The Retail Doctor Blog

Your Big Sale Worked. That's the Problem.

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Thu, 07 May 2026 13:42:00 GMT

Why retail owners and CEOs can't take more money out of their business - and how a waiting culture is the cause.

The Cost of Untrained Retail Associates Is Hiding in Your P&L

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 15:01:04 GMT

Imagine buying four brand new Rolls-Royce coupes and handing the keys to someone who has never been behind the wheel.

Why Customers Stop Coming to Your Store and What to Do About It

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 14:25:31 GMT

I was talking to my friend Kevin recently. He's a Broadway actor, and we got into a conversation about music - specifically, what made the women artists of the 60s and 70s so memorable.

Why "Anything Else?" Is Costing You 10% of Every Sale

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 13:51:07 GMT

Your associate looks up at the register and says: "Anything else?"

The customer says no. The sale closes. And roughly 10% of that transaction walks out the door with them.

Not because the customer did not want more. Because your associate handed them the hardest part of the sale and asked them to do it themselves - at the exact moment they had already mentally left the building.

"Anything else?" is a reflex, not a sales technique. Training your associates out of it is one of the fastest ways to move average transaction value without adding a single new customer.

How Retail Saved My Life

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 14:27:40 GMT

This is the origin story of The Retail Doctor. It doesn't start in a store.

Your Associates Passed the Training. So Why Can't They Sell?

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:10:57 GMT

Retail training fails for one reason: it protects associates from failure instead of using it as the mechanism for learning. Videos, quizzes, and microlearning apps improve completion rates but do not change behavior on the floor. The only thing that does is repeated practice, real failure, and specific feedback.

Nobody learns anything by getting it right the first time.

Why Retail Franchise Systems Struggle to Scale Sales Consistently

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Sun, 22 Feb 2026 21:09:24 GMT

Retail franchise systems struggle to scale sales consistently because they standardize operations, not selling.

22 Photos, 5 Retail Lessons: What London's Best Stores Get Right

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 13:42:23 GMT

Last week I walked, drove, and rode a horse through London visiting some of the best retail in the world. Department stores, guitar shops, a dry cleaner, a coffee roaster, a piano store, an art gallery, a bath shop, and a theater. You might not see your type of business in these photos.

But with 100,000+ of you reading this across every retail category, the point isn't the product. It's the design choices these retailers made to not look like everybody else. Here are five things I took away.

How Dick's Sporting Goods Built a $13.7 Billion Business by Putting Community First

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 18:13:16 GMT

"It's Never Just a Baseball Glove": The Story That Shaped Dick's Culture

Dick's Sporting Goods built a $13.7 billion business by treating every customer as a human being first and a transaction second.

How Faire Helps Independent Retailers Stock Their Stores Without the Risk

Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 17:15:02 GMT

I've spent 30 years telling retailers, "If you're just working with your family, you have a hobby, not a business." That might sound harsh, but the numbers don't lie. Too many store owners buy what they like instead of what customers want, then wonder why they're staring at dead inventory six months later.