Running a retail business is hard, regardless of whether your store is online or in-person. The industry continues to change as technology pushes forward and stores stay beholden to customers’ expectations that also change over time.

The past year drastically changed how customers view and interact with retail shopping in everyday life, but there are ways to work with the recent changes rather than fighting against them. The typical landscape of retail businesses might be different from what we knew a few years ago, but that is not necessarily a bad thing, as change can bring new opportunities or avenues that you might have never considered otherwise.

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Coronavirus is certainly a new challenge that all business owners are facing these days. Social restrictions and regulations are significantly impacting the bottom lines of many businesses, and many owners are even facing the prospect of permanent closures brought on by the impacts of the virus. However, while the economic damage caused by COVID-19 is certainly something that needs to be considered, prioritized, and tackled, it is likely the case that your business was facing some wicked problems before the virus hit.

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Facebook and Instagram are massive social media platforms that feel like they have always been around. Many young people can’t remember a time before Facebook or Instagram, but both of these platforms have come from small beginnings and grown over the years to reach their current state. The way we used Facebook and Instagram just a few years ago is different than how these platforms operate today. The main purpose behind each platform is the same, but new features and behind the scenes changes have shaped both platforms over the years. Social media platforms went from primarily communication services to hosting full digital stores with advanced shipping APIs leveling the playing field for ecommerce stores of all sizes. Some recent Facebook and Instagram changes have affected businesses and customers alike meaning all users must adapt to change if they want their content to perform well. By combining new tactics with tried and true methods, businesses and customers can use video and other types of content to successfully grow their presence on both Instagram and Facebook.

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Data has become as essential as oil in the business world. Most people understand data is extremely valuable, but not everyone knows how to take raw data and refine it into useful business information.

In Douglas Adams’ book Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, a computer is asked to define the meaning of life, and the computer eventually provides an answer of simply 42. The computer presented an answer, but no one understood it. While Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is science fiction, this scene bears a resemblance to how many people view data in real life.

Unless you are able to turn data into valuable information, the data might as well be random numbers. By using various data management processes, your business can extract impactful insights from data.

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Content marketing is ever-evolving. Years ago, blog posts were a hit but nowadays, a blog post without any images or videos is as good as nothing (according to Google). Thanks to the growth of social media platforms and Google’s algorithms, content marketers are always looking for the next strategy to end up first on the search results page.

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The end of the year is soon upon us. Retailers everywhere are ramping up for the holidays, which for some translates to a third of their annual sales total, and the online retail space is no exception. Indeed, last years’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday generated $7.9 billion in sales to become the biggest online shopping experience in US history. This coupled with the multiple holidays during October through December make Q4 a prime time to realize some serious profits.

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Some call this defining your “customer persona”.

Few products and services are so specialized that they have only one target audience.

Yet many brands -- in an attempt to stretch budgets -- use one general message which reaches too broad of an audience. This creates a diluted message that delivers lower ROI than if it was targeting the single best customer.

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