Our visual merchandiser and I just got back from a two-day makeover of a camera store in New England. The owner had really great front window space, but wasn't fully optimizing it. Here are five tips to consider when building an effective window display for your store:

Determine a theme… Let the theme of the window guide your merchandising decisions. You might base your theme on the upcoming season or new merchandise you want to spotlight—and be sure to consider which products and/or themes will make the most impact. This can be a fun and creative process. Think about involving your staff in a brainstorming session and consider rewarding the best idea with a store gift certificate. Or, hold an annual contest, and reward the employee who creates the best window of the year. You can even ask your customers to judge at the end of the year which one they liked.

Add Props… You can really add a lot of interest with creative props that tie into your window theme. In one of the store windows we just re-merchandised, we added back-to-school supplies: a desk, backpack, apple, notebooks, etc. In the other window (theme: travel/safari), we added a camera vest, trunks, maps and travel tripods. Your merchandise can serve a dual function as a prop.

Use the space you have… One of the key mistakes the retailer was making in his window was a failure to utilize vertical space. As you consider the window design, think about building height through a neat fixture, elements hung from the ceiling or larger pieces of furniture.

Have a key focal point… Create a key focal point for your design. Your display will be much more effective if a shopper's eye is drawn to one area rather than 10 different things. In the travel window, the human form and trunks were the focal point; in the back-to-school window, the desk does the job.

Optimize the curb appeal… The final test of an effective window display is to ensure that your window commands attention when seen from the outside. Remember: you only have five seconds to grab the attention of passing potential customer—make sure your window captures their attention!

If you've been reading this blog over the past year, you probably know by now how strongly I believe in a vibrant web presence. I'm excited to announce that our webmaster, Allisyn Deyo, has been hard at work redesigning our company websites, and the first one finished is GIFTSHOPMag.com. I hope you'll check it out—especially the online exclusive content—and let us know what you think. We love feedback!

Here are five tips for you if you're thinking of redesigning your site:

Let your end goal of more sales drive your redesign. After all, the goal of redesigning your website is not just to have it look pretty and be easier for people to use. You want it to drive more traffic, increase the average time people spend on it and give them a reason to come back. As you consider the elements to change think about what you look for on a website. A list of related content next to something you're looking at? The most popular articles that people are currently reading? Commenting on a feature article that is important to you? Whatever it is, make sure you incorporate it. And if your current employee (or company who builds your site) can't do it, find someone who can.

Make sure you protect your assets. You don't want to lose valuable search engine rankings when you redesign, so be sure to use your stats to gauge what pages have the most incoming links and redirect them. Create a specific error page that says, "hi, we've redesigned, please use search and thank you!" and put a search box at the end of that sentence. And create a list of your main category, shopping and general site pages and institute permanent redirects. You'd be surprised how many people use links from a year ago!

Create a dynamic website that you can edit. Make sure when you redesign that you're able to make all the updates you want to the site yourself, rather than relying on a hosting company to make changes. If you're a smaller site, have the person who builds your site do it using software that you can use easily (such as Wordpress or Drupal)—again, if they can't do that, find someone who can. You might spend more than you were hoping too for the site design, but you will save lots of money in the long run making small changes yourself.

Deliver quality content. Consider adding a blog, weekly special reports, recipes or other elements that will reward customers for returning to your site.

Understand and monitor the metrics. Work with your webmaster to ensure you can get regular metrics for your site, and keep a close eye on them as you make changes.

When I'm traveling, I always make a point of visiting local retailers, not only to observe new retail concepts, but also to see different merchandising ideas and products (and to shop, of course!). On the the island of Oahu, Waikiki Beach is known for its shopping—in addition to the fabulous beaches. The shops are open an average of fourteen hours a day (imagine how much the retailers spend for staffing!), but it's well worth it because tourists spend at least $10 billion shopping every year in Hawaii.

There is a little shopping area called the International Marketplace that I enjoyed visiting. The interesting thing about the cart program is that of the 40 or so vendors, about 30 of them sell the exact same thing! It proves that with the right location, right products and right staffing you can still be successful, regardless of competition.

