Please join Chris Boring from Boulevard Strategies as he overviews the rapid changes occurring in the retail industry with a presentation of the top trends for 2016. This year’s trends include the state of department stores, web retailers opening bricks and mortar stores, the rise of mobile commerce, the shopping habits of Millennials, and free same day package delivery, among others. Chris’s presentation will also address the state of independent retailers and restaurants in Ohio’s 82 non-urban counties as well as 10 things Main Street merchants need to do to remain relevant in the modern world. Whether you are a Main Street manager, a Main Street merchant, or just someone who enjoys a little “retail therapy” once in a while, be sure to tune in for a fun and educational session.
Chris Boring
Chris Boring is founder and a principal owner of Boulevard Strategies, a Columbus-based retail consulting and urban planning firm that specializes in market analysis. Chris has completed dozens of retail consulting assignments across the United States, as well as overseas, throughout his 30-year career. About two-thirds of Boulevard Strategies’ work is for public and non-profit sector clients, including development and planning departments, chambers of commerce, and merchants associations. The firm’s market and fiscal analysis provides direction to various planning efforts by such organizations. Since 2011, along with his business partner Deb Miller, Mr. Boring has consulted with the owners of 68 independent retailers and restaurants, mostly Main Street businesses, in the Retail is Detail program sponsored by Heritage Ohio and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Topics covered range from inventory management and social media marketing to store displays and new menu items, among many others. In addition to client-based work, Mr. Boring tracks retail trends locally and nationally. He develops a Top Ten list which he unveils each year, this year being his eleventh annual all-new key trends presentation. Today’s list is a version specifically prepared for Heritage Ohio.
Heritage Ohio staff and about 40 Ohioans, including Main Street Managers, and downtown revitalization advocates attended the conference, hosted this year in New Orleans. Having just completed 5 days of inspirational and educational sessions, I thought I would share my top ten things learned, in no particular order:
1. The JOBS Act of 2012 allows for locavesting and crowd funding, providing more options for financing businesses to create jobs. There are many more platforms than I realized, and they are all slightly different, so finding the right match is important.
2. The Entrepreneur – the term is thrown around so much we’ve begun to lose sight of who we mean. It can be anyone: a car mechanic, a gardener, a knitter, a computer geek. Think small, not so big. Make your downtown welcoming to anyone with a business idea; create an environment of support where business can thrive.
3. Sponsorship – believe in the value of your program and its activities. Develop relationships with your sponsors with as much thought to the follow-up as to the ask.
4. Streetscape projects can be challenging for downtown businesses. Effective communication, frequent progress meetings and a creative attitude will get the community through the process.
5. Business Enhancement Committees can create a Recruitment Manual to give them structure month after month to make the best use of your market analysis data and help you find the new businesses that belong in your community. Court your new business candidates.
6. Fundraising isn’t so hard when everyone is able to share the story of your downtown. Use your revitalization statistics. Tailor your story to the listener’s style.
7. What is trending in 2013? Diversity, young talent, young women, deliberate spending, shortened commutes, health and wellness, main stream technology.
8. Transportation – Reduce our car-centric decisions. Walkable communities are the future. Healthy and hip, they attract the young people, your town’s future.
9. Millennials (under 30 yrs.) – get them on your board and committees, or you may go the way of the dinosaurs.
10. New Orleans is a party city.
Thousands of communities across the country are doing creative work in revitalizing their downtowns and neighborhood commercial centers. You too can be part of this amazing process, it’s all about the can-do attitude.
Chris Boring