We are always on the lookout for articles that will help you grow, market, fund, and manage your business. Most times, we write the articles ourselves, but sometimes we come across one from another blog that is just too perfect not to share with you.
This article was written by Clifford Chi, a writer at HubSpot and appears on their Marketing Blog. They have a mix of content that works across all industries, not just retail, but we will be sure to share our retail favourites on our Merchant Capital blog!
The retail industry evolves fast. Ten years ago, every town’s mall was a bustling hub of commerce, chock full of busy shops and pesky tweens. Nowadays, Cyber Monday generates $1.5 billion more in sales than Black Friday does.
With the explosive growth of online shopping and 2017’s brick-and-mortar retail apocalypse, how can you, a retailer, adapt to the ever-changing preferences of consumers today? One of the first steps to take is staying informed. Retail blogs can keep you updated on the industry’s latest stories and prepare you for the upcoming trends that will transform the industry in 2019 and beyond.
Below, we’ll list the best retail blogs on the internet right now. And, hopefully, they can help you reinvigorate your brick-and-mortar store or help you take advantage of the current boom in eCommerce for your online store.
1. Shopify Plus
Shopify Plus, Shopify’s enterprise software arm, structures its editorial calendar like a season of television, weaving its articles into narrative-driven series and publishing multiple stories about one eCommerce topic over time.
With a trusted team of staff writers and freelancers, they write heavily-researched yet easy-to-understand stories about eCommerce success stories, behavioural economics, buyer psychology, and industry data, helping you understand the industry’s best tactics and why they work.
Each of Shopify Plus’ articles is valuable on its own, but just like episodes from your favourite Netflix show, they can entice you to read the entire series, arming you with the full scope of knowledge about a certain topic.
2. National Retail Federation
The National Retail Federation, or NRF, is the largest retail trade association in the United States. For over a century, they’ve advocated for retailers by lobbying Congress in support of the industry and providing mentorship and networking opportunities for their members.
To update retailers about the latest news and trends, the NRF publishes blog posts about the economy, connected commerce, consumer trends, holiday and seasonal trends, retail technology, and small businesses.
They also conduct studies and surveys to grasp the current state of the retail industry and publish insights on their blog. They use their podcast, Retail Gets Real, and their online magazine, Stores, to tell stories about thriving retail brands too.
3. The Retail Doctor
Bob Phibbs, the self-proclaimed “Retail Doctor”, is a retail consultant who has helped brands like LEGO, Mastercard, and Paul Mitchell optimize their brick-and-mortar stores, train their sales team, and boost their in-store sales.
Phibbs’ consulting services are definitely impressive, but his blog might be even more admirable. Feedspot named The Retail Doctor’s blog the best retail blog & website for 2018, and reading it will teach you a broad range of retail topics, spanning from holiday shopping strategies to dealing with bratty kids in your store.
4. Retail Dive
An offshoot of Industry Dive, a digital media company that publishes business news and original analysis for over 3 million executives in 16 industries, Retail Dive analyzes the top retail trends and new stories and publishes extensive articles about them. They mostly cover topics like technology, trends, marketing, eCommerce, payments, mobile, logistics, corporate news, loss prevention, and the holidays.
They also write opinion pieces about retail, conduct their own studies, post industry events, have a job board, and produce their own podcast, Conversational Commerce.
5. Square
Square, one of the leading credit card readers for small businesses, has millions of customers, and the company’s blog has been influential in its customers’ growth. Covering topics like customer success, data insights, finances, growth strategies, management, and marketing, Square’s blog can also help you run your retail store more effectively.
If you’re a Square customer, you can read their blog to learn about their latest product updates, how other businesses succeed using Square, and best practices for using their products.
6. Medallion Retail
With over five decades of experience helping retail brands like Starbucks, Converse, and Mark Avion run their in-store marketing, Medallion Retail is a proven thought leader in the retail industry.
Their blog gives retailers an inside look at their coveted expertise, which is in-store experience, signage, and pop-up retail. If you want to learn from an established retail expert, Medallion Retail can be your trusted resource.
7. Forrester Retail
Forrester is a market research company that provides reports about how existing and future technologies can potentially impact the business world.
To help retailers leverage technology to adapt to their consumers’ ever-changing preferences, Forrester publishes blog posts about the latest news in retail and predictions of the industry’s direction. They also attach more in-depth research reports to most of their blog posts for readers to download.
8. Shopify Retail
Originally founded to sell snowboards online, Shopify has transformed into the leading eCommerce platform for retailers, powering over 500,000 businesses that have generated more than $40 billion in sales.
Countless customers use their blog as a guide to run their business, and if you follow it, you can hone your chops in marketing, sales, customer experience, pop-up shops, Black Friday & Cyber Monday strategy, omnichannel retail, and technology.
Originally published Nov 12, 2018 7:00:00 AM, updated November 12 2018
