Today's guest post is from Fran Cleaves, senior national account executive and marketing director for GIFT SHOP Magazine.

We at GIFT SHOP spend a lot of time at the forum, answering questions, looking for new products and learning more about our audience. Lately there's been a lot of questions about which gifts show to attend. As a national account executive for GIFT SHOP Magazine, I find myself going to gift shows multiple times throughout the year, so I thought I'd do a little personal recap of the shows. (Views and opinions of the shows may vary widely, so bear in mind, these are just mine.)

I'm going to start with the National Stationery Show (NSS) in NYC in May. (This show is sentimental for me because it's where we first debuted GIFT SHOP.) Before having gone to this show, I never would have thought the coverage would have been so broad. In truth, I never actually sat down and thought about all the categories that encompass stationery—there are loads. Gift wrap, greeting cards, writing instruments—of course, stationery—are just the tip of the iceberg. There is even a nice variety of eco-friendly products. In all of the years we've now been exhibiting, I can tell you that at this show we can confidently rely on a consistent flow of traffic. Before we even had a magazine in print, it was a very worthwhile and prosperous show to attend.

Next on the docket was the second of Atlanta's two shows at Americasmart (the first one is in January). For those of you who have never experienced Atlanta, it's like no other. It's the biggest gift show, in terms of sheer size, that I've ever been to. We exhibit in Building 3, where a large portion of the temporaries exhibit. (Temporaries mean that vendors set up and break down twice a year.) There are three buildings and each one has at least 18 floors to keep one busy. And come January 2009, a fourth building will open.

Here's what I was told in August—"The temporaries housed in Building 3 will now be moving to Building 4 and in its place will be furniture." In Building 2, you'll find many permanent showrooms (and some temporaries too—if my memory serves me correctly) which are fixed stores specifically showcasing all the lines of a vendor. There are also various manufacturers' reps with permanent showrooms where you will find a multitude of the vendors they represent sharing the space. Building 1 is where you'll find country, outdoor/garden, lodge and many more categories.

If you attend or exhibit at this show I strongly recommend comfortable footwear. (You'll thank me later.) One thing I personally enjoy is the Cash & Carry aspect, where a little spending money goes a long way—as well as a nice stroll through the gourmet section (samples!). One thing I most appreciate is how nice everyone associated with the show is—so helpful and always sincerely welcoming. It's southern charm at its best.

Just a few days after Atlanta, it's off to Chicago. The thing I like about the Chicago show is one can spend quality time with other vendors. Plus, in addition to some of the exhibitors found at bigger shows, you get a chance to see regional exhibitors and artisans not found in Atlanta or New York. You also will see some of the hot "green" items being offered from this neck of the woods. I find that the green offerings differ depending on where you go in the country.

My last show this year was the NYIGF (New York International Gift Fair) in August. I've seen this show improve every time I go. It's spread out into Piers, 7West, Extracts, Metropolitan Center and the "The Mother Ship" aka, the Javits. The NYIGF was a big nod for prompting GREEN Retailer—there was just so much that fell under natural, organic, sustainable, green, eco-friendly and recycled that it seemed only natural to expand into that direction. NYIGF offers quite an array of products in many different categories in January and even more in August.

I can't attend every show, but this is what I've heard about some of the others. San Francisco is always a good show and has products you will only find on the west coast. Las Vegas is getting big news and attention—keep an eye out, that's another place you may soon see us. I've also heard that Dallas attendees are buyers more than just browsers. Finally, curiosity has made me inquire about Toronto, and from what I hear, it's Canada's version of Atlanta. It's definitely on my list to check out. 

I would love to hear your impressions on these or any other shows you've exhibited at or attended.

Today's guest post is from Houston Neal of Software Advice.

If you're like most retailers we talk to, you know a lot about running your business and selecting the right merchandise, but when it comes to choosing a POS system, you're having a hard time deciding what's best for your store…

Here are three simple steps for selecting retail POS software. There are hundreds of retail software packages on the market and you can quickly narrow them down using this criteria:

1. Determine your needs.
   Only you know how best to run your business and where you need to automate for the greatest return on investment. Therefore it's critical to map out your core retail business processes and feature requirements. Are you looking for a high-end cash register, or do you want integrated inventory management, automated purchase orders and an integrated e-commerce system? Build an exhaustive list of features and then prioritize them based on what will give you the most bang for your buck.

2. Get the right package for your industry and be sure to select a system that has features specific to your unique retail segment.
   Highly focused packages will more closely map to how their users operate. Broadly-focused "mega vendors" may have big dollars and broad reach, but are not always specialized in your industry. Ask them for customer references from within your market segment. At the same time, keep in mind that there can be a tradeoff between how narrow a software vendor focuses and what level of investment they can afford to make in ongoing development and infrastructure.

