The Counter

Selling well, written down

Store and kiosk design, upselling that isn't pushy, inventory that adds up, and keeping a team motivated. Written for whoever is standing at the counter — and whoever owns it.

A printed weekly staff schedule and a printed sales report lying side by side on a wooden shop counter in warm evening light, one hand resting at the edge of the frame, with a second schedule pinned to a cork board and a wall clock behind

Team·July 25, 2026·7 min read

Retail Commission Structure: Stop Paying for Saturday

Flat commission on gross sales pays your team for the shift they were handed, not the selling they did. A better plan, and the five ways sellers will game it.

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A mall shopper's view down a corridor: a wooden retail cart seen end-on from an approach angle, its long side receding into the distance, with a single pale ceramic jar lit on a riser at chest height on the near counter. Two shoppers walk past blurred in motion under warm evening mall lighting.

Mall Kiosk Layout: You Have No Front Door

A store gets a threshold, a door and a shopper who already committed. A cart gets one pass at walking pace. Arrange it for the walk-by.

Store design·July 25, 2026·6 min read
A first-time customer's hands taking a small kraft paper bag across a wooden shop counter in low evening light, while the seller's hand types into a form on a tablet propped on a stand next to a receipt printer.

Your Retail Loyalty Program Rewards the Wrong Visit

Punch cards pay out on a visit you were always going to get. Build the program backwards from the second visit instead, because it is the only one worth paying for.

Loyalty·July 25, 2026·6 min read
A seller at a mall cart holds a folded heather-grey hooded sweatshirt in both hands, still unbagged, while a closed leather card wallet and a card terminal sit untouched on the counter below and a stack of knit beanies waits within arm's reach at the edge of frame.

How to Upsell at the Register Before the Card Comes Out

“Anything else?” is a closing question aimed at somebody who already closed. The fix is not a better script, it is making one specific offer about ten seconds earlier.

Selling·July 25, 2026·6 min read

Everything here works better on a POS that doesn't charge rent.

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