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Archive for the ‘Shopkeeping talk’ Category

Is this any way to talk to your friends?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , on September 5, 2013| 1 Comment »

Back in the good old days, our tender eyes were protected from bad words with loads of typographical symbols like

Get the %#%& outta my face, you *%#^#

and we all understood that.

But now, that most useful of stand-in symbols, the #, has become so much more than a “clean” way to cuss.

Now it’s a way to shout

Hey hey, over here! Look at me!

which, well yeh, you’d do in a crowded train terminal or if your frat house party guests are getting over-beered. But to friends, fans, followers of your personable, charming resale, consignment, thrift shop?

Not so applicable, to my mind. Here’s what one shop wrote to go with a photo of, I assume, some shoes they got in. Note: the shop is not located in any of the metropolitan areas entered.

#Delman #Shoes #wedge #laces #leather #style

#platform #fashion #NYC #LosAngeles #Chicago #Miami #LasVegas

I don’t think it’s wise to forget that the first word in social media is social, not media. Posting keywords instead of a human-to-human sentence or two says to me “%$$#^& I don’t wanna talk to you, all I care about is Ya gonna buy these or not?”

Treat people as people, not as mindless hashmark consumers. Just my opinion.

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Deja Vu: Investing your time in consignment goods.

Posted in Deja Vuesday, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on September 3, 2013|

After all, some Auntie Kate messages are, ahem, Too Good to be Threw!

Click the image for more Deja Vuesday posts that are too good to be threw from TGtbT.com

Oceans of incoming. If you buy outright, you may well spend some time and effort washing, steaming, fixing, to increase your profit margin (or not.)

If your shop is a non-profit that relies solely on donations, you may be blessed with volunteers who delight in prepping goods for the sales floor. Or not.

But the challenge is: Do you invest your time, overhead, attention to merchandise that’s been consigned with you? We posed this question (more…)

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Back-to-School Time for Consignment, Resale, & Thrift Shopkeepers.

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on September 2, 2013| 1 Comment »

Today’s Labor Day, which means tomorrow is the traditional Back to School First Day for many.

Many, meaning YOU.

Back to School photo op for consignment, resale, thrift shops

Click for some past BTS season ideas on Auntie Kate the Blog.

All of us, no matter how long it’s been since we were a real student, think of this time of year as the season to buck up, to polish our knowledge. (And to buy fun new school supplies, which I secretly still do!)

Here’s 5 easy ways to find the education you’d like (more…)

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Cheapest advertising ever.

Posted in Really good ideas, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , on September 1, 2013| 3 Comments »

I’m like any other customers of yours. I often can’t remember the name of a shop that I want to recommend to a friend. Which means all the good will built up during my visit gets lost before it becomes profit-building word of mouth.

Make sure that never happens in your consignment or resale shop. Ideally, you’ll have chatted with everyone who comes in and be able to comfortably offer your card, “here, take our card to remember us by. See you again soon!”

Yes, business cards work well. But what else can you add?

If you sell (more…)

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Inspiration in desk piles.

Posted in Really good ideas, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , , , on September 1, 2013|

I’ve been spending the holiday weekend going through and actually DOING SOMETHING ABOUT all the notes and catalog pages and so on on my desk. (Yeh, I know, I’m a bundle of laughs and a real party animal, aren’t I?)

In amongst the October 2012 notes and the Christmas craft ideas yanked from a 1996 magazine (none of which I have felt moved in the past 17 years to do) were a couple of gems. Here’s one.

A customer of a consignment or resale or thrift shop wrote (somewhere, who knows? I take lousy notes)

How many times have we come out of [Shop Name] doing the happy dance!?!

Doin' the Happy Dance in front of my Favorite Consignment Shop!Would this not be a terrific photo op for YOUR shop? Seize the opportunity, when you have an excited and happy customer in front of you, to get her to pose, in front of your shop, with her purchase on/ in a bag/ on a hanger/ on the mover’s dolly, while dancing/ jumping/ cartwheeling in joy?

Hopefully, your shop name’s in the picture too, but if not, just add it with Picmonkey or Ribbet or whatever.

Think how many ways you can use this:

  • As a Facebook entry
  • In a Facebook Album: Our happy customers!
  • Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, all those sites
  • As a photo in your entry or on your shop’s community bulletin board
  • On your blog (as a category!)
  • On your web site
  • In a slide show for your web site, a commercial* for your shop
  • As a print ad
  • As an uploaded photo on your Yelp etc reviews

Heck, you could even invite the year’s Happy Shoppers to a brunch event in your shop one Sunday to thank them! Talk about word of mouth!

 
* Ask a photographer friend about model releases.

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