3. Buy for your size and growth plans.
   One size does NOT fit all. Retail systems range from shrink-wrapped packages for a small, single location store to "enterprise-class" systems for national retailers. Prices vary accordingly, from just a few hundred dollars to literally millions. When building a short list of systems to evaluate, consider your current scale and future growth plans. How many registers do you need to automate? Do you need to support multiple stores or just one? Do you know each of your three employees or do you need a sophisticated system to manage HR and payroll for hundreds of staff?

Start with these tips and it will lead you in the right direction to finding a system to meet your store's needs.

I was interviewed by Entrepreneur Magazine for an article on the key elements of good retail bag design. My advice? If your bag is well-designed, it must pass the "bag worthiness" test.

Here are three questions you can ask yourself to see if your store bag passes the test:

1. Is your store brand communicated through your bag?
   There are hundreds of bag choices in the market today at very reasonable prices. Even if you opt to sticker your bag rather than custom-print it, your bag should communicate the basics about your store (name, location and website) and what your store is all about. A high-end coastal gift shop may choose a blue and brown bag with a starfish and rope handles; while a Victorian gift shop may opt for a pink bag with pink satin ribbon.

2. Will customers want to keep your bag once they get home?
   Having a sturdy construction with cute elements (such as a clever handle—gross grain ribbon, etc.) determines whether or not customers will toss the bag when they get home, or keep and re-use it. The more you can get people to re-use your bag, the better the marketing value. And, it'll keep your store at the forefront when that customer re-uses the bag.

3. Does your store shopping bag reinforce your store's value?
   Having a bag that looks and feels expensive makes customers feel good about their purchase(s). They are more likely to tote it around as they do additional shopping, and more likely to re-use it. As customers think back on their shopping experiences at your store, the packaging (careful tissue paper wrapping and cute store bag) becomes part of that experience. Are you doing everything you can to optimize it?

Do you have a creative store bag? Let us know about it!

Today's guest post is from Poornima Apte, Managing Editor for GIFT SHOP and GREENRetailer Magazines.

We recently talked about how successful retailers capitalize on every sales opportunity that presents itself.

Patti Harbin who serves on GIFT SHOP’s advisory board and who is the owner of In-Courage in San Antonio, TX, decided to capitalize on the fever surrounding the upcoming presidential elections. She picked up cookies from the Byrd Company packaged in fun elephant and donkey themes. Then she went about creating an informal poll of her own. Every "donkey" tin sold won a check mark in the Democratic column and every "elephant" tin sold, won one for the Republicans.

The display Patti came up with not only sells the product effectively, but makes her customers have a bit of fun while shopping. How often do you put out such two-fers? Do you engage your customers and increase sales by capitalizing on every opportunity out there?

What do you do to make your customers' shopping experience more fun and interactive?

I was interviewed today for an article about growing publishing companies. The reason she included our company is because Pinnacle Publishing Group was just placed on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private companies in the United States. One of her interview questions was inquiring about our strategic growth plans in light of what's going on the economy.

I explained that we have some fellow publishing friends who are planning on "hunkering down" in 2009 to weather the economic storm (i.e., no new initiatives). However, I don't agree with that philosophy. From my perspective, you have to continue to forge ahead even in difficult times. It's those innovative companies that can keep growing during hard times that will be here for the long-term. I hope you're working on your 2009 growth plans too!

I recently read in a newspaper article that specialty stores are using in-store workforce management computer systems to increase sales and cut costs. For example, the system that Ann Taylor installed calculates such performance metrics as average sales per hour, units sold and dollars per transaction. The system is then used to schedule the most productive workers during the busiest hours.

Proponents of the system argue that productivity can be increased by 15% or more, while costs can be cut by 5% or more. These numbers are significant and important because of the slow economy—retailers need to figure out ways to make more money while cutting costs.

On the other hand, the downside of the system is that it doesn't take into account variables (like an employee's seniority) and employees won't have the same level of flexibility in their schedule as in the past. Another disadvantage is that the selling environment at Ann Taylor switched from a more casual and fun place to a competitive, and sometimes underhanded, place of employment.

As a smaller independent store, you're probably not looking to install a workforce management system. However, here are three ideas I got from the article that you could apply in your store:

• Think about scheduling your top producing sales people during the busiest store hours.

• Assess whether your store schedule has too many people working during down time and not enough during prime time—then fix it.

• Make sure you have a way to track your employees' metrics. Reward those who have top grossing sales with a gift certificate and recognition, then schedule them to work at the busier times.

I've been spending a lot of time thinking about how to green my home and office. A few things that we've done already include sending more email (rather than traditional mail), switching to CFL light bulbs and printing our magazines on recycled paper.

As you gear up for the holiday season, here are five eco-friendly tips to green your store (suggestions that might also save you a few bucks, too):

• Give discounts when your customers bring their own shopping bags.

• Offer a recycled gift wrap option.

• Sell more green products (for a comprehensive list of green vendors check out GREEN Retailer).

• Use strong signage and cute labels to signal eco-friendly products.

• Switch to CFL bulbs to lower your energy costs.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?