Retail and Consumer Services

Aitken Hume International Plc Altos Hornos Del Mediterraneo Sa Amazon.com, Inc. American Business Corporation American Century Corporation American Industries, Ltd. Amsterdam Commodities NV Armor Electric Inc. Asbestos Corporation Limited Asfg, Inc. Asia Supernet Corporation Australian Forest Industries Axm Pharma, Inc. Baiyin Copper Commercial Building (group) Bay Resources Limited Bedford (william) Plc Beijing Hualian Hypermarket Co., Ltd. Beijing Xidan Market Co., Ltd. Beiya Industrial (group) Best Buy Co Inc. Bioaccelerate Holdings, Inc. Brendle's, Inc. Buy.com Inc. Cadema Corporation Caldor Corporation Cape Coastal Trading Corporation Capitol Queen & Casino, Inc. CECS Corp Celebrate Express, Inc. Changchun Eurasia GP Co. Changsha Hunan Tongcheng Holding Chembio Diagnostics, Inc. Chengdu Urban Construction Investment & Development Company Limited CHIERON HOLDINGS LIMITED China National Complete Plant Import & Export Co., Ltd. CIROND TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Columbus Networks Corporation Comprehensive Business Services Plc Crown Leisure Plc Daine Industries, Inc. DIVERSIFIED RESOURCES GROUP, INC. E & B Marine, Inc. Elocity Networks Corporation Exam Usa, Inc. Factory Card Outlet Corp. First Deltavision, Inc. Forme Capital, Inc. Frank's Express, Inc. Frontiervision Capital Corporation Fujian Sanmu Group Co., Ltd. FUZZY LOGIC SOFTWARE CORPORATION Gaiam Incorporated Gaofeng Gold Corporation GLOBAL SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE GROUP, INC. Guideline Capital, Inc. Heck's, Inc. Hellenic Duty Free Shops SA Home Depot Inc

House2Home, Inc. Hyder Consulting Plc Ifex Innovation Finance & Equity Exchange N.v. Impshire Thoroughbreds Plc Integrated Brand Solutions Inc. Interdyne Company Internal Hydro International Inc Intertropical-comfina Jiangsu Holly Corporation Jiangsu Sainty Corp., Ltd. Kum Kang Trading L'Oreal Group LAKSHMI ENTERPRISES INCORPORATED Lanzhou Minbai (group), Ltd. Leopard Capital, Inc. Lewis Group Ltd Lgw Plc Lifeline Therapeutics, Inc. Lightship Plc Lion-Gri International, Inc. Magasins Generaux De Lyon Gerland Sa Magnamedia Verlag Ag Metaphor Corp. Metro AG Mobile Nation, Inc. MR Max Corporation NATIONAL SERVICE INDUSTRIES, INC. Natural Wonders, Inc. Nelx, Inc. Network Foods Limited Ningbo Dahongying Industry & Invest Ningbo Yunsheng (group) Co., Ltd. NT Holding Corp. Orient International Enterprise, Ltd. P.o.s. Media Online Ltd Palomar Enterprises, Pamida, Inc. Para Mas Internet, IN Petroleum Long Champ Philippine Seven Corporation Procter & Gamble Co Purus, Inc. Qinghai Baichunlu Co., Ltd. Ram Venture Holdings Corp Redenvelope, Inc. Regent Energy Corporation Sam's Club Sanlian Commerce Company Limited Saxon Investment Group Limited Sears, Roebuck and Co. Secureview Systems Inc Service Merchandise Company, Inc. Shanghai Join Buy Co., Ltd. SHANGHAI MERCHANTS HOLDINGS LIMTIED Shanghai Tongda Venture Capital Shanghai Urban Agro-Business Co., Ltd. Shenyang Commercial City Co., Ltd. Sichuan Baoguang Pharmaceutical Technology Company Limited

