As we prepare to write 2012 on our checks and letters, let’s not let the most exciting part of our year slip by without squeezing extra dollars out of every holiday hour. If we keep our people excited and upbeat about the potential extra dollars of profit, we will turn what might be a mediocre […]
Category: Bonus Content
Posted in, Feature, National, Nonfood Items
Technology Is the Key for the Future of General Merchandise
by Ashley Bates/staff writer Dave McConnell, president and CEO of the Global Market and Development Center (GMDC), says the future of general merchandise and health and beauty care centers on technology and focusing on sales throughout the food channel. In the recent study released by the organization, “Consumer Shopping Habits for Wellness and Environmentally Conscious […]
Posted in, National, The Independent Perspective
The $1.5 Trillion Question: What Happens Nov. 23?
Come Nov. 23, most grocers will have little on their minds besides serving holiday shoppers and maximizing the end-of-Thanksgiving sales. Meanwhile, in Washington, thoughts of drumsticks and stuffing will have to take a back seat as the primary focus will be on the 12-member deficit reduction commission which must produce at least $1.5 trillion in […]
Posted in, Bonus Content, National
Native American Buying Power
The Selig Center projects that the nation’s Native American buying power will rise from $19.6 billion in 1990, to $40 billion in 2000, to $67.7 billion in 2010, and to $90.37 billion in 2015. Native American buying power in 2010 will be 69 percent greater than in 2000. The 2000-2010 percentage gain is larger than […]
Posted in, Bonus Content, National
The Multicultural Economy
The Selig Center’s estimates and projections of buying power for 1990-2015 show that minorities—African Americans, Asians, Native Americans and Hispanics—wield formidable economic clout. The numbers are impressive. In 2010, the Hispanic market ($1 trillion) is larger than the entire economies (2009 GDP measured in U.S. dollars as reported in the CIA World Factbook) of all […]
Posted in, Ellerbee Buzz, National
Maybe What We Need is a Little Sacrifice
It’s funny how the little things get you thinking. There was a story in The New York Times about consumers who stubbornly refuse to wash clothes in cold water, even as popular detergent makers have developed formulas specifically for the job. Evidently, that’s too much of a sacrifice, or at least, that’s how it read […]
Posted in, Bonus Content, National
African-American Buying Power
In 2010, African Americans will constitute the nation’s largest racial minority market, but the buying power of Hispanics—an ethnic group—is larger. Despite the severe impact of the 2007-2009 recession, however, blacks’ economic clout will continue to energize the U.S. consumer market. The Selig Center projects that the nation’s black buying power will rise from $316 […]
Posted in, From My Point of View, National
Of Stellar Customer Service
My column this month will be in two parts, somewhat unrelated but as always, anything that affects our business is a part of us. A couple of years ago I wrote a column about an incident that happened one Sunday on the way home after church. We stopped at a supermarket to pick up a […]