Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged perceived value on October 2, 2009| 4 Comments »
Consignment and resale shopkeepers are well-known for being frugal. They want to help their customers get the best buys.
But when is your floor space simply NOT WORTH selling left-overs at 75-80-90% off the price you originally set for them? What about those tired clearance racks, those “dollar bargain” sections, merchandise that 3 or 4 or 8 months’ worth of browsers have passed up? When does your space become (more…)
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged seasonal sales on September 26, 2009| 2 Comments »
Limited-time, seasonal consignment sales, which typically pay consignors 70% and even more, are proliferating wildly in this economy.
Renting a large, easily-accessible location with good parking (often a community meeting hall) and working with well-developed methods of attracting volunteer workers and online software, these sales can, if nothing else, cause your shop a momentary glitch in market share. At best, retail consignment or buy-outright shops will spend some time and energy “justifying” why they aren’t giving consignors such a deal!
KNOW YOUR COMPETITION:
Take some time to explore seasonal sale web sites. The more you know, the better you can work with/ face up to these wildly-popular sales.
CONSIDER “JOINING” THEM. As you research these sites, zero in on how you can mutually help one another. The seasonal consignment sale can be, for many consumers, their first step in the door of recycling their underloved items…and you can grab ‘em up. There are many avenues for participating in these events mentioned there, and you can probably come up with even better arrangements.
GOT your ducks in a row? Can you explain to your clients, if you’re asked, in words polite and carefully-crafted, how it’s to their disadvantage to participate in such sales? Do they REALLY want to do all that work for just a few day’s exposure to customers?
Posted in economics of resale, Kate's Must-Sees, tagged HowToConsign.com on September 19, 2009| 1 Comment »
Need I say more? If you’re not on HowToConsign.com (after all, it’s about a quarter a day… your ad budget can take that, can’t it?) you might wish to be.
Posted in economics of resale, Mailbox: 1-on-1 Advice, Shopkeeping talk, tagged consignors, starting a consignment shop on September 14, 2009| 6 Comments »
Bloggers just LIVE for the thoughtful questions posed to them, and Auntie Kate is no exception.Imagine her delight when this missive from a resale shopkeeper landed on her virtual desktop:
I’m two months into the store and we are doing well….Still the only shop in town, doing lots of advertising, very nice and clean store, reasonable prices, but I can’t seem to turn my consignors into shoppers. What do you recommend? –Hungry for More
If you want to get your consignors to drop some cash while they’re in, there’s many ways to do this. First, do you have things they want to buy…and can they easily explore these things?
Are there tempting goodies right next to them? Many consignors come into a shop, go directly to the area you use for dropping off items, turn around and leave. Is your elbow-area full of irresistible little purchases, the metallic bangle bracelets, the hand-painted readers, the scented candles, the vintage brooches?
How about the path they trod? Plotting your consignors’ way through your sales floor, are they passing easily-admired, easily-purchased items coming and going? The one-size shawls, the best-selling books (face-out of course!), the feathered masks for Halloween?
Having things consignors want to buy. Your consignors are NOT your run-of-the-mill customer, in many cases. Consignors are often a little easier with their money, a little more willing to explore alternate dressing/ decor (which is one of the reasons they have “excess” possessions to consign!) so what appeals to the generic resale customer might not be what they will swoon over. You’ll notice I used, above, easily-purchased (no fitting necessary) and colorful pick-up items. Things like these, rather than a standard pair of pants or a shirt, are more likely impulse purchases made on the spur of the moment by your consignor. Always keep in mind that she didn’t come in here to shop, and you’ll see why she might take a little extra coaxing to do so!
How easy is it for her to BUY? If you don’t pay cash, on demand, whenever she comes in, start doing so. Cash, not a check, and none of this waiting until the 10th of next month. Cross her palm with silver, and she’ll be much more likely to grace your till with some or all of it.
Are you insisting she stay RIGHT HERE by you? If your intake procedure involves her presence (or even just encourages it!) stop that right now. Give her permission to explore your shop. Thanks, Ms. B, I’ll just be a few minutes…take a look at those great designer bags over there and I’ll be done in a jif. And take away that stool she can perch on while you work. You want her wandering through the shop.
Are you giving her the bum’s rush? Not allowing her a moment’s respite from her errand running today? If you bustle about, being all efficient and “not wasting her time”… she won’t be relaxed enough to browse. You can tell who really needs to get on with it and who’d love an excuse for 10 minutes’ down time. Don’t hustle her out of there.
Hope these thoughts help you, Hungry for More.
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged blogging, Twitter, web on September 12, 2009| 3 Comments »
(This post is a follow-up to The Trap of Twitpic.)
If it’s to intrigue, entice, and encourage folks to visit your consignment or resale shop, I suggest you post (more…)
Too Good to be Threw is the flagship site of the TGtbT Family of Sites for the Professional Resalers
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 