Auntie Kate The Resale Expert

Nothing like a BackAgain Buck to draw them in again!

One of the most generous coupons or discounts you can offer in your consignment or resale shop is the Slow-Time-Before-The-Season-Change coupon, commonly called BeBack Bucks, BackAgain Bucks, Come Again Coupons, and the like.

You can afford to give what is perceived as a very valuable shopping perk because:

• You are giving a coupon based, actually, on two purchases: the slow-time purchase and the redemption visit.  Your costs of redemption are actually quite low.*
• You are instigating visits into your shop when you need traffic, so this offer increases sales now. It’s a cheap way to drive traffic into your shop.
• The coupon serves as a reminder to the holder to shop when it’s valid, thus prompting a return visit and reinforcing “habitual” shopping visits in the future. Another cheap way to boost traffic.
• Your seeming generosity strengthens the relationship between your clients and your shop.
• Making this offer during a slow time draws your customers’ attention, and dollars, away from clearance sales going on elsewhere.
• And finally, from a merchandising standpoint, it is incredibly valuable to a shop’s bottom line to find out what the public wants at the beginning of a season. If, for example, a shop sees lots of cardigans being purchased in August, then they will know to accept and market (and put healthy prices on) cardigans for the new season. That intelligence alone is worth a discount to a far-sighted shopkeeper.

Let’s take a look at an offer going on right now, and see what we can learn from it:

Get paid to shop! Shop with us this month and earn cash back!

Spend $50 when you shop in (name deleted) between July 16 and July 28 then receive $10 in (name deleted) CASH to use in August!*

*Coupon will be emailed July 31st to email address provided by customer during check out.
Customer must provide valid email address to participate.

$10 (name deleted) CASH valid on the purchase of a single item over $20.
Coupon good for 50% off the purchase of a single item under $20.
Expires 8/31/2010.

Now, this is a great idea for reasons above and beyond the normal BackAgain Bucks. Why? The coupon is sent by email: so you get to add this person to your broadcast email list, you get their undivided attention when they get the email on July 31 (= free personalized advertising opportunity), and you don’t even have to pay for printing.

(Just to be clear: I admire this offer but I do have issues with the restrictions: a SINGLE item over $20? Seems arbitrary to the customer. And oh, it’s not REALLY $10 store cash, is it, if it’s only worth 50% off the purchase of a single item under $20. That’s seen by a shopper as giving with one hand, taking away with the other. Possibly store management had visions of people coming in and just taking $10 worth of stuff for “free”, which really would STILL be less than 20% discount…and I am guessing, as well, that they have no confidence in their staff’s up-selling talents. I would suggest that no such fine-print accompany your BackAgain Bucks; irking everyone to stop the “scammers” simply is not a wise store-image decision.)

*Using the example above, here’s how your actual percentage can be considerably lower than the customer perceives: a $10 store cash coupon is only $10 deducted from the selling price of at least $70 ($50 in July, plus $20 in August) thus costing your shop less than 15% in actuality…not to mention the opportunity to build the purchase twice. If she spends $58.50 on the first visit and $28.75 on the redemption visit, for example, the percentage becomes less than 12%.