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Eavesdrop on a consignment experience

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , on January 11, 2012| 3 Comments »

Eavesdrop on a consignment experience.

This video is a great case study for shopkeepers and accepting staff. If we look at it not as “how to consign”… but “how to treat a potential consignor” we can take the opportunity to fine-tune our shops.

See if you can spot the lessons to be learned (I’ve listed some after the video.)

Okay, in order of occurrence:

At 0:30 she recounts a bad experience… hope you never react with “disdain”!

At 1:00 the consignee actually introduces herself to the incoming consignor. Do you and your staff do the same? It means a lot… makes the interaction between two people, rather than a person and a business.

At 1:15, the consignee gives the consignor a compliment on her items. I’ve bolded and italized that because you know? It seldom happens that a consignor hears a positive before a potential negative.

At 1:30, consignee takes the conversational opportunity to put in a plug for larger sizes by saying “big is great ’cause we don’t have enough.”

At 1:50, consignee passes on a NTY, without volunteering a reason. I’m sure she had one, but the CONSIGNOR (as seen by her video editing) didn’t consider it important. So if the consignor doesn’t care why, the consignee needn’t throw negative comments into the mix like “out of style,” “fake,” or “are you kidding, this is SO 20th-century.”

At 2:00, the consignee gives the consignor a good reason/excuse not to be concerned with unsold items at the end of the consignment period. Notice the lack of “if you want unsold items back, you must pick them up at X days”… because all most consignors hear is “you must pick up…”

At 2:10 the consignee has a great spiel about the charity the shop uses. Sweet!

At 2:30 the consignee might develop a good spiel about using store credit. The consignor had to ask, and the reply was not as motivating as it could have been.

Did I miss any lessons to be learned? Comment below!

My thanks to verygoodlooking.com for creating and posting this video. A blog I’ll be watching daily. I like Ms. Horchow’s presentation. Usually, these types of commentators are so smarmy and self-important, but I actually like Sally!

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What If… you fine-tuned your incoming procedures?

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on January 4, 2012| 7 Comments »

What if you looked at your consignment, resale, or thrift shop differently in 2012?What If…

you thought of your consignment, resale, or thrift shop just a little differently in 2012? Would your shop be more successful? More fun to run? Would you find unexpected supporters and fervid fans if you just approached things a tiny bit differently?

This week we’ll present a few What Ifs for you to consider. And what if you took the kernel of one of my what ifs and modified it for your business? What if my idea, and your interpretation, and someone else’s version combined… can you see where this is going?

What if you dared to be greater than you already are?

What If? You changed the way you thought of incoming goods? Whether you buy outright, deal in donations, or consign, this Auntie Kate question might have you thinking about your intake procedures:

“Help me please! When new consignors call for an appointment and we can’t fit them in for months, some just laugh. We try to take 4 or 5 appointments a day.” “I have to turn down new consignors every day. I take one new consignor a day. I’m backed up for three months.” “I want to read about how many items to accept and methods for getting items on the floor more efficiently.”

Auntie Kate answered:
Processing incoming merchandise can be a business-killing bottleneck. The most productive shops have systems to ensure their sales floor is full of fresh new items without detracting from their sales activities and without sacrificing their patience, good humor or family life.

The keys to effective acceptance are simple:

  • Accept when your suppliers can come in, not when it’s convenient for you. Give your suppliers what they want: a quick, easy, convenient way to bring items in.
  • Don’t waste time ondecisions. Mulling over the price of a t-shirt for 10 minutes can mean the next consignor (the one with the designer bags) decides the wait is too long.
  • Arrange your acceptance area for efficiency. Having to shift goods, dig out forms or even your computer, or tripping over hangers will slow you down. Spending five minutes too long on each batch can mean a full wasted day a week.
  • Don’t lose time on mistakes. Lost a whole batch? Whose items are those? Where are the tags for these? Where are the things for these tags? You know what I mean. Develop a system that works and stick to it.
  • Don’t perform tasks less-experienced people could do.
  • Design a way to handle overflows. Consider a variety of possibilities, from a “free-for-all” day to a Drop-&-Run system. You may be killing yourself trying to fulfill expectations you think your suppliers have without realizing that they might be delighted with an alternative.

