Lehigh Small Business Development Center
Helping Businesses Start, Grow, and Prosper
Welcome to the Retail Institute Online Seminar
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Why Retail?
Retailing today still presents significant opportunities, provided you recognize that the market is changing and strategies need to be flexible and responsive. The desire for niche, quality businesses, whether downtown or in the country, still exists. However, the challenge today is meeting that desire through bricks and mortar as well as on the Web. Depending upon your product/service and target market, this combination of "bricks and clicks" will vary, hence the challenge and the opportunity.
Knowing your business and market are the foundations of any business. However, in retailing, it is a dynamic interaction that is greatly influenced by the local economy and global awareness. The retail industry is greatly affected by technological advances, demographic shifts and changing perceptions in the U.S. and globally. In addition, our society is more convenience-oriented and busier than previous generations. These factors also affect how retailers function today, as well as the business decisions they make.
The best way to prepare yourself is to examine your business idea, research the industry and local potential and develop your plan of action. Retailing is a continuous educational process.
This series is designed to help you examine your business idea and aid in research to support your plan. In addition to the formal information, a resource room is provided which connects you to retail related web sites and articles.
Please continue to the course description
© 2012 Small Business Development Center at Lehigh University
