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Posts Tagged ‘consignors’

The Gentle Art of Conversation: Consignment Version

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on January 9, 2014|

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression” is a truism that is majorly important to consignment, resale and thrift shops.

What impression is your business making on first (and all) contact?

Be just the type of consignment shop she thought you'd be, by TGtbT.comIn person, we do a lot to make our “look” suit our style of shopkeeping. But what about our Internet “voice”… our web site, our blog, our mass emails, and Facebook updates?

Here’s a few examples I’ve saved for you of how to get your business personality across. Take a look and see if you don’t feel connected to the real-life folks running these companies. Hey, you might even find yourself smiling… always a good thing, if you can

get your viewers smiling at the thought of your company!

First, an email entitled Our First Ever Bag Sale. Gets their personality across.

Next up, a video on how an online consignment business works. This reassures viewers that this business is organized (stuff won’t go missing!) and super-clean. The same company (since sold to another company) did a great Moving-Day video and an intake specialist shows some common NTY reasons.

And last, a blog entry that manages to teach and endear the business at the same time. The subject? Girl Math.

Tell us how you

turn your conversations into conversions

in the comments below, or share some examples you keep for inspiration:

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Cutest, most-local customer holiday gift ever!

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on November 18, 2013| 7 Comments »

During the holidays, the best consignment, resale and thrift shops always have on hand some “customer gifts” to hand out to favorite clients. Here’s the cutest one I’ve seen in ages: (more…)

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Consignors got choices. (As do sellers and donors.)

Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on November 6, 2013|

131103 Moriarty_Sheila-Two_Friends_Talking

(Click the pic to learn about the artist)

A couple of old-timers in the consignment business got together recently, and one remarked that her industry siblings were seemingly having a tough time obtaining merchandise. “Is it the economy?” she asked. “Nah, said the other. “It’s pure and simple, there’s

more competition

now. Look at all the new shops opening up. They may or may not make a go of it, but in the meanwhile, they’re sucking away suppliers from the other stores.”

Then these old-timers put their combined resale industry experience (over 70 years! Imagine the number of consignors they dealt with!) together to make

a list of what drew potential suppliers to a particular shop

and what didn’t. Besides the blindingly-obvious draws of location, cleanliness and friendliness, the other pluses were:

  • An easy-to-understand process for consigning.
  • As few restrictions as possible: times to bring things in, numerical limits.
  • Transparency in consigning: what are you accepting today? How much will it be priced at?
  • Payment instantly or near-instantly. Cash in the palm of the hand or check.
  • Feeling valued, rather than discredited or as an interruption of the business. This applies to the intake, payment, communication and retrieval process.

As to

what turns off potential suppliers

soon after a relationship is started:

  • (Pretty much the lack of the above list.)

And what would

stop a potential consignor from using a particular shop?

  • Having to “trust” a shopkeeper. No receipt for items left on consignment, no copy of the agreement, lack of ease in finding out how the items are selling or when they might receive their money.
  • Seeing their items go for a lower price than they feel comfortable with (this applies somewhat to the original price the shopkeeper sets, and somewhat to arbitrary “markdowns” of newly consigned goods, AKA “You marked down that X from $50 to $40 just because you were having a sale? But you said you’d price it at $50 and it was only there a week!”)
  • Being forbidden to reclaim unsold items, whether or not they actually planned to. Just the thought of this led most potential clients to have doubts about the honesty of the shop.

What have you found are consignor turn-ons and turn-offs? What do you do to get the best goods into your business and to keep them coming? Tell us in the comments.

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One of the challenges Bricks-&-Mortars have…

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , , on October 30, 2013| 2 Comments »

Google Map is there to represent youOne of the challenges Bricks-&-Mortars have is getting on that darn Google Map.

How do you have the best possible results? Go ahead, enter (more…)

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Is your business more Shoptober or Sucktember?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , on October 15, 2013| 9 Comments »

Okay, I admit it. I eavesdrop.

On consignment, resale, and thrift shopkeepers from everywhere, who sell everything, on every level of the economy, from shops whose sales go from $10 a day (YES! They’re out there!) to those whose sales are in the multi-millions a year.

And you know what the difference is? (more…)

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