From Consignment Shop Owner # 1
Customs tags -
makes a very professional statement.
Process off site or in back room not
in the SALES area.
Strike up a deal with a drycleaner- bulk cleaning at a
discount.
From Consignment Shop Owner # 2
Buyer and
Consigning Fees i.e.
15,000 items sold during the
course of a year. $1 buyer fee X 15,000 items =
$15,000.
500 new consignors each year X $10 =
$5000.
Lessons from the Banking Industry where we all know fees are
KING.
From Consignment Shop Owner # 3
- pays
out commissions in cash at the counter in hopes they will spend some back into
the store. We do this regularly and I guess 30% -40% buy something, maybe not
all they made, but a good portion.
From Consignment Shop Owner # 4
Here are a few possibilities from my life. . . and I am almost obsessive,
so you know if they helped me, they might help you!
- A priority list of things to do in the shop.
This was created by all
who were working that day, at closing, for the next day's tasks. (We found if we
got it written down, we didn't worry about it all evening with our families.)
Tasks were put in 3 columns, A,B,C. A's were MUST do's, B's, if done, would make
our life so much easier, and C's were needing done, but not crucially. ALL tasks
were put down, from things only the owner could do, to things the newest staffer
could. The only things NOT entered were everyday things like tagging, putting
return-at-requests, markdowns, cleaning, and so on (although cleaning tasks were
listed in the back room, daily/weekly/semi-weekly). As soon as we arrived,
everyone chose the highest-priority task they could manage to do. The list was
taped on the desk where we all could get to it easily. Naturally, a part-timer
couldn't do "write next week's ad" but she could "straighten jewelry wall", so
even if the latter was a C, it's what she did.
There's nothing like crossing
something off a list to make you feel like you've accomplished
something!
- Teach them, teach them, teach them. And make note of special talents.
Pat Part-timer's good at windows, teach her to do them. Flo Full-timer's better
at knowing which no-thank-you's can be gotten rid of because the consignor won't
be in for them. Dulcet-toned Dorrie is great on the phone, she calls the overdue
layaways and the bad checks.
- Let them go. So Pat's windows are not as WOW as the windows you do
yourself. So the jewelry wall is not as color-coordinated as you would like.
Believe me, the only person who can see the difference is you. If it made $1
worth of difference in the day's sales, let it go.
- Learn coping mechanisms yourself and use them. Busy season, the window
display is ONE perfectly accessorized outfit instead of 5, as in slow season.
Busy season, we have a rota of ads which run every second or third week, without
having to write new ones or even take a call from the sales rep.
- Have enough, and organized, supplies. Use the best. Foamie-covered
hangers to tagging guns, extra scissors in ALL the places you need them, 2
staplers so you don't have to stop in the middle of a sale to refill, and so on.
Use a "hotline" to explain how to bring things in to callers (and a brochure to
hand out in person!), so you don't have to do it 20 times a day.
- Have a lower dollar limit on items you will accept on consignment.
You'll have to set this yourself taking into account your clientele, but decide:
is it worth the time, effort, space to accept a $3 item? Or is it better to
"pass" on it/ buy it outright?
- Empower staffers. Let them make decisions. That way, you won't be
called on to mediate differences every 10 minutes. And they really do make
better decisions than you think they will.
- Use your time wisely. Consignor #5433 will be in for unsolds this
morning. . . we've pulled all but there's one scarf we can't find. . . do we
spend 15 minutes looking for it, or mark it sold and pay her the $1.25? Do we
really need to enter Consignor #124's t-shirts in great detail in the computer,
as "ss cerise scoopneck Liz", "3/4 sl indigo shadowstripe Gap", "slvs periwinkle
Jones/ lace trim". . . since she doesn't care, doesn't pick up? How about "red",
"blue", "blue"?
- Systems, systems, systems! Items that have lost their tags go HERE and
nowhere else, tags which have lost their items go THERE and nowhere else. Etc.
NEVER waste time on "what's this doing here?"
- Let it go. Do the important stuff. As my grandma used to say "No one's
gonna notice on a galloping horse." Oh yeh, remember, the impt stuff is PEOPLE
not dustbunnies or "rules" or whether the sneakers all have their shoelaces
tied.
From Consignment Shop Owner # 5
1. We only receive Tues, Wed and Thur. Any time we're open on those days
but only on those days. (exceptions are made occassionally but always at my
discretion)
2. We dont receive anything during the month of January. WE use
it to catch up, inventory, clearance and clean. It's the light at the end of our
tunnel and we desperatly need it after the fall rush. WE often have days where
we receive over 500 items. We cant possibly process each days items each day and
Jan. gives up the time to catch up.
3.We close the entire week from Christmas
to New Years and again the last week of May (memorial day for my family reunion
and vacation).
4. I dont work Sundays or Mondays, nights(except till 8 on
fridays) or holidays, yes I know there are people looking to shop at those times
but frankly the general public would have us there 24/7. I have 3 kids a husband
and a life. I can't do it all so I have chosen to make alittle money over a
perod of time rather than try to make as much money as fast as I can. It works
for me.
