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Archive for the ‘economics of resale’ Category

What’s more important: tempting their imagination or telling them how much it costs?

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged on April 7, 2011|

So what’s more important: tempting their imagination or telling them how much it costs?

(Or, in the case of our consignment, resale, and thrift shops, telling them (more…)

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It’s Spring: Garage & yard sales are waiting to cut into your business.

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged on April 6, 2011| 1 Comment »

Resale, consignment and thrift shops need special tactics to compete with garage and yard salesIt’s Spring: Garage & yard sales are waiting to cut into your business. Are you gonna just sit there and let that happen?

Do you find your warm-weather weekend days falling (more…)

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“My talent circle”…great concept for ALL resale shopkeepers

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on March 31, 2011| 2 Comments »

Tara brought a new way of communicating a very important concept to Sharing, the TGtbT discussion board for resale professionals, the other day.

I’m a details person, meaning I like all the details to be done and done right. HOWEVER, I don’t have time to take care of every detail myself. Because payroll is a difficult one for me, I hire that one out and take care of the ones myself that are inside my “talent circle”…things I’m good at, that I can handle quite well myself, and that focus my physical, emotional, and mental energy in a way that makes me have MORE energy, not draining me of energy (like payroll and acct’ng stuff does).

Is it an expense I could get rid of? Yes. But at what cost?! In the beginning years of my biz, I wouldn’t have “splurged” on such a thing. Today it is a necessity to hire out some things that deplete me or just eat up my time, taking me away from the things that ONLY I can do. Hope that helps!

I love that phrase, talent circle…and even more, I love the concept. Why, indeed, do things that drain you of energy? Farm them out to someone who does it better and with more ease than you do, and spend your energies doing what YOU do BEST. When you are free, time-wise, mentally, imagination-wise, to do what you do best… you earn the right (and you are free to earn the cold cash) to hire someone to do what s/he does best, to take the load of onerous tasks off you.

I might even recommend that some things ARE worth “splurging” for, even in the beginning when money seems in short supply.

How many consignment and resale and even charitable thrift shops (with their supportive corporate boards), have not reached their potential, or even totally failed because they didn’t focus on their circles of talent, but instead slogged through the sucking quicksands of things they were not good at/ hated/ held them down from soaring to the heights of their true talents?

Tara owns Born Again Resale & Consignment in Idaho.
 

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Oh my aching head….

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , on March 29, 2011| 19 Comments »

Why do consignment, resale, and thrift shops force their shoppers to do math? (more…)

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How to go from AU (Absolutely Unremarkable) to GOLD (Good Original Luxurious Detail.)

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk on March 25, 2011| 8 Comments »

Take your resale shop to GOLDI got an email the other day from a shopkeeper who had read my two past posts on differentiating one’s consignment or resale shop from competition via packaging, and she asked

What else can I do to make my shop memorable? I am in an area with a lot of similar shops, in fact so similar that shoppers forget which store they’re in. That can’t be helping my word of mouth! if they don’t know who’s who. I even have consignors come in to get paid…who consigned somewhere else, not with me!

Great question! Here’s some ideas beyond packaging to take your shop

from AU (Absolutely Unremarkable)

to GOLD (Good Original Luxurious Detail.)

* Outstanding decor. Whether it’s a leopard-print back wall or extravagant dressing rooms, is there something that will impress and be a stand-out? And is it truly impressive enough? One gold-painted frame on a wall display is nice… a whole series of them, outstanding.

* Elegantly-dressed staff. Most of us shudder to think of wearing a uniform, or asking our staff to do so…but is there something that will make your crew look like, well, a crew? Maybe something as simple as striped shirts, tan bottoms, and a seasonal scarf/ tie? Good-looking name badges (naming both the person and the business!), to me at least, are mandatory.

* Unique exterior. Not all of us have a lot of choice when it comes to altering our building or its exterior accessories, but most of us can do outstanding… and outstandingly unique…window displays. Whether it’s a stack of dining chairs for a furniture resale shop or a mock tree fort that fills a big window in a childrenswear shop, consider your display windows as more than just something to show merchandise. Even simply framing the edges of the window glass in a bold motif can be Good Original Luxurious Detail.

This is a topic on which YOU can comment, and I hope you do. What is it that takes your shop to the top of the GOLD standard in your market area?

The two packaging posts that consignment shop owner was referring to? A silly penny more or less and Packaging can make all the difference.

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