How Independent Retailers Can Adapt and Thrive in 2026 — Weekly Retail Tidbits #230
Practical strategies for independent retailers to adapt and thrive in 2026. Focus your energy on building what is new, not fighting what is old.
-
-
The Power of Daily Habits
Wordle, coffee, and the small daily behaviors that compound — why your biggest accounts are your most consistent, and a NotebookLM habits notebook.
-
Do You Compete With Yourself?
A competitive gym session turns into a retail-strategy lesson — plus three reminders (move slow sellers, don’t run out, mark down holiday now) and a NotebookLM tip.
-
Efficiency is Leverage
Talking to AI beats typing — the December Tango meeting takeaway on using your voice with tech, plus Google Labs Whisk and new from FacePlant, EvaBelle & Compendium.
-
Do You Do This 1 Easy, Smart and Helpful Thing for Your Team?
A forgotten lasagna ingredient, aviation checklists, and the one easy habit that saves your team during the busiest weeks — plus a NotebookLM learning tip.
-
Keep Profitability in Mind — Understanding GMROI — Weekly Retail Tidbits #215
All of your store’s systems ought to point to profitability. A plain-English look at GMROI (Gross Margin Return on Inventory Investment) and the levers that raise it.
-
Be a Curator, Not a Collector — Weekly Retail Tidbits #199
“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.” — Hans Hofmann I was in a store this week with one of you – I know she is reading!😊 Beyond just being really fun in general, we did talk “shop.” Her store is stocked. I mean stocked. And if…
-
What Out-of-Stock Really Costs You
“If I had to single out one element in my life that has made a difference for me, it would be a passion to compete.” — Sam Walton Here’s a toughie for me. It happens a lot. A retailer orders a line. The best selling item(s) sells out quickly. The retailer’s mindset is “let more…
-
Retailer 75 Hard
“The best competition I have is against myself to become better.” — John Wooden “Mom, it’s ok – I am finished with 75 Hard…” Heard of 75 Hard, a wellness challenge? Choose a healthy diet, exercise twice a day (once outside), read 10 pages of a non-fiction self-help book, drink only non-alcholic beverages – including…
-
The Smallest Viable Audience
“The smallest viable audience isn’t a compromise. It’s the point.” — Seth Godin Every week I write to you. At first everything was hard – the content, style, format – all of it. It’s still a challenge, but I have learned to only think about you – local retailers in TN and KY. You are…
