (which, thankfully have abated for now), and the slow influx of alternative energy solutions make it seem like we are in a time warp. However, a lot of industries can’t switch from petrochemicals even if the alternatives’ technology was far more advanced.Industries that are staples of the economy, such as injection molding, use oil based raw materials as inputs to make common industrial items that are needed around the economy. You can’t make a solar panel into a box of garbage bags. And you can’t add hydrogen to a manufacturing process to come out with a brand new pair of sneakers.With oil prices now down from their close to $70 mark, a lot people are wondering in which direction oil pric

ractice gives way to personal pride when one competitor decides to go over the top and reduce all their prices. This is not on and cannot be sustained. The answer is strategic pricing.

Owning a Vending Machine Business
The first thing to consider when starting your own vending machine business is that it is not for slackers. It takes work. Just because you are going into business for yourself, will have no boss to deal with, and pretty much determine your own plans, that doesn’t mean the vending machine business is easy money.Assess your financial situation. How much money will it take to start out? Before you mortgage the house and buy a hundred vending machines, start with one or two and see how things go.Pick a good location. Don’t go through a location finder; they will charge you a fee, and their information is often useless. They might pick out a place that’s in a rough part of town, or they will pick a spot where the people you need to deal with are difficult. It is a better idea to scout out territory on your own. If you have or know any kids, ask them where they think there should be vending machines. Places where people have to stop and wait are a good option – they will be more inclined to buy after looking at your machine for a minute or two. Pick one or two good spots, talk to the owner, and decide on the perfect site for your vending machine. Make sure there is an electrical outlet nearby.It is a good idea to offer the location owne

As a retailer, you have several weapons in your armoury and one of those is pricing. Admittedly, pricing options are limited to three only: up, down or no change. The up is limited by the amount the customer is prepared to pay and the down is limited by your need to make a profit.

Now hear this: if you are going to sell you products at high prices which are above your competitors, you'd better have a unique selling point that sets you apart from those competitors. Here is a list of some unique points that may justify higher prices:

(i) your store may be far nearer to the main catchment community than competitor stores
(ii) your store may have exemplary standards of customer service and hygiene
(iii) you may sell an exclusive range of goods or have the exclusive license for lottery or other services
(iv) you may offer a loyalty scheme where customers can have cash back or money off in return for historical purchases

If you cannot demonstrate any of the above advantages (or any others I have not listed) that benefit most of your customers, then you are in the thick of the battle and you simply cannot afford to overcharge for the products you are selling. If you do, life will be one big struggle as most potential customers go elsewhere.

If, once you have added up your product purchase costs and overheads, you find that the prices you must charge are typically higher than your competitors then, as you no doubt know by now, you are in trouble. You have no choice but to either (i) reduce your costs or (ii) give your store a competitive edge outside of the price. Take the list above: see if you can match one of those criteria. You may wish to read the last article in this series: Go Local! This article discusses the possibility of a store selling goods from local producers. If you choose option (i) reducing your costs and lowering prices, be careful. Do not go from one extreme to another. You could decide to draw a fraction of your normal salary from the business and live on jam on toast for a year, sack your weekend staff and work round the clock yourself in order to bring down costs and then reduce all your prices across the board. In the very short term you may be disappointed. The word takes a while to spread, even with advertising. I guarantee that the extra customers you gain will NOT make up for the loss of profits. Over the medium term things will surely pick up as customers get the message. Despite this, you will still not see a greater profit and will probably still be on your diet of jam on toast. At this stage you will be the archetypal busy fool, working your socks off for peanuts. Then, something will happen that you may not have anticipated. The store down the road will hit back, lowering their prices to match yours and even below yours. Now you are in trouble. With a family to feed, you are working every hour that God sends for a pittance in return, and what is more, you are back to square one! What went wrong? The answer is in the phrase "reduce you prices across the board". Wrong, wrong wrong! Do not go to these extreme. Do not antagonize your competitors. Unless you have virtually unlimited access to money (and you are not running a charity, by the way), do not start a price war. Normal business practice gives way to personal pride when one competitor decides to go over the top and reduce all their prices. This is not on and cannot be sustained. The answer is strategic pricing.

