Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘accepting’

We were talking, over on social media, about creating some sort of client gift that would initiate incoming, and keep incoming coming in season after season.

Ideas ranged from creating labels to be carefully stuck to purchased blank size rings like these examples from House Of Consignment and Your Best Friend’s Closet to full-on “Closet Kits” (be sure to click over to read this!), this is an idea any womenswear consignment or resale shop could easily use. And if you run a nonprofit thrift shop? These would make terrific giveaways/ swag bag inserts for any classy fund raising event of your NGO.

As one shopkeeper, Marianne Evans of Your Best Friend’s Closet says:

Ladies, these are amazing for so many reasons! First the consignors now have an easy way to sort their items, either seasonally or style-wise. So instead of putting it back in their closet they put it to the side of the marker. Second it has your name in their closet everyday all the time so they are thinking about you. And lastly consigners think I am an absolute genius to have and I quote, thought of everything!

 

Get your shop name into potential consignment clients' closets!

Get your shop name into potential consignment clients’ closets!

Another choice could be the printed door-hanger. Readily available and easily designed online, these heavy-weight, glossy-coated handouts are quick to create.

Get your shop name into their closet

Designed to hang on a doorknob, these hang on most closet rods as well!

Like Dwight’s Closet Kit, you can include your yearly schedule along with, of course, all your contact info and a handful of tips on how to make the most money with your consignments.

Door-hangers are available at gotprint.com which is where I grabbed the photo (and which offers to mail you a sample kit so you can choose paper, etc), Vistaprint, Nextdayfliers, and just about any printing service. Goimprints , especially, has a wide variety of shapes to choose from.

You can even print your own doorhangers with stock from Avery if you’d like to dabble before plunging; the Avery forms have a tear-away portion which would be fun to use as a raffle drawing entry, a discount useable when they bring in their early-season consignment, or something you think up yourself!

Read Full Post »

When do you all stop taking Christmas décor in?

Joyful no more, holiday merchandise on December 26. 

Holiday-specific consignment goods for sure have a drop-dead date… and it’s for sure, the day AFTER whatever holiday. So should you stop taking Christmas-related items in… on December 1? December 5?  October 25 (if your consignment period is 60 days) or September 25, if it’s 90 days?

After all, the MOST (more…)

Read Full Post »

A shopkeeper asks:

Is there a polite way to tell our consignors or sellers that their clothes or decor items are out of date? It seems so rude and blunt.

Auntie Kate answers:

First, you have to delete (more…)

Read Full Post »

Armloads of incoming consignments!

Could refining your acceptance & pricing procedures make this a less-scary sight? Click!

A question from a shopkeeper that’s pretty pertinent at this time of year:

Q:  I need to limit the number of drop off we get (just too much inventory). I am leaning towards ‘quiet hours’ and stop taking drop offs an hour before we close, and maybe no drop offs on Monday…

Here’s a pretty no-holds-barred reply. If you are easily bruised, please skip this message.

Kate says:

If consignors cannot drop off after THEIR work hours, you’ll lose those who work (and who tend to change out their wardrobes more often than those who don’t.) In many cases, the ideal “drop-off” time would be after 5pm… depending on local office business hours, distance from work to your shop, and so on.

Limiting the number of drop offs does only one thing: Limit the selection from which YOU can select the items which will sell fastest ( = you have the clientele for them)
… which gives you rapid turnover which leads to more frequent visitors/ buyers coming into the shop. Making it less convenient for consignors is not the answer.

There really is no such thing as “too much inventory”… all there is is “too much inventory that is as yet unsold.” Limiting incoming means you are limiting yourself to consignors who can fulfill YOUR needs… and I think the most experienced consignees on this group will tell you that the “best” (most salable for the most $) stuff usually comes from women who are not able/are unwilling to work their drop offs around a shop’s limited schedule.

(Side note: If there was ever a day NOT to choose as a “no drop off day“, it’s Monday. Doesn’t EVERY woman clean out her closets on Sunday? And who wants that pile of stuff cluttering up the bedroom past Monday morning?)

If your shop fills up, it’s because your turnover is too low. Try pricing so that things fly out the door… not so low as to be unprofitable to you or the consignor, but low enough that most items sell before that 20% off at 3 weeks guideline.

If drop offs are driving you crazy, try altering your handling procedures and staff who are handling the goods. Some shops actually have processing personnel who work after the shop is closed for the evening… so next morning, sales staff come in to a shop ready to be freshly stocked with recorded, tagged, rehung goods.

Read Full Post »

One of my favorite techniques for spicing up resale shops and expanding not just their customer base but also their word of mouth is a department called

Weird & Wonderful.

But it occurred to me the other day that (more…)

Read Full Post »

Older Posts »