Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged employees, web on August 18, 2010| 10 Comments »
I had a great conversation with a consignment shop manager when she visited me at the NFP where I volunteer. She mentioned her frustration that some of her staff were
And that most often, the resulting decision, after (more…)
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged profit, promotions, web on August 16, 2010| 6 Comments »
We all (well, except for some very, very misguided shopkeepers and thrift store managers) know how wonderful maintaining and using a wish list, or a want list, is for our shops’ reputations.
We show our care and concern by “keeping an eye out” for special items our customers crave, we emphasize the personality of a local shop, we beat the big-box stores hands down…and we get to collect contact info too!
Wish lists are wonderful. It helps you sell (you have a ready-made customer, perhaps), it helps you price (just HOW many people want a Bottega Veneta bag?) and it pleases a customer at the same time. Even if all you can do is contact her saying No Bottega Venetas in this week…but there’s a spectacular soft Gucci clutch in caramel I think you’d like, you show your concern and probably nudge her into visiting and into giving your shop great word of mouth.
Posted in Shopkeeping talk, tagged advertising, web on August 12, 2010| 5 Comments »
One of our newest Treasured Sponsors of HowToConsign.com, Sumthing Unique in Maui HI is letting me borrow this photo from her web site. Doncha LOVE it? The whole idea just INSPIRES me.
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged blogging, HowToConsign.com, web on July 29, 2010| 4 Comments »
One of the more frustrating questions any consignment or resale shopkeeper can hear is “How long you been here?” It’s even more frustrating to know that every day, there are potential customers who need to be reached.
I mean forever. Every single day, no matter how established your business is, there are new people you need to attract, people who just BECAME potential clients.
You have to, 24/7, let everyone know about your business and what it can offer to them. You have to hit ’em when and where they are in need of your goods.
A few days ago, we decided to go out to lunch. Since we’d be in the neighborhood, and I’d heard good things about a certain restaurant, I thought that would be a good choice. But I was unsure if they did lunch. So I googled them. Found lots of rave reviews, which whetted my appetite. Found their web site, too.
Without the hours or phone number on it. Out of 5 possible links, 3 were completely blank. Nothing. Main page? Cute music and slide show, no address, phone, hours, or even what type of business this was.
Went back to Google, found their phone number on another site, called them. The nice fellow who answered the phone at 11am said no, no lunch, open at 4. When I remarked that the restaurant’s web site was woefully inadequate, he said “The web site is a work in progress.”
LIFE is a work in progress, yet alone a business or its web site. Is that any reason to handicap a potential client from becoming a customer? Why would not the first thing on that web site be who, where, when, and even what the business is?
Of course, no one can afford to blanket the earth with signs, ads, Facebook and Twitter,bag-stuffers and billboards. The wise shopkeeper balances the effort and money involved to choose her marketing strategies. Not being discover-able on the Internet is a major marketing flaw. Especially when the Internet is the biggest advertising bargain around.
Is your business similarly handicapping your next customer? When they get the urge to go looking for a lunch restaurant, or a place to go back-to-school shopping or to find that wonderful Halloween costume idea...will they be led to your business? Think about how customers look for businesses that will fulfill their immediate needs. Will they find you? Will they find the info and the impetus to visit you?
Business literature abounds in ideas to “keep” your business number one. Here’s what resalers had to say about that. And here’s even more ideas. But alas, I don’t see as much energy and imagination going in to attracting the never-been-in-before customer.
Choose your marketing tools wisely, considering not only your current clientele, but your potential audience. If it’s true that less than 15% 0f possible shoppers shop resale (and even fewer remember to shop secondhand first!) , what are you doing to tempt, lure and attract those who have never been in?
Posted in economics of resale, Shopkeeping talk, tagged advertising, promotions, Twitter, web on July 12, 2010| 2 Comments »
Dance cards are those archaic little booklets that were given to a young lady at cotillions and balls. With a teeny pencil tied with a ribbon attached, young men would write in their names on the young lady’s card, claiming her dancing company for each song. Hence the expression “pencil me in.”
Of course, an empty dance card bespeaks a wallflower.
So if you use a Google calendar or any calendar on your web site, whatever you do, don’t leave it looking like there’s nothing going on at your shop. You and I known there’s plenty going on…so why not let your adoring public in on it?
The shop’s calendar only has 3 entries…and all, alas, are negative.
What could this shop have put on their calendar? Well, Happy 4th of July. Fall fashions coming soon. Check out our new book department. And that’s not even counting any promotional events. Or town happenings. Or even inspiring quotes.
Look at all that image-enhancing space you could use.
Absolutely nothing out-of-the-ordinary happening at your shop? Then list the ordinary things: Come see our new window display or Monday’s a big incoming day…so get on in Tuesday to get first dibs. Or create a promotional event that needs no more than a name and attitude: Wacky Wednesday if every customer wearing a wacky pair of shoes gets a WHACK (Wonderfully Humongously Adorable Consignment Knick-knack, e.g. a pick from your basket full of beribboned little treasures that have been saved from your ODs)
224. August 19 is Coco Chanel’s birthday. She was the first person to popularize menswear for women and, of course, created the “little black dress.” Use your imagination: what’s the “little black dress” of home decor or kidswear? –Idea #224 from Resale’s BEST Promotions. *
* And don’t miss idea #214 in Resale’s BEST Promotions about Encouraging Incoming: #214 is JUST the idea you need in the middle of July, and is the first of FIVE ideas on that topic you can use on your “dance card” calendar and in your shop.
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Auntie Kate The Resale Expert 