THE NEW YEAR
THINGS TO DO
Getting Ready for the New Year
Start 2013 Off Right!
About.com’s Retail Industry Page
retailindustry.about.com
This section of the popular About. com site shows the events that affect the entire retail sector. The page covers politics, major industry moves and statistics.
Numbers to Crunch
VentureBeat.com venturebeat.com
Ttay up-to-date on what’s happening with smartphones, apps and social networking. Venture Beat provides bite-sized articles that give readers the quick-and-dirty.
Sites to See
Events to Check Out
Shiflet & Dickson Car Expo
March 18-19, Gastonia, N.C . Contact: 800/222-9411
www.shifletdickson.com
Big Daddy Wholesale
Accessories Show March 22, Brooklyn, N.Y. Contact: 718/387-1157
26th Annual Spring Break
Nationals Ocean Center March 24-25, Daytona Beach, Fla.
www.springbreaknationals.com
East Coast USA Distribu-
tors 2012 Dealer Show March 29, Queens, N.Y. Contact: 516/326-1560
Apps to Download
Vendor Relationships: What You Should Be Doing:
■ Review all of your vendor agreements to confirm when each one expires. U.S.-based companies usually run their dealer agreements on a calendar year while Japa- nese companies are traditionally on an April 1 – March 31 basis. Confirm these agreements have automatic renewal. If they don’t, get the renewals in writing prior to the agreement expiration date.
■ Ask all of your vendors for new product “load-in” incen- tives. Many vendors offer these incentives, which can
range from extended payment terms to discounts on demo products to product placement discounts (e.g. adding a number of SKUs for an additional discount). Additionally, ask for floor sales incentive programs that will help to sell-through the product.
■ Be prepared to discuss a year-long promotional plan with all of your major vendors. Prioritize the promotions that are most important and get vendor commitments well in advance.
iTerminal iTerminal is a payment process- ing App that allows you to accept credit card payments wherever your business may be. You can
Stuff to Read
Grow Smart, Risk Less: A Low-Capital Path to Mul- tiplying Your Business Through Franchising
By Shelly Sun Expanding to a second shop is rife with hassles, including trust issues with new employees when
you’re not there. Franchising may be the better option as the owner is vested in the business. Author Shelly Sun calls on her own franchising experience to lay out the complete plan, using a process that requires little capital investment on your part.
32 Mobile Electronics Survival Guide 2012
Free Marketing: 101 Low and No- Cost Ways to Grow Your Business, Online and Off
By Jim Cockrum This book delivers tons of ideas to help any small business
generate new revenue, with little or no budget. With Internet-based and offline ideas, it explains ways to turn customers into an unpaid sales force, get competi- tors to help promote new products, grow a loyal audience and spread the word about your products and services.
access this app with Wi-Fi and 3G con- nection, while it also verifies credit card information as you enter it, all major cards are accepted. To use iTerminal there is an account fee of $25 per month, with an additional fee of 30 cents per transaction.
Dragon Dictation Dragon Dictation is a voice-to-
text recognition application that allows you to instantly see the text con- tent after spoken into. Features include direct updates to your social networking outlets, emails, notes and reminders. This app also provides multilingual capabili-
ties and free installation.
www.me-mag.com 33
Cost of Goods, Gross Profit and Profitability Why it’s important: Understanding cost of goods helps you determine the percentage of what you make compared to what you’ve spent.
Basic Cost of Goods Calculation: Beginning Inventory $+ Purchases - Ending inventory $ $22,000 + $18,250 - $25,000 = $15,250 Cost of Goods Sold
Gross Profit Margin Calculation: Cost of Goods Sold / Sales for the period $15,250 / $42,000= .363, or 36.3% GP
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26