Amazon wants to build a marketplace with the largest selection at the lowest prices. While a brand may be attracted to the customer base of that marketplace, most brands want to protect their pricing. Hence the Amazon channel can be a frustration once the brand’s products start being sold by Amazon or third-party sellers well below MAP prices...
Let’s be honest, most small businesses’ capital needs aren’t being met by today’s lenders. In fact, the bulk of commercial lenders don’t serve small businesses at all. Not because they don’t want to, but because they aren’t structured do so effectively or efficiently...
With 2018 upon us, it’s time to revamp and rethink your strategies for your small business. Align your goals with what’s trending to ensure you meet, or even possibly exceed, your expectations. From hiring to technological advances, here are 10 small business trends you should keep in mind when setting your 2018 goals.
Growth has always been fundamental to business success, but it's never been more critical than it is now. Rapid changes in technology, shifting customer expectations, disruptive business models, and quickly evolving regulations force organizations to innovate quickly and invest in new lines of business that will fuel future growth...
As a small business owner, you're beyond busy—and that isn't likely to change. One moment, you're serving as a salesperson, trying to close that new piece of business. The next, you're playing service rep and solving a buyer's problem or doing executive tasks like running to the bank to sign loan documents. Add to these roles more selling, more service, and more managing. Suddenly, your best employee gives notice. As busy as you are, how will you find time to recruit, interview, hire, and train a replacement...
I know I’m going to catch some heat from Nate for referring to Rhone as “athleisure”, but after taking a close look at the market that’s what I think they do. And they do it incredibly well. Not in the sense that they manufacture yoga pants used solely for watching Netflix and drinking hot cocoa, but in the sense that they design and produce a multipurpose clothing line that’s just as functional in the gym as it is boarding a plane to catch a business meeting on the other side of the country. They’re based out in Stamford so our editor, Jenna Bostock, and I headed out there to meet Nate Checketts and talk shop last month...
Activist investors were really busy in 2017. General Electric, AIG, Arconic, CSX, Pandora, and Buffalo Wild Wings are among the companies whose CEOs resigned under pressure from activist investors. Activist investors single out underperforming companies, then force changes, which may include giving the activist a seat on the board, replacing company leaders, divesting a division, or simply cutting costs. These relentless shaker-uppers are going after bigger and bigger companies, and both sides are spending more money than ever in proxy battles. That's why all C-suite leaders need to heed the lessons of 2017...
When you think of account takeover (ATO), what comes to mind? High-profile data breaches? Embarrassing celebrity Twitter hacks? Although these companies are certainly at risk, they’re not the only ones vulnerable to ATO. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) businesses are equally – if not more – vulnerable to damaging account takeovers...
The Sharing Economy is transforming how we interact and conduct business, commerce, healthcare, and more. As the sharing economy is built on interactions between partners and consumers, lack of trust is the most important hurdle. The absence of a standardized, fully reliable method of verifying the identity of participants and equipping them to prove the authenticity of their credentials could pose a real challenge to the success of sharing economy participants...
20 years ago, orthopedic surgeon turned entrepreneur Dr. Roger Shedlin saw an opportunity to help families who were looking for a miracle. He saw that the process for accessing fertility services was completely overwhelming, given the lack of fertility benefits in the healthcare marketplace, the astronomical prices of fertility treatment and the complexity of obtaining assistance in starting a family. Dr. Shedlin wanted to change that...
People often think great teams come together by happy accident, or that they just got lucky that one time they had a great team. Our research shows otherwise. When we looked at thousands of teams in dozens of industries, we saw that extraordinary teams always shared a specific set of traits and characteristics. It didn’t matter if these teams worked in the U.S., Europe, Asia, or had team members in all three...
Roadway Moving was born from a man who saw an opportunity to infuse a little happiness into a drowning industry. Ross Sapir, an ex-Israeli soldier and bartender, had moved to America and was working at a moving company when he looked around and began to wonder why everyone was so unhappy. The employees, the customers, it was a miserable existence. He decided to change that, by starting a brand that focused on customer service first and foremost. It was time for a revolution...
Being an ethical fashion business is about believing in a better world, it’s about choosing to see business differently; seeking possibility rather than profit.
Fashion at its’ essence is a combination of creativity and luxury which inspires people and speaks to their desires. To fulfil this desire ethically is to respond with originality & resourcefulness with a superior product which encourages purchasing quality over quantity...
It’s no secret the digital payments revolution is here - it’s just not evenly distributed yet. Consumers are reaping most of the benefits however electronic payments are far from being the norm when it comes to business-to-business transactions. But that’s changing as new technology is bringing digital payments to businesses, too...
Build it and they will come. That is the view many organizations maintain about their data lakes and data warehouses. Companies are rapidly investing in systems and processes to retain business data that they know is valuable but have no clue what to do with it...
Everything about your brand, from your business name to your logo to your web design, should support and communicate your brand’s unique identity. It should be a fingerprint, completely unique and associated with your business only. It should be perfectly identifiable with you, as a company, in mere milliseconds...
Chef Patrick O’Connell started cooking 40 years ago in an old farmhouse with just a yard sale electric frying pan. Today he is the self-taught acclaimed chef and, of course, the proud bearer of two Michelin stars at The Inn at Little Washington in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
The confirmation of his two Michelin star renewal was announced by the French Embassy yesterday. We interrupted Chef mid-photoshoot (he was having afternoon tea with a dog) for a heart to heart on how he turned a defunct gas station into a luxurious Relais & Châteaux property and what those two illustrious Michelin stars mean to him....
In the job market today, employees don’t stay in one place for as long as they used to. While numerous factors can contribute to this, there are a few things bu...
The inception of Hanz de Fuko stems from the perfect concoction of entrepreneurial gumption, original high-quality products, the beginning of the YouTuber influ...
The fastest growing businesses today have a powerful secret weapon: superusers. This special group of customers goes far beyond using your services regularly an...
If you've been paying attention at all, you know massive changes are coming to the world of work. Specifically, a huge technology wave is roaring our way, poise...
Flow state, the brainchild of Hungarian psychologist and positive psychology researcher Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is a laser-like state of focus achieved by thos...
While solutions to help employees manage their travel-related expenses have evolved steadily over the past two decades, innovation in the space has really accel...
Throughout the eight year history of Alister & Paine Magazine we have had the luxury of supporting a number of charitable organizations from the Access Fund...
