— By Kendall Youngworth — Enhancing the retail customer experience with flooring. The discussion about the future of brick-and-mortar stores rages on, but most forecasters agree on one thing: They will not become obsolete any time soon, if ever. As with any type of business or industry, staying relevant and providing a great customer experience is key to retaining a customer base in retail. The idea is to create a customer experience that enhances loyalty, keeps customers in the store for longer periods, and keeps them coming back. …
Industry Voices
— By Chris Scheppmann — A smart, simple solution to a holiday nightmare. Retail executives across the United States recently had to face their annual holiday parking nightmare. Holiday sales represent about 20% of annual sales each year (with some stores reaching as much as 30%), and this increased business results in a corresponding increase in auto traffic to and from shopping centers. For retail executives, particularly those managing busier complexes, this increased traffic can cause a nightmare scenario of dozens of cars circling parking areas looking for a …
— By Carol L. Carey — Why hiring a professional pressure washer is good for business. We no longer live in an age where negative remarks about service or cleanliness are written on a comment card and dropped in a box on the way out of a place of business. Now it’s as easy as snapping a picture and uploading it simultaneously to multiple social media platforms, all the while tagging your location and corporate office. Clicking a one-star and a quick negative, frustration-fueled comment on Yelp, Google Review …
— By Scott Benson — No longer an afterthought, food and beverage is taking up more space in the retail landscape than ever before. The ways in which consumers choose to spend their time and money are changing and so must the industries that serve them, and the food and beverage industry is no exception. Food and beverage is flourishing in a time when many traditional retailers seem to be treading water. People are dining out more than ever — the average American household spends approximately $3,365 per year …
— By Rick Sung — Leveraging the power of predictive analysis in facilities management. Renowned management consultant Peter Drucker once mused, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” For leaders seeking ways to advance their facilities management (FM), measuring progress is a complex and nuanced process requiring a sophisticated, data-driven approach. In this quest for improvement, however, gathering data is only half the battle. To make truly informed decisions, business leaders and facilities managers alike need analytics to better understand the staggering volume of data flowing through …
— By Ray Hatch — How restaurants can help curb the plastics epidemic. With 2020 having been set as a benchmark for business’ sustainability programs, many restaurant operations are working hard to achieve their waste-reduction goals. One area that restaurants are starting to focus their attention, and rightly so, is on the problem of post-consumer waste. Your operation can be squeaky clean and generating a relatively low volume of waste, but once you account for single-use packaging… your environmental footprint becomes significantly larger. Nothing can derail an environmental program …
— By Anthony Vross — Addressing ponding water on a heavily penetrated low slope roof. There are essentially two ways water leaves a roof: positive drainage or evaporation. When neither can occur quickly enough, the result is ponding water. Ponding water is defined as any water remaining on a roof 48 hours after a rain. Most commonly occurring on low-slope commercial roofs, ponding water can result from poor building/roof design, poor drainage and pockets forming on the roof after a building or substrate settles. Retail and restaurant facility managers …
— By TJ Durham — Four keys to successful property management. Often flying under the radar, a trusted property manager is among the most valuable assets a retail owner can have in its corner. The role goes far deeper than landscape and curb appeal — it also includes managing the finances and operations of the asset, creating a budget and working within that budget to hire contractors for routine maintenance, fit-outs and overseeing basic improvements on the property. The ability to rely on a professional who can seamlessly maximize …
— By Ted Stouch — From service programs to vendor selection, everything you need to know about choosing a national sign service provider. An integral part of any business owner or facilities manager’s job is looking for a national sign service company to maintain their storefront signage. Your signage is a significant part of your brand identity, and it’s how customers, executives and prospects identify your location. Maintaining this signage can become a challenge with all the other tasks associated with running a business. For instance, we’ve all seen …
— By Erich Lawson — 6 simple ways to reduce food waste in restaurants. Every year a lot of food is wasted, of which restaurants are major contributors. Recyclable items like cardboard and paper waste find their way to landfills instead of being recycled. As a restaurateur, you can do your bit for the planet by reducing this waste. You can even install self-contained trash compactors to handle waste efficiently. Audit the Waste If you cannot measure how much you are wasting, there is no way you can minimize …