Ok, All you type A's...no need to bash me. I have my system in place,
have been making money since month #1, and am in year #3. I have a 5000 sq ft
store and 2 (sometimes 3)employees and myself. So, you gotta figure what works
for me might or might not work some place else. But good luck and do let us know
how things go. Life is tooo short to spend what time you do have exhausted and
stressed!
From Consignment Shop Owner # 6.
What IS "doing well" for a new shop?
Since each shop is its own entity, with varying shop and market area
sizes, merchandise, hours, policies, ambiance, price levels, and so on, how can
we determine if we're "doing well"?
The first is "are we paying the bills?" Making your nut, covering the
overhead, is your first goal. If you've planned well, this can happen in as
short a time as a fistful of weeks, or it may be further down the road. How FAST
you need to get to this level of breaking even is personal: What's your nest egg
that you're willing to put in, before you can start taking out? (That's the
rationale behind having 6 mo. expenses put aside!) Do you need profit to live
on? If so, how much? Would you be happy taking an after-hours job in order to
give your shop time to grow (and do you have the ability, energy, time to do
so?)
"Do I have enough consignors?" is next. You need a BUNCH of them (or
suppliers, if you are a buy-outright shop) to have the variety of items you'll
need to stock in order to determine what your marketplace wants to buy. And of
course more suppliers means more traffic, more sales, more word-of-mouth. Hey,
what good are a bunch of consignors who bring in size 4s if you need size 14s?
Or a lot of business suits when you need jeans? Variety! THEN you'll learn just
what your customers want to buy.
Gauging the public's desires is important as well. Do you know better now,
than you did weeks or months ago, just what your clientele wants to buy? Wants
to pay for the privilege of having whatever? Talk to them! Ask leading questions
such as "what would you like us to carry? what were you hoping to see today that
you didn't? I noticed you were interested in that item over there but walked
away from it. . . can you help me figure out if it's the right style, condition,
price?" And follow up on this. Ms. X wants a bookcase, 5 ft tall? Mr. Y wants an
overcoat? Get your want list going and USE it!
Am I building traffic? Is your mailing list growing? Are you seeing new
faces, and are some people becoming regulars? Have you given your shop brochure
or at least your business card to people at least 10 times today? Have you sent
"welcome to MyShop" postcards to all the new names on your mailing list this
week, and are you planning a mass mailing to all for the beginning of the fall
season?
Am I doing things so well that people express their appreciation? Do they
say things like, "I'm so glad you're open Mondays", or do they complain "I was
here at 4:45 last Thursday and you were closed but your sign says you close at
5?" Are consignors pleased when they get their check, or carp about "It's sold,
why can't I get paid now instead of having to wait until next month after the
15th?" When you've completed an incoming batch, do people say "boy, that was
easy, thanks" or do they say "I don't understand why you're not taking this",
"Boy I had to wait 3 weeks to get an appointment and you're only taking 10
items" and so on?
Are you gaining recognition in the neighborhood? You want the grocery
clerk to know about your shop; the antique dealer in the next town to check you
out/ buy/ refer her clientele to you; hairdressers to ADORE your shop well
enough to chat about it in the salon. How about the competition? Have you
introduced yourself to them? Offered to swap referrals?
Am I building the average sale total? If you start out with each buyer
purchasing 1 item for $9, can you see your business growing, where now the
average sale is 2.3 items totalling $18.50? Have you trained yourself to "build"
multiple sales by suggesting these earrings to go with that sweater, these
candlesticks to go with that dining room table, and by the way, here's 4
tablecloths the right size? Do you remember that Ms. Z bought a big black vase
for her foyer last time, and show her the black-and-white painting that just
came in?
Have you figured out what DOESN'T work yet? Every shop starts off with
extra fat. Have you realized that a category is always ignored, so why give it
floor space? Have you learned that another category sells WAY too fast (are you
undervaluing it for your marketplace?) Is your shop layout good, or do people
avoid or getting tangled in some area, and why? Do new folks stream in when your
displays are bright and cheery, and traffic falls off when you do a black
window? Maybe you've noticed that no one asks how to bring things in, or people
don't buy something once they hear/read "all sales final", or there's 5 people
waiting for you when you get to work 10 minutes before opening (or you have to
toss 5 out at closing)? Figure out the solution. It could be as simple as
opening 1/2 hr earlier or later.
Are you
having a GOOD time? If you are enjoying your business,
having a wonderful time building your reputation, your
supplier and buyer population, learning every day,
getting some really insightful comments from your
clientele, being tickled that THIS month you've made
your overhead by the 15th, when last month it was the
22nd before you did, then you're doing well. That good
feeling will give you the push to do what you need to:
find items that will sell fast, find folks who will
supply you with the most saleable items, tempt strangers
to come in to see all the goodies you have. . . etc!
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