Retail Shift is about achieving the next level of business growth and unlocking more profit with more ease. It’s about the power of professional development, accountability, and applying the fundamentals of retail to your unique business. In each episode, Merchant Method founder Christine Guillot highlights insightful lessons shared by retail business owners, guides inspirational conversations with leaders in other industries, and shares merchant tips that you can take action on immediately. ...
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The Breadth of Consumer Spending During the Holiday Season
10:50
10:50
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10:50
Consumer holiday spending spans occasions from early November through well after the New Year. You can make selling easier and more profitable by responding to the full breadth of consumer spending during the entire holiday season. Show Notes: The full, detailed chronological timeline of the holiday season A consumer’s varying spending consideratio…
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Interviewing is a two-way street. Candidates are selling themselves and you, as the hiring manager, are selling the role, your leadership capacity, the company culture, and the value of the brand. Interviewers are being interviewed by candidates. They study your words and your actions. How you make them feel is an important part of the recruiting a…
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My forte is working on experimental retail projects. I love using my skills in innovative ways, stretching and growing along the way. Most of these projects have gone well, but not all of them. Looking back, in the projects that fizzled, I was trying to do too many things that were out of my wheelhouse. By focusing a bit more on my strengths and ge…
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When I graduated high school I was voted Most Likely to Become a Teacher. Back then it seemed like a bad prediction. I was bound for business school and focused on becoming an entrepreneur and a retailer. It took me years to realize that the most beloved retailers (of all sizes) are just that—teachers. In this week’s episode I share how my skills a…
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Securing my first professional role in corporate retail was no easy task. After one, two, three failed attempts I came to learn that there are multiple ways to get what you want. In this week’s episode I share my first job-seeking process and what I learned about going after what you want. Summary of Field Notes: Being dedicated to creating your dr…
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This week I’m excited to launch Retail Shift: Field Notes of Retail Success. This new weekly podcast series complements our retail trend reports with qualitative notes about success in the retail industry. In each installment, I’ll share professional lessons I’ve learned, milestone career moments, meaningful customer connections, and more. I’ll als…
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Three Tips for Successful Business Planning
14:17
14:17
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14:17
Do you think that quarterly realignment of strategic initiatives with long-term goals is just for big businesses? Done well, a structured quarterly business plan can serve as a silent, well-informed, and influential business partner to help keep independent retailers on track and accountable. In this week’s trend report I share three tips to help e…
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Both professionally and personally, I find it valuable to pause and reflect on the recent past, both the things that have happened around me and the things that I have done. As we approach the middle of the year, it’s a perfect time to do just that. In this week’s trend report I share my favorite ways to review the business year to date before addr…
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Surprise & Delight in Retail Marketing
31:26
31:26
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31:26
We talk a lot about small retailers needing to stand out, but our customers are saturated with influencers, expectations are at an all time high, and our competitors are all hustling too. To help deal with all this noise, I’d like to share how surprise & delight can be built into small business practices to help you rise above it all. I recently fa…
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Using Green Business Practices To Get Ahead in Retail
16:00
16:00
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16:00
Green business practices are more available to independent retailers than ever, providing new opportunities to build value. Decreasing material consumption is good for its own sake and many customers like to see businesses acting responsibly. On top of that, reducing waste also cuts operating costs, which increases bottom line profit. For small bus…
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Loss Prevention that Builds Top Line Revenue, Bottom Line Profit, and Brand Equity
17:42
17:42
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17:42
Retailers use all of their business acumen and intention to develop an excellent shopping experience, maintain brand value, and grow customer relationships; these same skills can be applied to building and maintaining a comprehensive loss prevention program. With accountability and a consistent, long-term commitment, you can decrease loss and also …
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Preserve Profit by Preventing Internal Loss
12:39
12:39
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12:39
Internal loss is the leading cause of profit loss for small businesses and retailers, which often surprises business owners. Types of internal loss range from employee abuse of credit cards, refunds, and discounts, to simple theft by employees of physical products and supplies. Join us for this week’s trend report and learn how to humanize the prev…
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Learn Why Shoplifting Happens and How You Can Prevent It
21:00
21:00
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21:00
Shoplifting happens for a number of reasons but do you know the most common and important elements of external theft? Learn more about these underlying problems and what to do about them in this week’s trend report, "Learn Why Shoplifting Happens and How You Can Prevent It." Merchant Method provides independent retailers and makers with consulting …
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10: As employers, we’re always being watched
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36:09
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36:09
We talk about working as a leader under the spotlight and how to address the challenges of having our employees watching not just our words but also our actions, the choices we make, and how we treat people. This is the second of two episodes on the theme of retail leadership and was preceded by an episode on becoming a leader.…
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Retail Leadership – Part 1: The Origins of Leadership
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46:19
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46:19
An interview and conversation about early experiences in leadership If you're interested in developing your leadership skills, join us for a live workshop in Seattle, WA: http://www.merchantmethod.com/leadership.html
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8: How to reduce overwhelm in any situation
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16:23
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16:23
I share my best tips to minimize you and your staff feeling overwhelmed in any situation. We are called on to elevate customer service and create a differentiated experience while also balancing the revenue that's ringing at the register with what we've budgeted for payroll. When this gets out of alignment, we can get overwhelmed and that in turn a…
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I discuss the danger of thinking out loud and how to avoid pitfalls by following our step-by-step process for discussing new ideas with your employees. This is the third episode of four on the theme of retail management communication; it was preceded by episodes on the dangers of asking employees for favors and on differences of opinion, and will b…
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6: Conflict vs. A Need for Clarification
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10:00
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10:00
I talk about the difference between actual conflict and the simple need for clarification over a difference of opinion, how to determine which type of situation you’re facing, and how to face it directly. This is the second episode of four on the theme of retail management communication; it was preceded by an episode on the dangers of asking employ…
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I explain why it is essential to be clear about what we expect or need from our employees rather than asking them to do us favors and describe how to communicate more directly to avoid the favor trap. This is the first episode of four on the theme of retail management communication, and will be followed by episodes on differences of opinion, the da…
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4: Setting employees up for success
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25:14
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25:14
I talk about strategies for retaining and re-training employees to show them that they’re important to us, bolster their morale, and set them up for success. This episode also addresses performance corrections and terminations, but my focus is prevention. This is the third episode of three on the theme of employee development, and was preceded by e…
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3: Creating effective training programs
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28:50
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28:50
I offer tips on creating effective training for your employees that is suited to your company. This includes training in a variety modes, from formal training programs to simple and in-the-moment guidance. This is the second of three episodes on the theme of employee development. In the last episode I focused on the hiring process, and the next epi…
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2: The two components of effective hiring
32:32
32:32
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32:32
I speak in depth about recruiting and assessing candidates in the hiring process. I also look at the factors that help ensure your hiring process meets the needs of your business and that you find candidates that are well-suited to your retail store. This is the first of three episodes on the theme of employee development, and will be followed by e…
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Meet me, Chris Guillot, the host of Retail Shift and founder of Merchant Method, in this short, introductory episode. Get to know me, learn about my background in retail, and find out what you can expect to learn from future episodes of this podcast.
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