Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged customers, resale shopkeeping, small business on January 29, 2016|
Your shop, as simple, local, one-person-run as it might be (or as multi-locationed, professionally-staffed, online-savvy as it might be!) would never drop the ball so badly (more…)
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged customers, holidays, merchandising, resale shopkeeping, starting a consignment shop on January 25, 2016|
Decorate your shop inside and out. Need more window display ideas? Look no further than TGtbT.com’s Pinterest collection. This one will light up your heart, or maybe you’re more scrappy? Try this if you have no time to fuss and of course, this is a media-worthy event/ display if you are the go-all-out-for-my-business type.
Cupid Poop giveaway: make them laugh and get your shop talked about. Something they’ll NEVER get at those “new” stores.
Selling your merchandise for Valentine’s Day can be as easy as an All Wrapped Up & Ready to BOW! display or a charming way to showcase your jewelry
Click to get to a free PDF designed for 8×10 frames. Print, fill those empty frames, price ’em to sell!
Posted in Kudos: Ideas to inspire!, Not-for-Profit Resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged customers, promotions, resale shopkeeping, starting a consignment shop, Thrift on January 14, 2016| 6 Comments »
Photo by C Squared Studios on Getty Images
I recently made the “acquaintance” of a great non-profit shopkeeper, Debbie Morrison, who runs three thrifts in Tennessee. She mentioned in passing a promotion her shop uses:
Mystery gift Thursday: Spend at least $10.00, get a free gift.
Her publicity for this free gift includes this lovely way to say “please no complaints over your free gift”:
“Free gifts are in a brown bag, no changes, if you can’t use it, please find someone who can.”
Since Serenity Thrift is a non-profit thrift operation, what to use for a mystery gift was a no-brainer. They’d received Avon products as a donation. Everyone can use a little Avon, right?
If your consignment or resale shop would like to use this idea, how about some purchased-for-resale accessories? What could YOU see your shop as using for this promotion? Comment below, and remember, you ARE allowed to put in a plug for your business!
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged advertising, consignors, customers, resale shopkeeping on October 30, 2015| 1 Comment »
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Some handy resources for advertising that YOU are the ULTIMATE in the Shop Local movement:
Posted in Really good ideas, Shopkeeping talk, tagged consignors, customers, daily operations, resale shopkeeping, starting a consignment shop, success on October 19, 2015| 2 Comments »
When you first started out, you probably based your business plan for your consignment or resale shop on what you wanted or thought you’d want if you were a customer. And that’s okay, ’cause you had lifelong experience as a customer. Your gut instinct (along with the advice in Too Good to be Threw Complete Operations Manual) got you started.
But now, whether you’re a year in or twenty years in, you have lost something… and it’s for the better.
You are no longer a “typical customer”… and you can no longer go with your feelings when making decisions about how your shop will grow and develop.
Instead, ask “What would my target customer like?” For example, you may have, back when you opened, chosen to have business hours that ended at 5pm. After all, we need to be home to get supper on for the family, you reasoned. Women haven’t got the time to shop after work. But if you continue to close at 5pm, because that was your decision way-back-when…. and don’t use your recent experience to observe that many of your shoppers want to shop on their way home from work… at 5:15 or 5:45 or even, depending on your market, at 6:15… you may be hampering the growth of your business.
In other words, once you become a shopkeeper,
You no longer can walk into a new-merchandise store, whether it’s a department store, a boutique, or a hardware store, the way a typical shopper would. Instead, your shopkeeper mind is cataloging a hundred things: what their signage says. Whether your ease of passage is impeded upon by displays. And so on. You are no longer, and never will be again, the typical shopper. Your personal reaction is no longer a reliable indicator of the right thing to do. But that’s okay, because you have turned into a retailer. A retailer who can ask, instead of What would I like?,
Too Good to be Threw is the flagship site of the TGtbT Family of Sites for the Professional Resalers
Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 