12 Secrets of Sticky Ideas
Forget cold calls.Do away with direct mail.And for the love of God, PLEASE stop wasting your money on advertisements.This stuff doesn’t work.Allow me to introduce you to your company’s greatest marketing ally: Word of Mouth.She’s very pleased to meet you.FACT: if you leverage, monitor and practice word of mouth through interaction, (not interruption) marketing, you win.And you win BIG.There’s a reason I know that. See, my entire career as an author/speaker has been built (and continues to be built) on word of mouth.If you’re a first time reader, allow me to explain:My name is Scott. I’m that guy who wears a nametag 24-7 to make people friendlier. (Faithfully since November 2, 2000.) I write books, give speeches and publish online learning tools that help businesspeople make a name for themselves, one conversation at a time.Truthfully, it all started out as sort of an experiment. But after a few years, when experimental became experiential, I noticed something.People started talking.I didn’t ask them to. They just did.And for a long time, I wasn’t sure why it was happening. I’m just some dude who wears a nametag! Why would anyone want to talk about

vices
(iv) you may offer a loyalty scheme where customers can have cash back or money off in return for historical purchases

How To Minimize Risks With Derivatives
Derivatives have come under general scrutiny in recent times, owing to the use of hedging instruments by companies for financial mismanagement. The misuse of derivatives has put many companies in the legal line of fire. The popular notion that derivatives caused the downfall of companies like Enron, is however, not true. The derivatives by themselves are not damaging, their misuse can cause trouble for businesses.What are Derivatives? Derivatives are financial arrangements by which your company earns profits based on the functioning of an underlying asset.If used properly, derivatives can shore up your company’s defense against many economic problems.Advantages of Derivatives: 1) Flexibility: Derivatives can be used with respect to commodity price, interest and exchange rates and equity price. They can be used in many ways.2) Risk Reduction: Derivatives can protect your business from huge losses. In fact, derivatives allow you to cut down on non-essential risks.3) Stable Economy: Derivatives have a stabilizing effect on the economy by reducing the number of businesses that go under due to volatile market forces.Disadvantages of Derivatives:If derivatives are misused, they can boomerang on the compan

ou can match one of those criteria. You may wish to read the last article in this series: Go Local! This article discusses the possibility of a store selling goods from local producers. If you choose option (i) reducing your costs and lowering prices, be careful. Do not go from one extreme to another. You could decide to draw a fraction of your normal salary from the business and live on jam on toast for a year, sack your weekend staff and work round the clock yourself in order to bring down costs and then reduce all your prices across the board. In the very short term you may be disappointed. The word takes a while to spread, even with advertising. I guarantee that the extra customers you gain will NOT make up for the loss of profits. Over the medium term things will surely pick up as customers get the message. Despite this, you will still not see a greater profit and will probably still be on your diet of jam on toast. At this stage you will be the archetypal busy fool, working your socks off for peanuts. Then, something will happen that you may not have anticipated. The store down the road will hit back, lowering their prices to match yours and even below yours. Now you are in trouble. With a family to feed, you are working every hour that God sends for a pittance in return, and what is more, you are back to square one! What went wrong? The answer is in the phrase "reduce you prices across the board". Wrong, wrong wrong! Do not go to these extreme. Do not antagonize your competitors. Unless you have virtually unlimited access to money (and you are not running a charity, by the way), do not start a price war. Normal business practice gives way to personal pride when one competitor decides to go over the top and reduce all their prices. This is not on and cannot be sustained. The answer is strategic pricing.

6 Ways To Help Your Employees Beat Stress And Work More
If you would like your business to employ highly motivated and high-energy level employees then investing in the workplace atmosphere and facilities will help and will reduce work-place stress significantly. Research confirms that if your employees are stressed then that will cost you even more money in missed workdays and increased on-the-job injuries over both the short term and the long term.In addition to the negative repercussions of having stressed out employees, your business may be experiencing lower productivity and poor quality of output. It is both clear and obvious that some very cost effective strategies could minimize stress on the job and provide your employees with opportunities to reduce other stress related problems.Below is a list of 6 ways in which you can help your company reduce stress for your employees while increasing the output of your business:1. Provide an attractive and comfortable work environment whenever possible to reduce stress. Pleasant surroundings can do more for a person’s attitude then we often realize. Create a less formal atmosphere by adding plants or improved decoration, even if that is just in a rest room it will help.2. Supply a quiet room for your employees to take their bre

pite this, you will still not see a greater profit and will probably still be on your diet of jam on toast. At this stage you will be the archetypal busy fool, working your socks off for peanuts. Then, something will happen that you may not have anticipated. The store down the road will hit back, lowering their prices to match yours and even below yours. Now you are in trouble. With a family to feed, you are working every hour that God sends for a pittance in return, and what is more, you are back to square one! What went wrong? The answer is in the phrase "reduce you prices across the board". Wrong, wrong wrong! Do not go to these extreme. Do not antagonize your competitors. Unless you have virtually unlimited access to money (and you are not running a charity, by the way), do not start a price war. Normal business practice gives way to personal pride when one competitor decides to go over the top and reduce all their prices. This is not on and cannot be sustained. The answer is strategic pricing.

