Fred Pearson, owner of Pay-Less Furniture & Appliances, will be the first to admit he was very much against major investments into his online presence. But now, a little over a year since upgrading, his website has become one of the most successful “stores” in his company’s portfolio.

We don’t know how many independent retailers are also published authors, but Jeff Giagnocavo — co-owner of Gardner’s Mattress and More in Lancaster, PA — is one. And he spoke with us about one of his favorite topics, Marketing Elasticity, which he applies to his own retail outfit. 

The past 8 months have been a grueling test of the digital retail platforms that have long been touted as must-haves. And from what the team at Site on Time has seen, those who’ve made the investment are realizing a ton of success during this tough time.

Not long ago, we had Chris Schriever, publisher of Sleep Retailer, on the Independent Thinking Podcast to talk about the trends their following in the sleep space. Because they were SO impressed with us, they decided to have us on their podcast! Here’s the crossover episode of the Sleep Retailer Podcast, which you can find on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Go subscribe!

Ahead of a historic PrimeTime this October — the first to go all virtual — we take a look at the history of the show, which dates (officially) back to 1992.

The consumer electronics industry is constantly finding ways to innovate itself — even when not forced to do so by the cloud of a global pandemic. We catch up with the editors at Dealerscope and Connected Design to talk about what they’re keeping an eye on in the CE space.

Ahead of the final quarter of 2020, we sat down with Patrick Tam, strategic partner manager at Google, to talk about trends in e-commerce and search that he’s been following and how COVID-19 has impacted them. Nationwide Marketing Group President of Digital & Technology Dev Mukherjee also joins in on the conversation.

Greer’s Home Furnishings first opened its doors in Loudon, Tennessee, in August of 1890. As the local retailer celebrates a major milestone, we caught up with three generations of the family-owned operation — which remains in the Greer lineage.

Element Electronics Co-president Vlad Kazhdan jumps onto the Independent Thinking Podcast to talk about the brand’s move into the home appliance industry. Element and Nationwide Marketing Group have partnered to roll out a new line of Element appliances exclusively for Nationwide dealers.

Troy Varness, general manager of Spokane-based retailer Fred’s Appliances, shares his experience running an appliance shop during COVID-19 and the challenges they’ve had to overcome in recent weeks. He also shares his experience as an early adopter of the NMG-exclusive Assortment Rationalization Tool.

Independent furniture retailers faced some major disadvantages during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. We spoke through those challenges and more with Furniture Today Senior Editor Powell Slaughter.

Appliance retailers across the country have had their fair share of obstacles to overcome over the past year, from tariff concerns, to coronavirus, to inventory shortages. We run through it all with Grant Morgan, senior editor at TWICE.

Mattress retailers have been forced to take a hard look at their business model in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. We chat with Chris Schriever, publisher of Sleep Retailer, about the modernization of the mattress category, and more. 

Continuing our trade media partner series on the Independent Thinking Podcast, Jason Knott, Chief Content Officer at CE Pro, hops on to talk about his recent coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges technology integrators face and more.

Mark Quinn and Mark Kinsley, the two Marks behind the Dos Marcos Podcast, talk about their path towards building the galaxy’s greatest mattress podcast — and so much more.

Josh Rookstool, director of sales for SUNHEAT International, talks about the family-owned brand and shares the latest on their plans to hold their 13th annual SUNHEAT Open charity golf event, set for July 31. Head over to sunheat.com for all the details!

Art can certainly be beautiful. But the ART that we’re referring to here is Nationwide’s new Assortment Rationalization Tool. Data visualizations, which is the simplest way to describe ART, can certainly be beautiful in their own way. And this type of ART promises to streamline an independent retailer’s business.

Joe Ochs, the VP of Sales for Bray & Scarff, a DC-Baltimore-based appliance retailer and kitchen design outfit, chats about what it’s been like managing more than a dozen stores during the coronavirus pandemic, the digital efforts of the retailer, and how they’re preparing to fully reopen their stores.

Nationwide’s VP of Home Appliances Doug Wrede recaps how dealers in the home appliance category — deemed essential across most of the country during the coronavirus pandemic — fared the past few weeks and looks at what challenges lie ahead in the second half of the year.

The digital transformation of the retail industry was kicked into high gear as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Chat, appointment shopping, video consultations and more have been nothing short of a lifeline for many independent retailers during this time. We dive deep into digital with Nationwide’s tech guru, Dev Mukherjee.