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Archive for the ‘economics of resale’ Category

How much does it cost to accept an item?

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , on July 2, 2018| 3 Comments »

A shopkeeper asks:

“Can you tell me how to figure out how much it costs to accept a single item?”

Auntie Kate answers:

This figure is not easy to pinpoint exactly, but we can get a rough number in two steps:

1- Your daily overhead, divided by the amount of time spent per item (obviously, an average). That’s the FIXED COST. Do not include expenses directly related to employees at this point. If you have only one person working, use the full amount of the time segment; otherwise, divide the daily overhead by the number of staff normally present.

2- PLUS how much the person (more…)

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Your flier in every mailbox?

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on April 11, 2018| Leave a Comment »

How’d you like every single residence in a targeted area of your community to get your flier in their mailbox? Without your having to sort for bulk mail (oh the horror!), know their adresses or even their names? Yes, it can be done, for way less than you think.

Such is the beauty of Every Door Direct Mail, a service offered by the United States Postal Service.

EDDM map with stats from the USPSTake a look at the postal routes in your shop’s market area. This is fascinating even if you decide not to use EDDM. You can see census data for each route: age range, number of people in the household, average income… and of course, how much it would cost to use EDDM.

For example as in my graphic, it would cost one more time, my legacy shop in Columbus OH, 18 cents each to reach all the 730 addresses in the nearby neighborhood which has an average household income of well over $100,000.

Definitely worth investigating.

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Mailbox: Coupons to Strangers?

Posted in economics of resale, Mailbox: 1-on-1 Advice, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on April 9, 2018| Leave a Comment »

Resale shop coupon in Welcome Baby Basket at TGtbT.comJudy asked: I have just contacted our community’s chamber of commerce with the idea of including a $5 Gift Certificate to my store for the “Welcome Baskets” which are given to Moms in our hospital –about 25 baskets every couple of weeks.

Does this make sense as a

(more…)

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Out and About: I’m a WINNER!

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on April 5, 2018| 3 Comments »

Everyone is a winner with this consignment shop idea from TGtbT.comThere’s a “real” shop (you know, one which sells newly-manufactured stuff) that I really like. The owner doesn’t know from social media, she’s literally hidden on a street which is basically an alley, and I’ve never seen an ad for her shop.

But she makes a good go of it in her tiny shop. By making customers feel like they are

ALL WINNERS.

And how does she do that? Well, every time you come in, she asks you to add your name and phone number to her fishbowl. You could win twenty bucks store money! she says. So of course, I do. Every time.

Then what happens?

I win! Yes, I get a phone call from the shop, saying my name’s been drawn this week, and stop by soon to get your $20 store money!

So of course I do.

But you know her secret? She pulls multiple winners and phones them, whenever she needs some more traffic. I know because both my sister and myself have “won” multiple times.

Why not? It works. In fact, it works so well that I don’t even remember if the deal is $20 off a minimum $50 purchase, or off $100… because I always spend more than I would otherwise. After all, she’s made me a winner!

For more on the magical use of fishbowls, see this post.

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It’s not enough to say #shoplocal.

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , , , on February 12, 2018| 2 Comments »

Asking your community to #shoplocal is not enough. You need to show them What’s in It for Me?

Tell them WHY shopping local is good for THEM, says TGtbT.com

They don’t care that you’re the “lifeblood of our community”. They’re looking for the why’s, the how-come’s, what they will get out of shopping local.

Why are you asking your community to #shoplocal? Here’s a dozen reasons, designed to (more…)

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