Whether your business has single or multiple locations, having a great management system in place for everyone to follow is critically important.
Starbucks became aware of this fact with an incident that took place in Philadelphia which made national headlines. The issue should teach businesses of all sizes some valuable lessons. In other news, tech startups struggle to provide adequate pay in expensive Silicon Valley. Do you struggle to keep your compensation ahead of cost of living?
Read more insightful small business news in our roundup below.
Management
What Can Your Business Learn from The Starbucks Fiasco About Preventing Discrimination?
Starbucks is shutting down all 8,000 stores for one day to offer racial bias education training to employees, the company announced Tuesday afternoon. Starbucks Racial Bias Training The 8,000 company-owned stores will close down May 29 to educate employees on how not to discriminate against people in their stores.
Economy
California Tech Startups Struggle with Hiring, Are You Covering Employee Cost of Living?
Silicon Valley tech startups are establishing satellite locations or moving entirely out of the California’s Bay Area to find affordable workers who don’t have to cope with the state’s high cost of living, The Mercury News reported on Monday.
Marketing Tips
Promo Partners With Shutterstock Giving Small Businesses More Video Options
Promo, a video creation solution made by Slidely, has announced it has formed a partnership with Shutterstock (NYSE: SSTK). This arrangement will increase Promo’s 3.5 million video library to more than 12.5 million premium quality videos. Slidely and Shutterstock Partnership As part of the partnership, Shutterstock is making more than 9 million videos available to Promo.
What Can Bud Light’s Dilly Dilly Campaign Teach Your Small Business about Creative Marketing?
“Dilly Dilly” — Bud Light’s new catchphrase — has taken the world by storm. Bud Light’s vice president of marketing Andy Goeler talked to The Washington Post about the slogan in an article published Thursday. Goeler told WaPo that the slogan Dilly Dilly means, “a cheers, a Bud Light cheers.
Landbot Lets Small Businesses Automate Customer Engagement on their Landing Pages
Landing pages have become a space for introducing and promoting new products and services for websites. But when visitors get there, engagement is key. Landbot.io allows you to create chatbots based on a Conversational User Interface for your landing pages to improve engagement levels and conversion rates. As the company describes it, Landbot is a conversation that lives on your website.
Retail Trends
59% of POS Systems in the US — including at Small Businesses — Now Accept EMV Cards
When the deadline for the “liability shift” was almost up on October 1, 2015, the number of small businesses having switched to EMV was at 8.33 percent. According to Visa, 59% of U.S. POS locations now accept the chip, a 578 percent growth since 2015.
Small Biz Spotlight
Spotlight: Keyk Founder Filled Need for Baking Supplies in a New Market
Selling baking supplies might not seem like a completely unique business idea to many U.S. consumers. But in parts of the world, those supplies can be more difficult to come by. A U.S. expat learned this lesson the hard way when she moved to Germany years ago. But she took the opportunity to turn the problem into a business, now known as Keyk.
Taxes
64% of Small Businesses Spend At Least $1000 on Tax Administration Work
The new tax reforms passed by the Trump administration were supposed to simplify the tax system. However, The National Small Business Association’s (NSBA) 2018 Small Business Taxation Survey reports administrative burdens still outpaces those of finance as 63 percent said they spend more than $1,000 annually on the administration of federal taxes.
Technology Trends
Those who Stand at Work Experience 31% Less Back Pain, Study Explains
While digital technology has introduced new levels of efficiency in our workplace, it comes with the negative consequence causing workers to be more sedentary. This has resulted in more people using standing desks to counteract the effects of sitting all day. A new study conducted by Start Standing reinforces the importance of standing while at work.
Uh Oh! Only 10% of Companies are Fully Implementing New Business Tech
A new report finds only 10% of small businesses have fully implemented digital tools like artificial intelligence and automation. According to the Workplace 2025: The Post-Digital Frontier study from Randstad US, these same businesses are lacking in the strategies to make their workforces digitally savvy to the degrees workers want.
PaySimple Teams with Profit Rhino to Benefit Home Service Businesses
The new payment integration between PaySimple and Profit Rhino will remove many of the obstacles home service businesses face when trying to accept payment in the field. PaySimple and Profit Rhino Partnership Plumbers, electricians, gardeners and handymen are all examples of the home service businesses keeping homes up and running when something goes wrong.
TaskRabbit Cybersecurity Incident Leaves “Taskers” Temporarily without Customers
Customers and 60,000 “taskers” — many of whom work as freelancers — were in for a rude awakening Monday, April 16 when TaskRabbit announced its site had been taken down following “a cybersecurity incident.” After alarm bells were sounded by several TaskRabbit users, a tweet by the company confirmed the situation.
Photo via Shutterstock