Benchmarking. Isn't that something that just applies to big companies? How can I get useful information from my competitors? They're not public companies that share their operating information with the public? I don't think it will work for me.
These are reasonable statements. Each of them holds a grain of truth. But DHL (yes, that DHL) has a great website, their Business Resource Center, with some interesting information for small businesses. For example, "Benchmarking: How You Stack Up Against the Competition" puts some of the misconceptions about benchmarking to rest. in particular the article provides links to two on-line benchmarking sites. One, BizMiner offers detailed information on a number of industries. Unfortunately, there isn't much coverage of retail. And, the site charges for its information.
Another site, BizStats provides less detailed information but it has two advantages. One, it does include retail businesses and two, it's free. While the information is somewhat generic, for example you won't find specific categories like sewing machine retailers, or vacuum cleaner retailers, or lighting showrooms, you will find more broad classifications like Retailing-Furniture and Home Furnishings.
BizStats has a lot of interesting information including sales per square foot, profitability, and safest and riskiest businesses.
The second article, Building Business Benchmarks gets a little more into the "how to" of benchmarking. For example, don't get hung up on finding businesses that match yours exactly. There is plenty to be learned from other industries. As the article points out, an airline benchmarked an Indy 500 pit crew to learn about fast turnaround and hospitals benchmark pizza delivery companies to improve their response times and the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain to improve customer satisfaction. One hospital system that I'm familiar with drastically improved their system of ordering and distributing medical supplies by studying a major retailer.
Another source for good benchmarking information is the Malcolm Baldrige Quality Award web site and the sites of the various state and local quality awards. Winners are obliged to share their application information (except for confidential items). Many of the winners have been small businesses.
No matter where you get your information, you can waste a lot of time reinventing the wheel. By drawing on the experience of other successful businesses, you can improve your business without going through the pain of a trial-and-error approach.
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