Money can’t buy you love, sang the Beatles.
But there’s one thing that money can buy you, and that’s time.
And that’s pretty much the same thing.
Time.
Shopkeepers need (more…)
Archive for the ‘Shopkeeping talk’ Category
What money CAN buy you, if not love.
Posted in Shopkeeping talk on February 13, 2013| 2 Comments »
Gawd. How embarrassing. I had to leave immediately.
Posted in 5- Minute Fixes, Shopkeeping talk, Slices of (my) life, Teeny Tips, tagged display on February 12, 2013| 8 Comments »
I was making the rounds of a few consignment shops here in Sarasota recently, being all cheery and sociable (I have to, now that my hair is purple. No standing in the background possible.)
I found a little something in a vintage shop (remind me to go back with my camera… they do incredible vignettes) and a great shirt from a favorite designer in a womenswear shop across the road.
Then came my moment of shame. In the next consignment shop, just past (more…)
Great shop. Wish I could remember the name.
Posted in 5- Minute Fixes, economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged advertising, web on February 10, 2013|
Obviously, this is not the photo that goes with the real-life example I’m talking about. But it’s pretty, isn’t it?
Nice, colorful photo of a consignment shop’s wall display posted on the shop’s Facebook page with this message:
“Great summer tops — at [name of shop deleted]”
Almost immediately, this exchange took place:
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[FB fan, name deleted] Where ?
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[shop replies] Where what?
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[fan] I don’t see on my phone what store this is or where it is located. Thank you.
And the shop replied, politely, with the shop name again (notice that it was also in the original post.)
Now, admittedly, that fan with a phone was being a bit dense. But the shopkeeper could have helped out a little, with the simple addition of the shop name and/or address, URL, phone,
in the photo itself.
Add text to your photos. Too busy, you say, to alter the quick shot you took? To make your photos worth the electrons they’re printed on? Well, then, include a sign in your photo that has your shop name on it. Do something to make the effort you took to take the photo and post it, worth it.
Side benefit: The more they see your shop name, the less likely they are to send their friends to the wrong shop… ’cause they don’t remember your name.
Lesson learned: Leave nothing to chance. Or, they aren’t paying attention. (And there’s a Part 2 to this blog topic, ’cause it’s Important.) Or Let your merchandise speak for itself.
Love letters: How to get them
Posted in 5- Minute Fixes, Shopkeeping talk, Teeny Tips, tagged consignors, customers, holidays, Thrift on February 9, 2013|
Well, ’tis the season of love… hearts and flowers everywhere, love is all around and so on!
Why not make marketing use of Valentine’s Day… by asking your clientele towrite a love letter to your consignment, resale or thrift shop?
There’s two ways to do this, depending on what use you will make over the coming years of their compliments.
* The tactile way: Hands-on is most appropriate for Valentines, don’t you think? Provide your customers with paper and pencil, and on the bottom of the provided paper, add a little line re “Optional: Name______________ if you will allow us to use this in our marketing for MyShop”
* The social media way: Provide them with a card listing the various sites on which they can review your shop online. Expect a low rate of results on this… very few people will be motivated to save the card, and actually go to those sites. But it’s worth printing up some cards which basically costs only a few bucks.
Either way, make your request attractive and appealing: Give the “tactile” folks the heart-embossed pencil to keep, give the “social media” folks the card tied with curly ribbon to a baggie of candy hearts.
Here’s hoping your shop gets lots of Valentines this year that you can use on your site, blog, social media all year long!
Image by arztsamui courtesy of freedigitalphotos.netGo ahead, be a boy scout.
Posted in Shopkeeping talk on February 8, 2013| 2 Comments »
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