Retail Education
Home furnishings and lighting retailers face many challenges in this ever-changing economy. From new consumer expectations to online competition, today's retailers work hard to ensure their customers have access to on-trend products and great customer service. In this section, you'll find all things retailing — news, features, analysis and tools — needed to make your retail business a success.
Real Talk: 'We Sell Lights, But We Love Accent Furniture Too.’
If you want a stable portfolio, financial experts will tell you to diversify, diversify, diversify. Spread out your investments a bit, lest you become someone who loses everything when best-laid…
How Smart Should Furniture Be: Ikea's Furniture Survey
C by GE now sells a lamp that can order pizza. If a lamp can do it, why can't your couch? But if you build it, will consumers buy it?
That's what furniture maker IKEA wants to know. The company…
3 Easy Steps to Crafting Your Social Media Voice
Everyone has a social media voice — a specific tone and system of rules in which they communicate and govern themselves online. As social media continues to be wildly important to online visibility…
Majority of American Households Embrace CFL and LED Bulbs
The most recent data from the 2015 Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) shows that today's home is in a state of energy transformation. Energy-saving light bulbs have grown sharply in…
What the 2017 Houzz & Home Report Tells Us About Home Renovation Trends
Home renovations continue to be a booming business according to Houzz.com's annual Houzz & Home report. Today the home improvement social media site released its annual survey with over 100,000…
One Lighting Question to Ask Every Customer this Month
"Have you tested all of your outdoor lights recently?"
Memorial Day marks the unofficial start of summer. People break out their grills, open their pools and spend time out on their patios and…
7 Essential Cleaning Products Every Showroom Must Have
We know first impressions matter — that's why the most stunning lighting fixtures and furniture go near the entrance of showrooms. But even the nicest fixture can look old and aged with a layer of…
How Marketing Automation Software Helps Small Businesses
Small business owners wear many hats, but the one they often dread wearing is that of marketer. With all the other equally important things to do throughout the day, it's hard to find time to manage …
What We Can Learn From Commercial Design
Designing a small shop or restaurant requires a different thought process than designing a home. With the strides that products and technology have made though, what can we learn from the former that…
Predicting Retail in 2030
In 1989, Back to the Future Part II imagined the world of 2015 as a place of flying cars, self-drying clothes and dehydrated pizza, but as we know, none of those developments really came true (…