Winter is OVER. I mean, OO-VER!

Your consignment or resale or thrift shop may have some dregs of winter merchandise left. You really want to get rid of them because spring…in a retail sense of course…is just around the corner. But before you turn your back on those 90%-off racks, consider them a tool to refine your business. These underloved unsold leftovers can be very helpful to you, believe it or not.

Take a look at what’s left unsold.

Then use your shopkeeper retail expertise to figure out why. Was it overly optimistic pricing, like you priced a parka at a beginning-of-season level, rather than take into account that it came in late in the season? Or didn’t you realize a style, brand, category wasn’t what your clientele would buy?

Maybe you didn’t give some items your merchandising all? Could it be that a specific place in your shop just doesn’t get the traffic/ attention it should, so things wither and die there without the proper presentation? Could you have sold all those single holiday-themed plates if you’d only made a display and signed it“Perfect for presenting your home-baked holidays goodies on!”?

Was a category too inexpensive and readily available elsewhere, so that you just wasted your space on it? Were you not picky enough?

Now, take a look at what ISN’T left over.

…the things you constantly ran out of all season…how could that have been remedied? Appeals to suppliers at the beginning and throughout the season? Stockpiling when you run across them at garage sales, thrifts, trade shows? Or maybe you had enough, but you priced them too low…could raising the price next year make more money? If there are no jeans, or no size 18s, or no lamps on clearance at the end of a season, what does that tell you that might be helpful come next fall/winter season?

Then email yourself a message at futureme.org to be received in October or November of 2011, reminding yourself of what you’ve learned. Or at least, make a note on your wall calendar about which file folder holds your notes containing all this info!

Oh, and don’t forget…

those dregs can actually be quite a selling point for your shop. Gather them in an area signed “But it’s STILL COLD!” and fulfill the immediate needs of your marketplace. Advertise along the lines of “Need something warm but the mall’s full of skimpy summer clothes? Come to MyShop…”