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Archive for the ‘Shopkeeping talk’ Category
Is your broadcast newsletter doing its job?
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged email, resale shopkeeping, web on July 22, 2013|
Do you have a New Arrivals rack in your consignment shop?
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged customers, daily operations, resale shopkeeping on July 21, 2013| 3 Comments »
So many things in my life in consignment started out as a benefit to ME… and then I learned they were a BIGGER benefit to my customers.
Like my “New Arrivals” rack. A simple double rack placed near our sales/intake counter, close to our dressing rooms, where we put tagged, but not yet fluffed and hanger-changed, new arrivals. It was really for OUR convenience… a place to stash almost ready to go incoming garments until our part-time, after-school stock girl arrived and changed the hangers, buttoned and tied and put into stock, whatever had come in since opening that day.
But we put a rack sign on it, something like
“New Arrivals: You Get FIRST CHOICE”
and lo and behold…. a goodly percentage of these sold to delighted customers without ever resting shoulders on a shop hanger. Our daily regulars headed for that rack first thing, and were actually disappointed if we’d managed to keep up that day and the rack was empty or nearly-so.
Another thing I created as a benefit to ME, when I started accumulating LINES of potential consignors waiting for attention in my shop, was the Drop-&-Run Kit. I was simply looking to ease the stress of knowing there were people impatiently waiting for my attention… without realizing that being able to simply pop in, and more importantly OUT… was vital to my best consignors. That’s why I call our Drop-&-Run Kits
“the best thing you can do for your consignment shop.”
I know you’ll agree!
Biting the bullet: Really, shopkeeper?
Posted in economics of resale, Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged daily operations, small business, starting a consignment shop on July 16, 2013| 1 Comment »
To “bite the bullet” is to endure a painful or otherwise unpleasant situation that is seen as unavoidable, or to accept something difficult and try to live with it. Another definition: Accept the inevitable impending hardship and endure the resulting pain with fortitude.
I heard (that is, read on social media, which is kinda the same thing) a consignment or resale shopkeeper say she’d bitten the bullet, referring to making a business plan. Really? Enduring the resulting pain with fortitude? How’s about
looking forward to a better, easier, more pleasant way
to run her business?
Another resale shop owner emailed me saying she’d “finally bit the bullet” and anted up the less than $1/week to have her shop listed with her peers on HowToConsign.com’s Resale Directory and Zoomable Map. Really, enduring a painful situation seen as unavoidable? I’m glad I’m “unavoidable” but if joining the resale community for less than two bits a day is painful, she must not have been paying attention to the 15 years or so that I’ve been using the Internet to spread the word about how to have a successful shop. Yikes.
Come on girls, let’s buck up! Doing what’s good for your business, so that you can do what’s good for yourself, your family, your finances and your community, should be
imbibing the champagne
(or nonalcoholic beverage of your choice.) After all, you deserve a toast for furthering the future of your shop…
Look for the celebration of your career, not the misery!
Love those Back-to-School, Fall’s-My-Favorite-Season Shoppers!
Posted in Shopkeeping talk on July 15, 2013|
5 Things to do to get your share of this season’s shopping dollars, on TGtbT.com, the Premier Site for Professional Resalers.
And remember, BTS is NOT just about kids and it’s not even just about clothes. But you knew that. ‘Cause you’re a Professional Resaler, right?
People WANT to be helpful. Give them the opportunity.
Posted in 5- Minute Fixes, economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged advertising, customers, web on July 12, 2013| 1 Comment »
Social media… especially in the resale industry… is all about sharing and communicating and being heard.
Here’s what one consignment shop did to give their followers an opportunity to be heard.
84 comments on a mid-April blog post… 84 more customers who felt more closely connected with the shop… at a cost of $100 worth of gift cards. Not to mention, I’m guessing at least a few of those 84, and even more of the Silent Majority, read through the comments several times out of curiosity and interest.
And the shop could now use these comments to make up a customer benefit brochure, a What Our Customers Do to Help the Environment, to hand out as a sales premium in the slower months, and of course to provide context for the main point of the handout which would be, of course,
ReSell/ RePlace, ReJoice!
the battle cry of our consumer-oriented marketing at HowToConsign.org! Pretty great use of their blog, don’t you think?
What opinion could you ask for, now or in the near future, that would enable your followers to interact with you?
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Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 