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That awkward “in-between” season

So what’s to see in your shop in those switch-over months?

If your seasonal clearance is over and done with, and the new season is not yet coming in in great quantities, what will you be selling?

* The new incoming, which is not as much as during the height of your selling season, but still coming in. If you’ve never used a New Arrivals Rack and signage, now’s the perfect time to see how it works for you.
* Any last-year pakaways you finally have room for, now that consignor-owned goods are
thinning out. These might include newly separated pieces (selling the jacket and the pants from an out-of-date pant set separately) or the recently-wed (matching a t-neck to a jumper, which had been individual pieces before).
* Any pakaways that you put aside on purpose to offer at a bargain price (these might be
waning-season ODs that came in early in the season that you had to pull in the course of the past season to make room for freshly-consigned goods: put them back out on the sales floor at their last MD or less).
* Pakaway, purchased outright, or found-at-the-thrifts store- owned goods.

Getting the New Season’s Goods in, IN Good Time!

The next trick, if you’re a consignment shop, is getting the new season goods in at the
beginning of the season.

Consignors don’t think of their items on the same timetable as retails sells them, so you will have to use every marketing tool you have to be able to switch seasons profitably. 

You can’t expect a consignor to be thinking about clearing out fall goods in July without a prod. All of the below

applies to buy-outright shops, and even to donation-only shops, assuming of course that you have kept contact information for your suppliers.

• Have you designed a postcard to consignors, stating the consignor BENEFIT of getting their items in NOW? This type of postcard can be readied for mailing during any slow
selling periods and simply put aside until the right time to send them out.
• Is there a line on your consignor receipt/ clothes list re when to bring fall in? 
• And why it’ll make them more $$ to bring it in at the BEGINNING of the season
instead of later?
• Are you calling or individually emailing your “A” level consignors to remind them that they make the most if they get their items in before everyone else, that they’ll have the season to themselves? If your bookkeeping system allows, should you consider giving your best consignors a few extra weeks on their consignment period, which will overcome the most common objection to bringing things in “early”?
• Do you have a quarter- or half-sheet handout that all consignors visiting in person get re fall bring-ins? And defining, in simple friendly language, what makes something “fall” versus “winter”?
• Is it on your answering machine message? 
• And in your conversation? Wow, our customers are snapping up the fresh new fall items: better get yours in quick!
• Is it in your consignor check letter, if you mail checks out? 
• Do you mention it to each and every consignor whenever you can? 
• Have you set up a schedule to list this information on your shop’s web site, to highlight it in your blog, and to send out e-mail reminders to consignors?
• Do you encourage SHOPPERS to see what THEY might have to consign?

Get the full Product.

Copyright 2010 Kate Holmes, TGtbT.com. All rights reserved and enforced.

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