Beyond Vendors, ASD Market Week Supports Attendees With Retail Rich Education | Day 4 March 2015

Attendees at ASD Market Week are no strangers to discovering high margin inventory for their stores, but attendees are also excited about the quality of education that ASD Market Week delivers.

I initially came to ASD to buy for my store, but after finding out about the quality of education they deliver here, I plan to come back again because of the great education. It’s been so great and so exciting. Of course, I plan to return for the buying, as well,” shares Angela from Little Rock Arkansas where she has a children’s boutique.

Presenters at the Independent Retailer Conference at ASD Market Week included industry thought leaders, retail experts and more. There was a lot to learn, and attendees are welcome to enjoy all educational sessions for free thanks to ASD Market Week. Some expert insight that you missed if you were not at ASD include the following:

Customer feedback cannot be ignored. No matter what. Nowadays, it’s easy to capture this feedback on the countless number of social media platforms and online review sites that are out there. Pick a handful to focus on and really pay attention to how your business is being perceived. Make changes where you can to improve future customer experiences, and thank those who are spreading the good word about your store to others,” shared Morgan Remmers of Yelp. 

Additionally, William English – who is a reseller of Intuit Quickbooks – stressed the value of technology for retailers.

The #1 reason retailers succeed is have the right item when the customer wants it at a price the customer is willing to pay.  The way that retailers do that is investing and using technology to make that happen.  Whether it is using social media to reach customers or a POS system to track sales and inventory, retailers must embrace technology,” shares English. 

English also shared the value of inventory management, stating that:

Inventory is a discipline.  If you are not managing your inventory correctly, then the tendency is to overbuy leading to cash flow issues.  In addition, you may be experiencing problems with shrinkage and not even realize it.”

Also stressing the value of cash flow management was Cathy Wagner of RETAILMavens, who shared tremendous insight on how retailers can better manage their open to buy and inventory management.

Each customer that walks through your door is voting with their dollars and telling you what they want you to have more of…and what they want you to have less of! You need to look at that and evaluate it monthly. Look at the percentage of business done in the different classes of inventory of your store. Next look at the amount of inventory that you have in each class at retail. Divide the dollar amount of inventory of each class by the total to determine what percentage of inventory each class represents. Finally, compare the percentage of inventory to the percentage of sales for each class. The percentage of sales of a class should match the percentage of inventory that the class represents of the total inventory. There are very few exceptions. This is an excellent way of listening to your customers and making sure that you are buying what they want you to carry – not just what you want to sell,” Wagner shared. 

Other experts to take the stage at the Independent Retailer Conference at ASD Market Week included event emcees Kizer & Bender, Ron Cates of Constant Contact, David Nawrocki of Retail Studio Effect, experts from SnapRetail, Charles Valentine of Lumiary, a top Amazon seller – Jim Cockrum – and more. To gain more insight from experts who presented at ASD Market Week, be sure to visit the Independent Retailer Conference’s Facebook page, where you can review some quick videos from the IRC stage.

ASD Market Week will welcome the Indepedent Retailer Conference again to their August 2-5, 2015 show. Visit IndieRetailerConference.com to stay tuned for future ASD Market Week speakers presented by the Independent Retailer Conference.

To discover all you missed from ASD Market Week, be sure to check out recaps from each day below.

Day 1 March 2015 ASD Market Week Recap 

Day 2 March 2015 ASD  Market Week Recap 

Day 3 March 2015 ASD Market Week Recap 

Learn more about ASD Market Week here!