2011 MSA Members Market: Increase your wholesale revenue
MSA
Add value to your MSA Retail Conference & Expo experience by showcasing your products at Members Market! Members Market is a one-of-a-kind venue and your exclusive opportunity to present your museum-developed products to fellow cultural commerce buyers. Find out more and reserve your table today!More

American Express Launches Small Business Saturday
MSA
Museum stores can make the most of the first-ever Small Business Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010, from American Express. Described as "a day to come together in support of small businesses, the businesses that are the heartbeat of our communities and local economies," you can join the movement and help spread the word about your business with several promotional tools. Get more details.More

Minutes from the MSA Mid-Atlantic Chapter fall meeting posted
MSA
Minutes from the MSA Mid-Atlantic Chapter fall meeting in Philadelphia, PA, have been posted to the MSA website.More

MSA Florida Chapter is ready for its winter meeting
MSA
Detailed information and a complete agenda for the next MSA Florida Chapter meeting in Orlando/Winter Park has been posted to the MSA website. Download the registration form and start making plans to see your local colleagues. More

CPSIA update: Why would you let bad info into public database?
Shopfloor
The Consumer Product Safety Commission is getting closer to its launch of a product safety public database, a major provision of 2008's Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA). If the commission adopts its staff-proposed rule on Nov. 17 without any changes, the CPSIA's already substantial economic harm will spread even further.More

Understanding your holiday customer
Snap!Retail
As you are setting up your store for the holidays, keep in mind that your "holiday customer" is probably different from your day-to-day customer. The difference may be subtle, but it's important!More

Consumers plan to give daily deal site vouchers as holiday gifts
Internet Retailer
More consumers plan to stuff stockings this holiday season with vouchers and coupons from daily deal sites such as Groupon, LivingSocial and BuyWithMe. A recent survey found 88 percent of consumers say they plan to use, or would consider using, a daily deal site for their holiday shopping. Moreover, 91 percent say they would appreciate receiving a voucher from a daily deal site as a gift.More

Hotel business ramps up around Black Friday
USA TODAY
It was the night before Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, and hotels started noticing a quirky phenomenon. People stuffed with turkey and pumpkin pie were walking into their lobbies to book rooms for Thanksgiving night. Call it Black Friday shopping -- to the extreme.More

Free shipping is most effective holiday sales promotion for online merchants
Auction Bytes
Free shipping is the most effective sales promotion heading in to the holiday season, according to a recent survey. Sixty-four percent of respondents reported that free shipping, with or without minimum spend, is the most effective promotion they can offer during the holiday season, and 53 percent said they would be offering free shipping on more products this year compared to last holiday season.More

Industry pushing holiday gift cards, hopes high
Marketing Daily
Along with holiday sales in general, gift cards are expected to rebound somewhat this holiday season -- and restaurants should be among the big beneficiaries on the gift-card front.More

Campaign urges southern New Jersey shoppers to buy locally before using Web
Press of Atlantic City
Holiday shoppers will be armed with smartphones, high-speed Internet connections and a wide world of choices on where to buy gifts over the next two months. This year, the Southern Ocean County Chamber of Commerce is appealing to the community spirit of holiday shoppers with an ad campaign urging them to patronize local stores before turning to the Internet or out-of-area destinations.More

Barnes & Noble tests toy boutiques to boost sales
Portfolio.com
Barnes & Noble Inc. has begun testing large "store-in-store" toy boutiques at a handful of its locations, looking to make use of shelf space freed up by declining book sales. In the last week, the largest U.S. bookstore chain has opened 3,000-square-foot play areas with educational toys and games at five stores in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut on a trial basis, with plans to open more if the boutiques prove successful during the upcoming holiday season.More

Coupon shoppers tend to be affluent, college graduates
Syracuse.com
A recent survey shows that savvy shoppers aren't necessarily those on the tightest budgets. Coupon-wielding deal hunters tend to be college graduates and those from affluent households. Deals.com surveyed 8,650 shoppers and found that college grads are 73 percent more like to use online coupons.More

9 steps toward handling customer complaints
USA TODAY
Face it, if you run a small business, sooner or later, you're going to have an unhappy customer. No one likes to hear complaints, but it's far better to have customers actually talk to you than to just leave, because they don't leave quietly. Dissatisfied customers put their complaints (or rants!) on Yelp or some other rating site. They tweet about it and tell their friends on Facebook.More

How to train and retain hourly retail employees
Suite101.com
Ask the average retail store manager for his or her view on employee training and you will likely receive the reply, "Training? What training?" Many feel that the time and costs associated with training new, entry-level employees is too high to bear given the virtual non-existence of budgets and the overwhelming rate of employee turnover. The common question is: "Why should I spend $500 to train a $8 per hour employee I just hired, if after the training, they will leave me for a job that pays $8.50?"More

Professors pinpoint discount that turns heads
Marketing Daily
Warehouse chains like Costco and Sam's Club may know all about how to tempt shoppers with Pop-Tarts by the ton or dental floss by the mile, but for brands with no history in volume discounts, figuring out how to price those discounts is usually a guessing game. But a new study from two marketing professors nails down just how big that discount needs to be to sway shoppers.More

The costs of charging admission
The Philadelphia Inquirer
The opening of the expanded National Museum of American Jewish History on Independence Mall is helping to establish something to which Philadelphia will have to adjust: Admissions charges for major museums in the historic district. More

Proposal recommends charging admission at the Smithsonian
The New York Times
In New York, a visit to the Museum of Modern Art will set you back $20, but down in Washington, the Smithsonian Institution, which is 70 percent federally funded, has long been free. That would change under a proposal by the national commission charged with reducing the deficit.More

Hawaii is trying to keep struggling gift shop open at the Hawaii State Art Museum
Honolulu Star Advertiser
The gift shop at the Hawaii State Art Museum is struggling to stay open and has never paid a month's rent since moving in a year ago. Showcase Hawaii owes $18,000 in unpaid rent and has only made a two-month deposit, according to the Department of Accounting and General Services.More