New MSA Retail Tip: Customer Service and Selling Training for Volunteers
from MSA
Using volunteers in museum stores can be a tremendous revenue generating, money-saving customer service asset. But for any store volunteer program to work, management must believe the right volunteer, trained and managed properly, can do just about anything as well as a paid staff person. More

Fabric and Yarn Excluded in New CPSIA Requirements
from ApparelNews.net
A new vote has exempted fabric and yarn from the lead testing and certification requirements for children's products under the Consumer Product Safety Commission's Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act. It has been argued that the two items are not lead-bearing and that the costly testing of them places an undue burden on manufacturers. More

Precious Metals, Gems Exempted from CPSIA Lead Testing
from Manufacturing Jewelers and Suppliers of America
The commissioners of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to exempt precious metals (karat gold, sterling, and platinum group metals) and gemstones from the testing and certification requirements for children’s products covered by the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). More

What to Expect In Stores This Holiday Season
from Forbes
A Unity Marketing consultant discusses how Saks' second-quarter results foreshadow what's in store for luxury retailers this season. More

Mobile Commerce Tech Vendors Experiencing a Pre-Holiday Season Boom
from Internet Retailer
Mobile commerce technology vendors are experiencing a rush -- numerous retailers pounding their doors wanting a mobile site or app out in time for the upcoming holiday season. Major mobile commerce site and app builders have numerous retailers in the pipeline with launch dates in the three months ahead. More

Peak Season Preparations
from MultiChannel Merchant
The holiday season is nearly here -- is your operation ready? It's not too late, but it's getting down to the wire. One thing you can do now that will help you in the future is document your processes and procedures. More

Retailers Entertaining New Ideas to Spark Sales
from The Morning Call
With the retail industry more competitive and customers more scarce, some merchants are pushing the entertainment end of shopping to draw a sale at a later date. More

America's Cultural Tourism Capitals
from Forbes
Paris, London and Rome aren't the only spots for tourism with a touch of culture. Even though we're a couple millennia behind Europe on history, America's major cities still manage to offer enough sophistication, style and arts to go around. More

How Do You Make a Profit to Survive in the Face of Lower Margins?
from OneCoast
Retail executives continue to examine and re-examine their sales, gross margins and profitability to uncover ways to make their company more profitable. They look at every line item in their financial statements and too often conclude: cut more people, reduce service levels and be more cautious taking customer returns. More

How to Build Credibility for Your Online Store
from eTail Today
Worried you're not doing the best you can in attracting traffic to your online store -- or achieving sales? Following are five key tips from a media expert with an online focus. More

E-mailing for Fun and Profits
from OneCoast
For a small business, such as a retail store wishing to communicate via email, the proliferation of spam can make getting your message read more challenging as customers aggressively filter out spam or click the delete button. More

Take Action on Inactive E-mail Segments
from MultiChannel Merchant
No matter how great your acquisition strategy, it's a sad fact that response rates for e-mail marketing campaigns begin to drop almost immediately once a consumer joins a list. There's nothing to lose in trying to re-engage this segment of your list -- they aren't interacting with your brand right now, so why not test some of these re-activation techniques? More

Best Practices for Returns Processing
from MultiChannel Merchant
Reverse logistics is a crucial and growing part of the supply chain process, but many companies fail to measure their returns process with the same rigor they use for outbound distribution. More

A Quick Retail Makeover
from OneCoast
Barbara Crowhurst offers color trend information and ideas for refreshing your displays for the fall and holiday seasons. More

Attractive Shop Workers Could "Put Off" Customers
from Drapers
Attractive staff at shops could potentially discourage female customers who may perceive them as "direct social threats," according to a study. More

Twitter to Roll Out Commercial Accounts This Year
from DigitalBeat
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the company is in the first phase of rolling out commercial accounts that will entice business users to pay for premium services like detailed analytics. After that, the company might move into building business-oriented application programming interfaces (APIs), creating a "commercial layer" over the social network. The commercial APIs would be out "later this year," he said. More

Some High-end Retailers Lower Their Prices
from USA Today
As consumers slowly rediscover shopping, retailers are struggling to strike a balance between slashing prices and going full price. More

Library Passes Boost Museum Turnout
from The Bristol Press
Thanks to libraries, museum lovers from all over Connecticut are visiting the city's museums. At the New England Carousel Museum, the American Clock and Watch Museum and at the Imagine Nation children's museum, directors have seen an increase in the number of visitors using a library museum pass instead of paying admission at the door. More

Museum Stores Booming as Cultural Shoppers Seek Out “Gifts with Soul”
from The Guardian
Tumbleweed may be blowing down the aisles of some of the high street's most famous shops but the tills at Britain's stately homes and museums are ringing as if it's Christmas. It used to be that souvenirs meant a dowdy selection of pencils, rubbers and mugs stacked up by the exit, but hard-up museums have woken up to the power of impulse shopping and now seduce customers with an eclectic selection. More

MOCA Shop Presents Clever, Innovative Items
from Cleveland.com
The Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland or MOCA is in the building that houses The Cleveland Playhouse at 8501 Carnegie Ave. Parking is free when the Playhouse is not having a performance. Upon arriving on the second floor, the Art Shop was right in front of me. I love this little store. It is stocked with clever, innovative and useful items. More

How Facebook, Chickens Keep Los Angeles Museum Smiling
from The Orange County Register
Facebook offers a bit of everything that is social networking and many want to know how to maximize its potential. Brian Sheridan of Heritage Square Museum tells of how the Los Angeles attraction uses it. More

Challenge to Funding Models for UK Museums
from The Art Newspaper
David Gilbert, chairman of the Contemporary Arts Society finance committee, has set up an initiative that aims to generate up to 30% extra revenue for UK museums and galleries -- a welcome move at a time of major funding and sponsorship worries. Culture Label is an online venture that unites the retail outlets of 60 British arts institutions, allowing worldwide access to their products. More