Proofs of Delivery and Logistics: Speeding Throughput and Avoiding Pitfalls
It should be a straightforward business scenario: making sure that the delivery documentation from the supplier or haulier matches up with the documentation at the target destination.However life is rarely straightforward, and if problems do arise, order completion times and cash flow will inevitably suffer as a result.Making the paperwork matchDocuments involved typically include delivery notes generated by the product supplier or logistics provider. The Customer takes delivery and confirms the goods are received by signing the delivery note, which becomes a proof of delivery (PoD). When the goods being delivered are accepted customers can also use their own delivery documentation, referred to as Goods Received Notes (GRN).The key issue is to match the customers’ GRNs and the suppliers’ delivery notes. This ensures that suppliers can raise an accurate and timely invoice for the goods delivered and accepted.This is vital to the completion of the whole process. Raising an incorrect invoice for goods shipped that may differ from the description of the goods accepted by the customer, will result in payment delay – extended debtor days – and adversely affected cash flow.Take a typical example. A customer takes an o

ractice gives way to personal pride when one competitor decides to go over the top and reduce all their prices. This is not on and cannot be sustained. The answer is strategic pricing.

What is strategic pricing? It is an intelligent way of pricing medium and fast selling goods that keeps your customers and your competitors on their toes. You cannot afford - nor (usually) is it desirable to keep these prices permanently lower than those of your competitors (see above). Instead, choose a medium trading day and reduce prices across one or two ranges for that day only. Customers do not like prices fluctuations and price rises are even less welcome, so make it clear with decent point of sale messages that this is a price cut for "today only". Of course you will need to observe any laws in your juridisction that govern the criteria for describing something as a price cut. You could have cuts across a wide range of goods and call it something like "Super Tuesday". The following Tuesday you could target different ranges with price cuts. That way customers know that Tuesday (or whatever regular day is appropriate) is a the day when they will see bargains at your store. You will hopefully build up some trade on this particular day and take some away from your competitors. Knowing that these price cuts are eating into your own margins, try to place some higher profit lines near to the cut price items. For some stores, day to day price changes may be time consuming. If you cannot find a method of doing this without incurring extra cost, then you should still strategically cut prices at least on a weekly basis. Remember to talk with your supplier. You can often negotiate lower prices if you can convince them that you are carrying out a genuine promotion on a product. They will often supply you with supporting point of sale material. If you are very lucky they may even extend a regional/stateside campaign to your area.

Selling at a loss is generally not a good idea. It is often banned by some suppliers and even against the law for certain products in certain jurisdictions. However, if it is allowed, then just now and again go for it. Just as you might invest in advertising, you could invest in pricing. See if you can afford to get some ads on local radio and in the local press and pick one or two lines and sell at a loss. You will rarely see advice like this anywhere else. Why? Well, apart from the rules and regulations governing loss-leading, it is true, that over the promotion period you will have not made any extra profit and in fact made quite a loss, not just on the promoted products, but across the board. Now, it depends on your timescales as to whether this kind of thing is a good idea. If you are wanting to make a fast buck, then forget it. If, however, you are trying to build trade and attract a following then this kind of activity will pay off over time. What you will be doing is changing customer's habits. If they know that your store is known for genuine bargains, some customers that you won from the opposition are likely to stay with you. Over time this will pay off - but only if you persist with the practice. Remember what I said above, though. Do not antagonize your competitors. Such deep cuts must only be for a limited period.

Sometimes prices are reduced in order to clear perishable lines or lines that are stuck (they are refusing to sell). Take the first category, perishable goods: I have seen many stores, including large multiples, reduce perishable goods at the same time each week. Frankly, that is very dumb. What these stores are doing is creating a trade within a trade - a trade in low (often below) cost goods. If you regularly reduce perishables at 4.15pm each Saturday then many customers will leave their Saturday shopping until just before 4.15pm each Saturday, knowing they will get a bargain. You may respond by saying "I can't pick and choose when perishable goods are overstocked and therefore I can't choose when to reduce prices". Oh yes you can. As the goods are getting nearer to their shelf life expiry, you can do an inventory. You w

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The capability to host over 5,000 delegates will be one of the biggest advantages of the new ICC in London. The largest area can be used for hosting the main events of the conferences while the smaller areas can each serve different purposes. To help increase the productivity of the conference, there will be rooms known as ‘breakout’ rooms for people to utilise during the course of the conference.

Creating a brand people can trust is not easy. It doesn't happen over night. This process is a slow one, with the relationship between business and consumer growing over a long period of time. However, once you earn the trust of a consumer, they are apt to remain loyal to the brand and business. These long-term relationships generate repeat business and increased revenue.

I often hear leaders from all types of organizations ask questions about hiring the right person. Their questions usually sound like these: • What if their resume looks great but they have a bad attitude? • What if they put on a good act and then don’t work hard? • How can I tell how they will perform after I hire them? A great way to answer these questions starts with a well-defined interview process...

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Will You Add? - The Small Retailer's Survival Guide - Part 3 - Strategic Pricing

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