Why do consignment, resale, and thrift shops force their shoppers to do math?
Some shopkeepers actually think customers are going to read this sign, remember which colors are half-price, and be able to figure the actual price. Betting that Customer A will figure out that the jacket she wants isn't $30 but only $15...is scary business math.
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Markdowns in consignment and resale shops can be, shall we say, a mite confusing. Now this true example is plain insanity. Might as well just label the entire store OBO..."or best offer"
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Here, a shop tells customers something off-putting..."full price"...when they could be saying something positive..."new arrivals/ just arrived/ you get first choice" are all possibilities. I mean, only a fool wants to pay "full price", right?
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This overhead sign not only asks you to do the math... but to translate too. Most consumers have no idea what DNR means...or why it should apply to the item THEY want a markdown on. And there's that "full" word again.
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Now here's a shop which has opted for two less-than-ideal choices: printed MDs (more about why this is a bad choice in the manual), and then at clearance time... a little sticky dot. Less than classy, huh?
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Simple, clear, personable. All it takes is a little red (or purple if your shop's boho chic) Pentel. Photo borrowed from Peonies in CT.
Show of hands: who’d rather do math and practice memory skills than shop?
I thought so.
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 
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Okay, I get the idea. But we have way too much merchandise to go marking by hand. What do you think of starting with a flat even price on all items, such as $24. With tag colors noted most everywhere, I think people then can figure 1/2 price pretty darn easy. I’d think after all the “odd change” listed on items in stores they’d find it refreshing to see a flat price. What do you think of this?
we do show the markdowns over time. three prices.then when clearing the racks, we wax and line out the obsoleteprice. this is very useful and our super bargain hunters know about when their price will be.. now the item is often gone bythen, buti think they lovethe fun of the hunt.
We use colored tickets and post 50% on whichever color. We never vary from 50%. That makes it easy, people seek out that color which gets them looking around, and most importantly, it is consistent with what the locals are used to. We have many thrift shops in the area and are competitors somewhat, but we’re raising our profile of merchandise through many methods. You’d think to be different with markdowns to differentiate us from the thrift stores, but in this case it confuses them. They are used to looking for colored-tag 50% off everywhere they go and we don’t want to confuse them. Yes, marking each down on each tag would be great, but there is such turnaround of items and small staff it would take much too long. Any comments?
We also use the colored tags and mark them at 50% off, although I have been looking to change this. After about a year and a half of being in business, I have probably heard “what do the colored dots mean on the tags?” a few THOUSAND times. Thinking about marking each tag manually scares me, since it’s just me here at the store 95% of the time, and I already have a tough time keeping up on things as it is. We also offer consignors the choice to pick up or donate unsold items after their term, so if items are donated to the store, we may put them back on the floor at a later time, which means would we have to re-tag all those items? I would be more than willing to do what it takes to have my sales soar, but is it really worth my time??
Yes. If you mean you use colored tags and post signage re what is what price… or if you use colored dots… marking things down one by one, by hand, will increase your sales by WAY more than enough to justify help. For SO many reasons beyond just showing them the real actual price. Especially is your business is still at the point of being small enough to be run by one person. Mich more on this topic, and on when it is advantageous to grow with staff, in the Manual.
I do have the Manual, I will review it again, thank you! Kate, I wish you could come to my store (as I’m sure so many others do as well), and help with my never-ending questions, and let me know if I’m heading in the right direction! Thanks again!
50% off, 70% off…what’s the difference (don’t say 20% please). We’ve tried the manual mark down method and went back to the % off method. It’s easy to calculate 50% off and 70%…come on, it’s a no-brainer…just buy the damm thing 🙂
Oh my. Thanks for your comment…and best wishes.
I think this attitude maybe comes from not having your ‘ear to the ground’. We do 50% off markdowns but I am constantly surprised by how many people can’t calculate it or don’t know what it means. It leads to some nice surprises: “Oh, it was on sale?” but I’m sure it also leads to missed sales.
I use my mark down day each week to groom the racks, move things to the correct rack and size, colorize, zip and button. It seems sales always increase right after I complete this job – I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not…
Here’s a question… our customers *love* our facebook page. Should we let them know when we mark down a bunch of items? I’m always fighting having too much of a discount mentality in the store.
I won’t even spend much time in a garage sale that has charts -I spend too much time looking at the chart and not at the merchandise. As a customer, it’s just too frustrating.
We will celebrate our 20th year this May 1st and have always hand-marked clearance items. That way, there is no debate about the price. I worked regular retail for 13 years in my past life (pre-resale) and always marked down items on the tags.
We just did a major markdown this week – the first spring one – and it took only two days to do the whole store (7000 square feet). Markdown days are scheduled and we simply don’t work on anything else (except sorting incoming mdse. and selling).
Kate is right. By marking the tags and segregating what is clearance to it’s own section in the back of the store, you get a good idea of what is not selling. Last fall we discovered we marked down a lot of ladies striped shirts so now we are not accepting those. Markdowns not only make room on your racks for better selling goods, they are a learning tool.
You can’t argue with Kitty’s success, and I am sure that clear and attractive markdowns play a big part in that. Most shops don’t have a day when the entire store is marked down and then clearance racks are specifically set up, as it seems Kitty’s schedule is, but rather, each item is due for a MD based on when it came in. Because of this, yes, MDs take constant vigilance, and some work every single day…but so does grooming the racks, watching what’s where and what’s selling, and so on.
We do regular markdowns, but also will mark down things as we’re sorting / grooming the racks – a discretionary markdown of things we’re sick of seeing in the store. 🙂
The man hours…actually, the woman hours more than likely, huh? …marking down are INCREDIBLY well-spent. For so many reasons, I’ll have to refer you to the manual… but not the least of which is you get to know your stock and thus improve everything about your business.
That’s besides the drawback of the customer not knowing what the prices are for all the reasons above!
Pakaways are another story. Depends on how your shop operates, but this is certainly surmountable and NOT a good-enough reason to make your mothers do the math. (Besides, imagine how many more items will be SOLD, and how few will be left to pakaway, if you made it easier to shop!)
Charts? You think they will READ them? Ho ho.
I confess – I’m guilty!
Exhibit A. with the tag colors is how we do it.
But it could be 2-3 thousand items that go on sale – and I’m reluctant to think about the man hours involved in hand marking.
Also – some items get put away for next year – if we hand mark tag – we’d have to re-tag for next year.
I noticed some retail stores do a chart with what the %’s off equal out to – any thoughts on those?
I learned the hard way it is a bite to offer % off racks.
Then I would put colored dots on the tag – well, when my husband was helping, he was clueless of my secret codes. Also quit the BOGO at 1/2 off (or free). Too freaking hard to monitor and seemed to upset people if they couldn’t find TWO sale items that they wanted.
I now just take the time to mark the tags.
Stopped in a store last weekend which has a big sign that made me do a double take and ponder…..
It was the FIRST thing I saw when I walked in the door:
One Hole 20% off
Two Holes 30% off
Three Holes 50% off
too funny.
What a hoot! Just read a book where the hero had a hard time explaining to the girl from a parallel universe why hole-y jeans cost more than whole ones 😉