How can small retail businesses effectively stay relevant?

Retail is not for everyone. It is much like our higher education where they say everyone should be a computer expert – we still need people to work. The learning curve stems from knowing business and understanding the way people think and react.

Most who attend trade shows that have teaching programs flock to the machine education, but that is something you can pay someone $12 an hour to do. Marketing is the secret to the success in almost any business, which is why taking the time to understand your customer and develop a strong marketing strategy is essential for a shop to stay relevant. Most people think it is easy just to talk to people, and these same folks have no idea what real marketing is all about.

-Stephen Capper, A-1 Awards