A new website, and seven free guides for running a specialist shop

Clarity's website has been rebuilt. It is at the same address, www.clarityalliance.co.uk, and every news post going back to 2016 is still where it always was, so any link to a news post still works.

The new site has two jobs. It tells a shop or a brand what Clarity membership involves, and it tells a customer what the Trusted Member mark in a shop window actually means. The newest part is the Guides page.

Seven guides, all free

There are seven guides, each a PDF you can download and read in one sitting. They are free to everyone, member or not.

1. Getting found locally — Google Business Profile, reviews and local search.
2. Knowing what your website is actually doing — Google Analytics and Search Console, in four screens and twenty minutes a month.
3. Reels, hashtags and music — why your reach looks healthy while the shop stays quiet, and why the audio keeps getting muted.
4. Photographing your shop and your stock on a phone — the demonstration-room photograph is usually the worst thing on a dealer's website. Fixing it costs nothing.
5. Writing about a product in your own words — why the manufacturer's description, copied word for word, ranks nowhere.
6. LinkedIn for retailers — mostly useful for supplier and brand relationships rather than customers, and worth knowing which before you spend time on it.
7. Turning an enquiry into a demonstration — the point where the sale is won or quietly lost, which mostly happens in an inbox.

They deliberately leave out legal, HR and health and safety. Retail members get that advice through Bira, which has been included in retail membership since July 2026. The guides cover the digital and marketing side, and the things that are specific to selling hi-fi.

Where to start

Start with guide 01. The customer most shops miss is not the enthusiast who already knows their name. It is the person within half an hour's drive who has decided to spend real money and has no idea the shop exists. That person types "hi-fi shop near me", or a brand and a town, and chooses from whatever comes back.

One thing to do this week: pick a brand you demonstrate, type it and your town into Google on your phone, and see whether your shop appears on the first screen. If it doesn't, guide 01 explains why and what to fix first.

Also on the site

• Who's In lists the retailers by region, the brands and distributors, and the Trusted Partners.
• The Standard sets out the code behind the Trusted Member mark.
• Apply now has an application form, so a business can apply online. The board reviews every application.
• News carries the larger announcements. Member news and vacancies are on Clarity's LinkedIn page, where the whole board can post.

If something on the site is wrong or out of date, email clarity@clarityalliance.co.uk.