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Posts Tagged ‘customers’

How do *shoplifters* get away with it?

Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged on December 7, 2007| 13 Comments »

“I was RIGHT there…” “I was watching them every minute.” “One moment it was there, the next moment it was gone.” We hear these comments again and again on Too Good to be Threw. Heck, I even get messages from shopkeepers asking over and over again: Tell me how to stop shoplifting!

It happens to all retail shopkeepers sooner or later. Something goes missing… and you are sure that you were extra-vigilant. In fact, you’re pretty darn sure you know who stole that sweater, slip, sled from your shop. You were watching them like a hawk, right? And they still stole from you.

The thing is, you want to learn from this experience so it won’t happen again. You can read all the information you want, but nothing will help if you don’t learn how your attention can be easily diverted. Here’s a test that will stun and amaze you. It was in Oprah magazine a month or two ago, in an article by Martha Beck. First, do what I say in the next paragraph without reading on. Then, come back here to read the rest of my post here, and you will find out something amazing about paying attention.

Go to http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html . There’s a short video clip there. Watch it and count how many times the white-shirted team passes the basketball.

Don’t continue reading until you count how many times the white-shirted team passes the basketball.

********************

Got it? Did you count how many times the basketball was passed? Good for you! Now here’s the thing: several seconds into the film, a gorilla walks through the scene, even pauses and thumps his chest. Did you even notice that? Very few people do. Go ahead, go watch it again. The gorilla is real (well, it’s not real-real, but you know what I mean.)

So, how did that shoplifter steal from you? Distraction. I told you to count the ball passes… the shoplifter might have done something that was equally as compelling for you to watch, then concealed the stolen item just as flagrantly.

Lesson learned? Watch for the guy in the gorilla suit. Don’t get so caught up in what someone wants you to see, that you become blind to everything else.

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Drawing browsers into a back room

Posted in Mailbox: 1-on-1 Advice, Shopkeeping talk, tagged , , , on May 11, 2007| 4 Comments »

“HELP! I can’t get people to see my rear area!”

Draw shoppers into your consignment shop back roomHere’s Chris’ rear room. It’s part of her selling floor, but she can’t seem to get browsers to explore the room no matter what merchandise she features there. Chris asked for help.

Here’s a few solutions Chris might try. We want to engage all the senses of her browsers to tempt them into exploring this area.

To use sight to lure them in, increase the level of lighting, making the room actually brighter than your front room. This might be tricky, since we’re assuming that display windows add to the intensity in your main room. If there’s no way to get enough light into the rear room without the heat and expense going too high, try “washing” that back wall with track lighting.

Another appeal to sight: Mount mirrors so the reflection is seen from the main room. That will make the back room look larger, so it won’t look cramped or crammed. Cheap version of this: have LOTS of for-sale mirrors hung on that blue slatwall, even if you have to go BUY them and sell them for ZERO profit (you know me, it’s impt to have as few “not-for-sale” items in your shop as possible!)

Touch: Install, probably in the right front corner of the rear room, an oscillating fan to move the air (in addition to the ceiling fan you already have…read on:). Doesn’t need to be a big one, but just enough to “tinkle” a small wind chime set in the path of the air. So customers will hear something going on back there. (A small CD player with quiet instrumental music so as not to conflict with the music you play in the main room, is another way to charm people into the room.)

And there’s smell: A barely-noticeable scent of orange or vanilla influences people’s browsing. Have it subtle enough that people do not remark on it.

The final sense is taste. Maybe you could put a coffee pot or a slow cooker of apple cider back there? 😉

I notice that the flooring seems to change as you step over the threshold? If it does, think about using a runner to bridge the change. People won’t even notice they’re entering another room!

And last: no matter how crowded your shop may be, do not infringe on the width of that door way. It can seem claustrophobic to many. Leave the doorway totally open and all pathways within the room circular, so shoppers do not come to dead ends.

For more good ideas on getting the most out of every inch you have, see The Essential Guide to Using All Your Space, a Too Good to be Threw Product for the Professional Resaler.

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