Do you scare your potential consignment, resale, thrift clients off with clutter?

One of the most common complaints about the resale shop industry is that the racks and shelves are too full, that it’s hard to see what the shop is selling. I’m sure you’ve heard this more than once. But an over-full sales floor is not what I’m talking about today.

It’s the OTHER clutter.

The clutter on your web site.

We all know that people don’t read, they scan. They sweep their eyes across to “get the gist.” Heck, we do it ourselves, so why would we think future suppliers and shoppers wouldn’t?

So it’s important to have a clean, uncluttered web site/ blog that delivers exactly what this unknown stranger, your potential client, wants. And since you most likely have a pretty good idea of what these strangers want to know, just give it to them, with no added clutter. Here’s Before and Afters, with the Before examples borrowed from real-life resale shop web sites.

Easier to “get”… and it even left a little room for a friendly message at the end!

Can you tell me QUICK when this resale shop is open?

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When you’ve labeled a section on your web site layout “Hours”, adding the traditional notation of a colon and two zeroes is visual clutter.

When you’re listing a retail shop’s hours, even the abbreviations for “ante meridian” (before noon) and “post meridian” (after noon) are overkill. Maybe not if you’re listing hours for a bar, in which case you’d probably need to clarify that you’re open 11 am to 2am… but I think we can assume a shop opens some time in the forenoon and closes some time after 12 noon.

Curlicues are clutter, too. This is way too hard to scan, so it won’t be effective.

Easier to read in a plain font, plus a few less words and a bit of bolding for the important points.

The example above uses a simpler font, a few less words, and the numbers that potential suppliers are interested in.

More thoughts on fewer words. The example below lists way too many “do-not-accept” items than really is needed. Bed rails? Really? How many of those do they have to say No thank you to in the course of a year?

Tomorrow: Give it to them where and when they want it.