From Georganne Bender, retail and marketing guru

As stores began to close due to the pandemic, Rich and I found that much of our calendars had cleared as meetings and trade shows were cancelled or postponed. We decided the best thing we could do was to help indies along their journey to selling online, reopening and beyond, so we also created the Retail During and After COVID-19 weekly webinar series, complimentary on demand videos that deal specifically how to keep customers close both during the shutdown and what to do once your store reopens. Topics include:

1. Retail Ready: Setting Your Sales Floor to Sell!, shot live on the sales floor of a yet to be opened store.

2. Keeping Customers Close During COVID-19

3. Things to Think About When Planning to Reopen

4. Store Reopening Checklist

5. How to Engage and Connect with Customers Via Email Marketing During COVID-19

6. You Can Do It: Keeping a Positive Attitude During COVID-19

7. Merchandising Your Sales Floor When Closed Due to COVID-19

In addition, we have amped up our Retail Adventures blog (started in 2005) and have launched Retail Adventures Podcast that is available in iTunes and every place podcasts can be found. We brought in marketer Jason Baum, a brilliant marketer and a partner we have relied on for years, we added some amazing guests, and post a new podcast each week. Topics include:

1. How COVID-19 is Going to Affect Your Store & How to Prepare

2. Why It’s Important to Merchandise Your Sales Floor Even when It’s Closed for COVID-19

3. What Consumers are Thinking Right About Now and How Retailers are Responding

4. Selling Online During COVID-19 – with special guest Christine Grecco, a creative customer-focused technology professional who shares how to quickly create an online store with easy-to-use platforms during COVID-19.

5. Social Media Marketing Ideas and Insights You Need to Know Right Now! – with special guest Matt Korn, Digital Marketing Manager for The Walt Disney Company. Matt has helped build organic and paid social media strategies from the ground up, has supported multi-million dollar product launches, and has developed marketing concepts that have disrupted the market. He shared great insights for retailers.

6. Planning to Reopen Your Store – with special guest Mary Liz Curtain, author and owner of Leon & Lulu and the Three Cars Cafe in Clawson, Michigan

7. Welcome to the NOW Normal

8. What Consumers Should Expect When Stores Reopen

Stay healthy, stay safe,

Georganne