Interesting Article in BusinessWeek

[gordons]

http://www.businessweek.com/smallbiz...position=link1

[dkhoward]

I teach undergrad business management at a small christian university near my home. The hot topic for the past few years has been niche marketing and managing to maximize customer service as the best way to compete with the big box stores (most notably Wally World). Niche marketing is nothing new, but the variety of techniques and methods is. What the numbers say is that with good baseline management tools (inventory control, budgetting, etc and superior customer service coupled with the more intimate knowledge that a small business owner can accumulate about his customer base and the market he is serving, it is quite possible to compete with the big boys and to make a reasonable living.

That said, as a consultant, I see far more small business fail than succeed because they fail to consider what it does take to be successful. Time more than anything else and a dedication to being a success. THese things have to be backed up with a great idea, a sound business plan and an understanding of how a small business works and competes in todays market place.

I love to see a small business find a way to get into the big boys market, find that segment that they are underserving or have missed completely and then capitalize on the information. Makes my heart warm.

[cabinetman]

There is a small family owned hardware store two blocks from my house. There are three isles, and parking is shared in a strip center. I can park 20 feet from the store if I cut somebody off. Their prices are higher than the big box, and some of their inventory has cheapened. BUT, they sell some items you can't get at the big box. As for info, I take it with a grain of salt. I've received advice in there that I knew was wrong at times. As for the big box, finding someone for advice is the trick. There used to be a small drug store right next door that just closed down. Both stores have been there since the 50's. I shop there at times just to avoid the drive to the biggies. As for the "ask the expert", I heard the definition of an "expert" as a fool away from home.



"I'M NEVER WRONG - BUT I'M NOT ALWAYS RIGHT"

[crokett]

We have an old-school hardware store in town where I shop when I can. Earlier this year I wanted to put a tube in my wheelbarrow tire. I took it there. The guy installed the tube and pumped up the tire for me and only charged what the tube cost.

[430752]

Yeah, but....

I fell for the small stores and like to support them.

But, I have to point something out everyone misses: if the small stores were so good, then how'd the big stores get big?

Yeah, exactly. Most of us are comfortable in hardware stores of any size/variety, I'd imagine. But the small store owner has only himself to blame when metrosexual men, women, guys who didn't grow up tough, etc., walk into the local hardware store and get ridiculed, have to wait, get funny glances from the "in crowd", surely service, unloading of product the shopkeeper need to clear-out, cramped, poorly lit, etc. You know the feeling, like being a yankee stopping at roadside diner in rural mississippi - you're not welcome.

I'd imagine that the majority of america hasn't felt comfortable in small hardware store since the 70's or so.

Now big stores, lets see, big, spacious, a certain level of comfortability, no hard sales, no dinged and dented merchandise, ability to touch everything, hands-on, etc.

Of course, the big stores suck the soul outta everything they touch, but the point is that many a small store was just as bad for different reasons.


Curt J.