Imagine what you could do if your intake structure reflected your desire to grow your business.

There’s more What if‘s all this week… look forward and back. 

Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/libraryman/

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Can you help your clients be charitable?

Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , on November 25, 2011| 1 Comment »

Consignment shops help charities with consignment accounts, says TGtbT.comTis the season for charity. Your shoppers are thinking how they can help the less fortunate, and that’s a good thing.

But your customers are also thinking that actual cash money’s tight right now as they prepare for their holiday season.

Can you stretch out a local-awareness helping hand?

Of course you can. All it takes is for you to highlight the consignment accounts you already have set up. Through your advertising and your social media, including your blog, remind folks that they can donate goods to be placed in these accounts, and the charity receives that “real cash money” for their cause.

It wouldn’t hurt for you to mention that quality goods will get a better return in your boutique than they might in a thrift store, but you’d want to word that carefully to avoid hurting the legit local charities who don’t participate in your “consign for a cause” program or who have declined to be involved.

You can also be pro-active in making shoppers aware that their purchases directly help specific charities with a foyer sign showing them what to look for on your merchandise tags.

It’s one of those win-win-win solutions that we all love.

  • The charity wins because they make spendable cash without the retail overhead and volunteer commitment.
  • You win because the charitable hand you’ve extended polishes your reputable as a responsible local merchant.
  • The donor to the consignment account wins because, instead of having to think My X is too good to give to the thrift shop. They’d only get a buck or two out of it they can rely upon your professional skills to maximize their donation’s value to the charity. Or, if their cause is the food pantry and all they have to donate is a Missoni… they can, with your help, turn that Missoni into meals.
  • The shopper wins because you have offered her the opportunity to “vote with her wallet” by choosing the item which benefits a cause she supports.

Oh wait, that’s four wins. Why, that’s even better, isn’t it?

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A button a consignment, resale, AND thrift store could love.

Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on November 23, 2011|

A Too Good to be Threw Teeny Tip for Consignment, Thrift & Resale StoresTake a look at the button labeled “Yes of course” on. 

Casa de los Ninos NFP  thrift shop’s site. Click it too, to see the user experience. Update May 2012: Seems they have removed the necessary info for those who WANT to do what the charity WANTS them to do… location, hours, what they are unable to use. Oh, well, you know what to do, so do it. 😉

If you’re not a donations-only shop, how could you tweak this idea to encourage incoming consignments or sellers… and how great would it be to have these newbies already feel a fun connection to your shop?

Don’t you think this is brilliant?

I do. Tell us when you add the same idea to your site, so we can admire it!

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Motivating donations… or incoming of any sort!

Posted in Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on November 15, 2011| 3 Comments »

Recently, “Our Thrift Store” (yes, they use the quotation marks) has had a

10 Days 10 Bags

Clean a room a day of clutter and donate it to a thrift storecampaign, to inspire the non-profit store’s fans and friends to go through their homes and bring in items they can resell.

To make the task more fun (and less overwhelming!), the store suggests going through a room a day with this checklist, found on their Facebook Events page.

Isn’t this something you could use as the backbone of a similar idea for your shop?

Imagine your blog. 10 days of entries, highlighting various areas of a home, with a checklist of what they can bring in. Make it “suggestive” rather than a dry recital of “knick-knacks, jewelry, shoes.”

For example,

Day 4, we’re tackling the Master Bedroom:

  • That scented candle that was a hostess gift that you’ve never taken out of the cellophane.
  • The necklace your husband insists looks like penny candy, and the baroque earrings that simply overwhelm your delicate features.
  • Bottom of the lingerie drawer: the bras you never had the nerve to cut the tags off of, yet alone wear. The fishnet tights still in their package from last Halloween.
  • Be honest. Just because you spent too much on those shoes you can’t walk in, is no reason to condemn them to a lifetime in the dark. Bring them in; we’ll find them other tootsies to sparkle on.

And because you, clever shopkeeper you, have connected your blog to your FB and Twitter accounts, every day for 10 days, you have a motivating social media message that could bring you wonders you (and your donors, consignors, sellers) never even thought about before!

Of course, you’ll turn your ten little suggestion lists into a bag-stuffer for continuing use or as part of your “how-to” handout.

Many thanks to our NFP peer! Visit “Our Thrift Store”.

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