Do You Have What It Takes to Be an Entrepreneur?

Posted on March 15, 2017 by bermanevansretail
Being an entrepreneur is certainly not an easy job. Among other things, a great entrepreneur requires creativity, patience, a willingness to take risks, expertise, endurance, and a whole lot more.
According to Growth Hackers’ co-founder and CEO Jonathan Aufray:
“An entrepreneur must be audacious, calculating, enthusiastic, and passionate. Creativity and managerial capabilities are also important to the success of an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur needs to be a talented multi-disciplinary individual, a bit like the growth hacker job description, which is very complex, the entrepreneur job description is even more complicated.”
“Contrary to popular opinion, entrepreneurial skills and qualities can be learned, practiced, and developed. You must, however, make a conscious decision to nurture these qualities and skills. Once you begin to make a conscious effort to acquire these skills, particularly skills in the area where you are deficient, you would have repositioned yourself for tremendous accomplishments as an entrepreneur in the business world.”
Aufray has identified 29 skills as important for successful entrepreneurship. Here are ten of them:
  1. Personal capabilities
  2. Image building
  3. Effective communication
  4. Ability to negotiate
  5. Ability to lead
  6. Ability to sell
  7. Ability to concentrate (focus)
  8. Customer relations
  9. Preparedness to learn
  10. Inquisitiveness

 
Click the image for a full discussion of the above 10 skills and to see Aufray’s whole list of 29 entrepreneurial skills.


 

Posted in Career Useful Information, Careers in Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Bottled Water Tops Soda among Americans

Posted on March 14, 2017 by bermanevansretail
For several years now, Americans have been consuming more bottled water and less soda. Retailers are quite aware of this because of wide variety and brands of bottled that they carry — and the amount of shelf devoted to bottled water.
Now, for the first time, the sales of bottled water exceed those of soda in the United States. As reported by SCMP:
“Bottled water has been enjoying growth for years, while sales of traditional sodas have declined. Research and consulting firm Beverage Marketing Corp. (BMC) says Americans drank an average of 39.3 gallons of bottled water in 2016, and 38.5 gallons of carbonated soft drinks. In 2015, bottled water was at 36.5 gallons while soda was at 39 gallons.”
“Other industry trackers define drink categories differently, so may see the cross at different times. Beverage Marketing includes sparkling waters in bottled waters and excludes energy drinks in sodas. The reverse is true for another tracker, Beverage Digest, which projects bottled water will surpass soda this year [2017].”
The Shelby Report notes:
“’Bottled water effectively reshaped the beverage marketplace,’ said BMC Chairman and CEO Michael C. Bellas. ‘When Perrier first entered the country in the 1970s, few would have predicted the heights to which bottled water would eventually climb. Where once it would have been unimaginable to see Americans walking down the street carrying plastic bottles of water, or driving around with them in their cars’ cup holders, now that’s the norm. With the exception of two relatively small declines in 2008 and 2009 — when most beverage categories contracted — bottled water volume grew every year from 1977 to 2016. This period included 17 double-digit annual volume growth spurts. Since resuming growth in 2010, bottled water volume has consistently enlarged at solid single-digit percentage rates.’”

 

Fortunately for both Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo, they both have popular brands of non-carbonated bottled water, including Dasani, Vitaminwater, and Smartwater from Coca-Cola and Aquafina, Lifewater, and LIFEWTR.

A case of Dasani bottled water. Photo by AFP


 

Posted in Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Retailing A to Z: New Edition of Retail Management Text

Posted on March 13, 2017 by bermanevansretail

We are delighted to announce the publication of the thirteenth edition of Retail Management: A Strategic Approach. by Barry Berman, Joel R. Evans, and Patrali Chatterjee. We have not rested on our laurels. [Click on the image to visit the book’s information page and read below.] 
 

 
Here’s what we’ve done for the new edition:

  • NEW! Extensive coverage of omnichannel retailing — an evolving practice whereby the best retailers understand and seamlessly integrate all of their interactions across channels (including stores, online, mobile, social media, and more) — is now included.
  • NEW! 30 shorter cases, as well as eight comprehensive cases, are based on real companies and real situations. Cases include Retailers MUST Be Future Oriented and Stores that Accommodate Those with Physical Limitations.
  • NEW! 20 chapter-opening vignettes relate to the evolving nature of retailing.
  • UPDATED! All data and examples reflect current economic and world situations as much as possible, reflecting the need to take into account the economic environment that has dramatically affected so many businesses and consumers.
  • NEW! Boxes include thought-provoking questions on Technology in Retailing, Retailing Around the World, Ethics in Retailing, and Careers in Retailing.
  • UPDATED! Many photos and images have been replaced or updated throughout.
  • REVISED! Hundreds of PowerPoint slides accompanying the book have been fully revised, and there are descriptions related to each slide.
  • UPDATED! Substantive changes have been made to the coverage in all chapters and the Appendix.
  • Successful features from previous editions have been retained, including:
    • A strategic decision-making orientation, with many illustrative flowcharts, figures, tables, and photos. The chapter coverage is geared to the six steps used in developing and applying a retail strategy, which are first described in Chapter 1.
    • Full coverage of all major retailing topics — including merchandising, consumer behavior, information systems, omnichannel retailing, store location, operations, logistics, service retailing, the retail audit, retail institutions, franchising, human resource management, computerization, and retailing in a changing environment.
    • A real-world approach focusing on both small and large retailers.
    • Real-world boxes on current retailing issues in each chapter. These boxes further illustrate the concepts presented in the text by focusing on real firms and situations.
    • A numbered summary keyed to chapter objectives, a key terms listing, and discussion questions at the end of each chapter.
    • Both short and comprehensive cases involving a wide range of retailers and retail practices.
    • Up-to-date information from such sources as Advertising Age, Business Week, Chain Store Age, Direct Marketing, Entrepreneur, Fortune, Inc., International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Journal of Retailing, Multichannel Merchant, Progressive Grocer, Retailing Today, Shopping Centers Today, Standard & Poor’s, Stores, and Wall Street Journal.
    • End-of-chapter appendices on service retailing (following Chapter 2), global retailing (following Chapter 3), and franchising (following Chapter 4).
    • An end-of-text appendix (“Careers in Retailing”) and a glossary.
    • COMING SOON! A special section of our blog (http:www.bermanevansretail.com) devoted to a host of supplements that accompany RM, 13e.

 

Posted in Career Video Clips, Careers in Retailing, Part 1: Overview/Planning, Part 2: Ownership, Strategy Mix, Online, Nontraditional, Part 3: Targeting Customers and Gathering Information, Part 4: Store Location Planning, Part 5: Managing a Retail Business, Part 6: Merchandise Management and Pricing, Part 7: Communicating with the Customer, Part 8: Putting It All Together | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment