I like to follow our industry statistics: number of storefronts, violin imports, sales totals and similar data. I find it problematic because, often, it reads l...
At the beginning of June, Kleiner-Perkins partner Mary Meeker released the 2016 version of her now-essential Internet Trends Report. The venture capitalist ...
I’ve written an opinion column in our industry for almost 20 years—very close to a quarter-million words on events in our industry—and I often check my archiv...
So much has been written about MAP policies—both pros and cons—that it would take more time to read it all than to binge watch the entire run of “Game of Th...
One thing that any regular reader of this column knows is that I’m often dismayed by the many market opportunities we seem to ignore or marginalize in our quest...
The smaller our stores are, the broader our inventory needs to be. This might seem counterintuitive, but “niche-ing” our stock allows us to serve the actual...
It’s very common for a new business to rethink its business model. If the original idea isn’t working—or if a better opportunity appears on the horizon—then...
All things considered, I’m pleased with our 2015 Christmas season. We had a reasonable increase, met many new customers and, as the year begins, we’ve seen ...
On Thanksgiving Day, I witnessed a marketing hijack in the midst of all the Black Thursday…err…Friday hoopla. The TV was tuned in to NBC for the 89th annual...
Over the last few years, I’ve observed a consumer shopping trend that troubles me. It isn’t mega-chains, e-commerce or smartphone hipsters with every price ...
