CrossCheck Blog

According to the Automotive Aftermarket Suppliers Association, the vast majority of auto aftermarket business owners and managers fill ninety-five percent of their orders from stock, and keeping that fill rate as high as possible requires two things: first, demand for what you’ve got, and second, the means to close every sale. Demand Should Stay Strong Reading the headlines these days may make you fear that demand will slack off again. China’s economic slowdown has everyone worried, and our stock market keeps getting hammered.

For a capitalist society that relies on the free play of supply and demand, the largest recession in a hundred years was bound to throw things out of whack. And for the owners and managers of building materials lots, it certainly did.

The heavy equipment industry seems to be working feverishly to overcome an economic recovery that keeps hitting snags: China devalued the yuan to pump up demand for her exports, hoping the move would arrest a stock market slide that’s hammering regular workers and international investors alike. In July, OPEC increased its oil production to the highest level in three years, driving the price down to a six-year low. The dollar just keeps getting stronger (too much of a good thing), shrinking our Federal deficit to what it was before the taxpayers bailed out Wall Street but also making global sales harder.

Does it ever seem like corporations and the government come up with acronyms just to confuse you? It sure seems like it when it comes to payment processing. And when the government hangs out a big hairy threat to your business, a bunch of acronyms can make the problem much worse. Here’s your biggest threat right now: If you don’t comply with new credit card processing standards by October 1, YOU become liable if a customer’s credit card number is stolen at your place of business. In other words, as of October this year every single hacker on the planet becomes YOUR personal problem.

Trying to guess how next year’s storms will affect your building materials business? Well, there’s only one reliable source of information about future weather -- and it may also give us crucial insights into the future business climate as well.

Now that humanity (as financed by the United States) has visited every major planet in the solar system, it turns out that the endeavor teaches us a great deal about the future of the auto repair business.

Here’s a good reason to sit back and relax: Americans are still driving the oldest fleet of cars in history, with an average age of over a decade, so there’s plenty of good old-fashioned auto repair work to do.

You know that strict safety practices reduce the risk that an accident will ruin you. But safety comes in many forms, and it can have a radical impact on your bottom line in ways that may not be obvious. The voting public has consistently supported regulations designed to protect workers from on-the-job dangers, and the construction industry has embraced this attitude and improved safety constantly for decades. The results have been phenomenal. In 1972, there were eleven injuries per hundred workers. In 2013, there were three.

Are you ready for the Summer Las Vegas Market? North American Home Furnishings Association preferred vendor CrossCheck is and so is the industry! Be sure to visit us at Booth 28 in the Retailer Resource Center to speak with home furnishings veteran, Charles Dortch III, about how CrossCheck can help you mitigate risk and increase sales.

Independent funeral home directors own over four out of five funeral homes in the United States, and many of those businesses have been serving their area for generations. Most feel that they know their community, and certainly that’s true.