Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

I was all excited to see this headline on a blog entry at Design Diva: “Has Shopping Lost its Charm?” on Retail Design Diva.

I thought: At last! They have learned what professional resalers have known all along: Shopping must be charming, if you want to please, motivate, and, above all, keep shoppers.

Charming, the definition I assumed they were using, is extremely pleasing or delightful.

Read their post to see how disappointed I was. I think they were using the word charm to mean “We got away with it for a long time…we were lucky because folks were tossing their money around…now what?” That’s another definition of charm: to affect by or as if by magic. Is the “new” segment of retail bemoaning the loss of its “magic.” Do they STILL believe in “Build it and they will spend, who cares about the niceties”?

I think such doleful economic figures for “real” stores in that report exist is closely correlated to EXACTLY what I thought their headline meant: shopping has lost its CHARM, definition #1, to the consumer. And once a shopper is not “charmed”, that is, delighted to be in a nice ambiance, intrigued by an interesting atmosphere, pleased with a bit of retail pampering, then what’s the use in spending a bit more for the experience? So those shoppers might as well head for the stores that save them money.

It’s all about the formerly-charming stores ignoring or forgetting about perceived value. We will not pay our precious discretionary income on jammed aisles, overstuffed racks, and sales clerks who are just that: clerks, not helpful commercial “friends” who’ll get you the other size in the jeans you’re trying on, find you the right necklace, mention that the perfect pillows for that sofa are actually at another store.

I’ll put up with mediocre, not-overly-clean dressing rooms, with hard-to-spot-yet-alone-talk-to staff, wrinkled clothing no one could be bothered to steam, if the price is right. But to experience all this at Macy’s or Chico’s or [name your shop]? Nope.

If I have to get dressed and come back out to find the next size jeans, I would just as soon buy them somewhere cheaper. Thus, the economic stats that say cheaper stores are holding their own while “better” stores are suffering. Or another reaction I…and millions of other consumers have…have? I’d just as soon not buy them at all. Shopping HAS lost its charm, although not in the exact way the message I cited above* means the word.

So what does all this mean to the resale, consignment, or thrift store proprietor? That there are a whole lot of people out there wanting to shop, needing to shop, but who value their dollars more than they did in higher-flying times. You are in a unique position to “charm” those shoppers out of their dollars, and you know how to do it on a dime. So on the count of three:

1. Charm your customers.
2. Make them so intrigued they bring their friends.
3. Tell potential customers WHY they will be delighted with your shop.