Smaller merchants can often succeed by merely finding the various voids in the mass merchandiser's inventory and filling them wisely. Marketing tips There is always room for improved marketing practices. Extended opening hours are a necessity. Downtown merchants and other independent merchants can not seriously compete unless they offer convenient opening hours similar to those of their competitors'. Look for ways to improve your returns policies.
Most mass merchandisers have very liberal returns policies.
Unfortunately, many smaller independent merchants cannot offer comparable policies because of their lack of leverage with major suppliers. In the long run, they need to work through trade associations and buying groups to achieve comparable leverage with suppliers. In the short run, they need to use common sense. Sharpen your pricing skills. Independent merchants need to determine which items customers tend to know the price of and make special efforts to keep these prices competitive.