I just found out about a clever green marketing strategy that Saks Fifth Avenue has adopted. They've made an enticing offer to their customers—bring in your used bottle of perfume (regardless of brand), purchase a new bottle of perfume and they'll give you a refillable pocket spray free. In addition, all Bond No. 9 brand bottles will be sanitized, refurbished, refilled and decorated to indicate they've been reused, and all other bottles will be inspected, sorted and sent to the appropriate facilities for glass, plastic and metal recycling. No materials are sent to a landfill.

How does this relate to you as a gift shop or cart owner? Perhaps you too can offer some kind of reward to your customers for recycling, perhaps bags from your store, product packaging, cards or gift wrap. Not only is it a great thing to do for the environment, but it also gives your customers a reason to come back to your store—for a fun discount toward the purchase of another product.

Check out more ideas for greening your store in the premiere issue of GREEN Retailer today.

Three months ago, I blogged about the exciting news that we're launching a new magazine, GREEN Retailer, focused on providing eco-friendly resources for the gift and home furnishings industry.

Since announcing the launch, we've received hundreds of inquiries from retailers and wholesalers across the country, so I'm excited to say our premiere issue is debuting at the Atlanta (AmericasMart) Gift Show this week and the digital issue has been posted for free on our website.

Our first edition is loaded with green product resources, an in-depth feature on organic bath and body, and articles on how to 'green your store.'

Recently on our GIFT SHOP Forum there was an interesting debate about whether the green trend is a fleeting fad or here to stay. I feel confident that it's long-term and that it's only just beginning to gain momentum. If it's not here to stay, our planet will be in serious peril. We must start consuming more sustainable and recycled resources.

I hope you'll check out the premiere issue of GREEN Retailer today to find eco-friendly products and resources for your store. It's time to start thinking green!

I'm on vacation this week in Hawaii and yesterday I stopped by a local mall with a very large cart program. Usually when I go to a cart, I meet an employee or a manager, but at this program, I was particularly impressed by the number of owners who were onsite working.

At one cart, I met a very nice woman (she had just opened her first last month) who asked me lots of questions about specialty retailing. How do other cart retailers find the best products, what sales per day are average for cart retailers, how location in the mall can impact sales, tips for increasing cart sales, etc.

Of course, I handed her a copy of Specialty Retail Report, but I also referred her to the newest addition to our website—our Cart & Kiosk Forum, dedicated to the needs of the cart and kiosk industry.

I hope you take the time to check out the forum and post (or answer) a question or two. It's not just for cart and kiosk owners, but manufacturers, specialty leasing managers (we even have a private section dedicated for SLMs) and anyone involved (or who wants to get involved) in the retail industry.

(Oh, and for the next three months everyone who signs up for an account will be entered to win an iPod Nano… we're giving away one per month.)

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

One of the most over-hyped terms in today's workplace is "multi-tasking." When someone is praised as being a good multi-tasker, what they really mean is: This person can get many things done.

And the road to getting many things done well is not through handling 10 projects at once, but in planning and systematically implementing the details in every project. How many times have you finished up work for the day and felt like you achieved nothing? It was probably a result of flitting from task to task to task trying to do everything.

There was a very interesting article in the New York Times recently that made me think about how work can get done well. It talks about how we need to refocus our attention away from distractions and in the process, become more productive.

I have found the following tips really help:

• Make a list every day of work that needs to be done. No, it doesn't take too much time and yes, it makes you feel better to check each item off! Buy yourself a really fat, nice notebook to start the habit.
• The devil IS in the details. Plan each project down to each last detail. Make the time to implement it right.
• Don't start every day by doing the easiest stuff first. While it’s tempting to do so, tackle the most difficult jobs when you are at your most productive (in my case, it's first thing in the morning). Save the more routine stuff for when you are less productive (after lunch or end of day).
• Plan ahead. It always helps produce your best work.
• If you plan on leaving the store or your desk at 5, don’t work, work, work till you drop. Instead, stop five minutes before you really want to stop, tidy up your workspace and make a list for tomorrow. Then when you come in, you'll be energized and ready to go instead of clearing clutter first!

What are your secrets for being productive in your store? How do you share strategies with your staff? How do you reconcile the fact that different people might have different strategies for productivity? Share your comments and ideas with us!