Sichuan Huiyuan Optical Communications Co., Ltd. Siemens AG Silver Screen Studios, Inc. Silvertie Holdings Company Limited Snap2 Corporation Sodak Gaming, Inc. Sony Corporation Southern Building Materials Co., Ltd. SPEEDLANE.COM, INC. St. George Metals, Inc. Sterling Capital Investment Group, Inc. Stop & Shop Companies, Inc. Straight Plc Sunglobe Fiber Systems Corp Sunrise Real Estate Development Group, Inc. Suntime Int'l Economic-Trading SWWT, Inc. Syf Resources Berhad Tag Pacific Limited Target Corporation Tcc Industries, Inc. Thrift Management, Inc. Tianjin HI-Tech Dev. Co., Ltd. Tianjin Jinbin Development Company Limited Tibet Jin Zhu Co., Ltd. Toys "R" Us, Inc. U.S. Home Systems, Inc. United Companies Corporation United Labels AG Unitog Company Victoria Industries, Inc. Viropro, Inc. VSI LIQUIDATION CORP. Wal-Mart Stores Inc Walgreen Co Welcome Home, Inc. Wilson Neill Limited Wuhan Hanshang Group Co. Wuhan Huaxin HI-Tech Co., Ltd. Wuhan Zhongbai Group Co., Ltd. Wumart Stores, Inc. Wwa Group, Inc. X-Change Corporation (the) Xiamen C & D Inc. Xiamen Int'l Trade Group Xiamen Xinde Co., Ltd. Xinjiang Friendship (gp) Xponential, Inc. Y.u.d. Yangtze River Inv. Yang Holding Company Yantai Hualian Devel. GP Yinzuobohai Group Company Limited Zap.com Corporation Zhejiang China Commodities City Group Co., Ltd. Zhejiang Zhongda Group Co. Zhongchu Development Stock Co., Ltd. Zoa Corporation Plc

Guide to Growing a Retail Business

First, do more business with existing customers to increase sales and profits
By Marcia Layton Turner

When it comes right down to it, there are three basic ways to grow a business, especially a retail enterprise:

1. Find new customers
2. Sell more frequently to existing customers
3. Sell higher value items to existing customers

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use market research to identify prospects Are your best potential customers within a certain driving distance of your store? Of a certain income level? Have children of a particular age? Or do they have something else in common?

I recommend:  Use mailing list brokers like InfoUSA, Americalist, AccuLeads, or Dunhill to figure out how many potential customers you have and to rent lists of target prospects. Then design, print, and mail materials like postcards or flyers to entice shoppers into your store.

Use a point-of-sale system to better manage your company and its information These computerized cash registers can track overall sales patterns and individual customer purchase histories.

I recommend:  Request a free quote for a point-of-sale system through BuyerZone. Microsoft makes a great case for automating your business in this article, including suggesting its two POS systems, but Hewlett-Packard and several other vendors have quality systems, too.

Hold a special event to attract attention from customers and the media Raise the profile of your store while giving old and new customers a reason to come spend money with you. Alert the media two or three weeks before the event if it's an open-to-the-public affair and you may get even more exposure.

I recommend:  Promote your event with Evite.com, which not only sends clever invitations to the customers on your e-mailing list (you do have one, right?) but also provides good ideas and notices of nearby events on which you can piggyback.

Use customer relationship management software It provides a way to build an e-mail customer list, get a handle on sales trends and identify actionable demographic information.

I recommend:  SalesForce offers the most widely used CRM software, scalable for all size businesses.

Expand beyond your brick-and-mortar store In addition to selling through a retail store, explore other ways to market your wares, such as online, to customers worldwide.

I recommend:  Register for an eBay, Amazon, and Yahoo! seller account to expand your customer base beyond your current Zip code.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Create, or regularly update, a database of customer names, addresses, and emails so you can communicate with them and alert them to upcoming events and special deals.
• Introduce a frequent-buyer program to reward your best customers, make them more loyal shoppers, and to entice everyone to spend more.
• One of the keys to attracting and retaining customers, which enables your business to grow, is attracting and retaining quality employees who care about customers, are friendly, knowledgeable, and hard-working.
• Although it seems counter-intuitive, becoming known for specializing in a particular type of product will help you grow your business faster than having no specialty at all. Find a niche.