How to Increase Sales at a Thrift Store?
Important Aspects to Get Your Thrift Store Noticed
Getting your thrift store to be noticed is first and foremost one of the most important key aspects to running a successful business.
Without people knowing you are out there and ready for customers, you will likely cease to experience any sales at all.
In this section, we will discuss the importance of getting your store to be noticed in the first place.
- Offer to host events and entice people to come visit your store.
- Advertise EVERYWHERE that you are able to do so.
- Make sure you are offering items that are continuously seeked out.
Try to stay up to date with local gatherings and happenings going on in your town or nearby neighborhoods. When the opportunity presents itself, offer your store or location up to host different events and sales so that you can gain the foot traffic that will lead to curiosity about what your store holds and has to offer to the community.
Advertising is a key component of increasing your thrift store sales. The more your name, brand, and available items get in front of your potential customers, the more likely you are to send those sales into overdrive.
Get started with free advertising through signs and social media, but also consider purchasing small ads in your local newspaper or on billboards, etc.
Do your research and keep up with the trends. Most thrift stores will accept any and everything that is donated, but it pays to be picky.
If you think an item is simply going to sit for a long time and take up valuable space in your store, consider re-donating it to a local women’s shelter or animal shelter depending on what the item in question is.
This way, you will not only get to free up some space for more profitable items, but you will also gain credibility with another non-profit organization.
Attract and Keep Customers Moving Forward in Your Store
This can be done in a plethora of ways. Let us elaborate on them.
- Place your items in enticing ways throughout the store.
- Be sure to position your best items front and center.
- Focus on a good pathway through your store; don’t make it confusing.
- Think seasonally and make sure to add these items in the appropriate places.
Find ways to incorporate multiple items into one section, such as all baby items together, with toddler sections near that, then small kids, teens, etc.
This will allow your customers to browse through the racks with ease, which will make for a more pleasant shopping experience and lead them to returning as their kids grow older and bigger.
If you are beside a store that is for moms-to-be, or perhaps a coffee shop, try to place items that relate to these businesses in the front, so that people walking by may be interested in stopping in to check them out.
Try using wingracks and other forms of shelving that will stick out to the customer to tap into that impulse buying sense of action.
If you’ve done your job correctly, they will most likely stay to browse throughout the rest of the store after they’ve moved on from the items that brought them in to begin with.
Some stores focus on making the most confusing walkway there has ever been known to man.
This does a good job of trapping the customer in the store to look at more items, but can also lead to making some of them quite unhappy and frustrated as well.
When your customers get aggravated and stressed, they are highly unlikely to return in the future.
If it’s that special time of year when a holiday is coming up, try to position your items for sale in a way that people will be intrigued to pop in and browse through what you have to offer.
You could make a specific place in the store directly focused on that particular holiday, or you could place those items throughout. (For example, a kids santa hat near the children’s section, or a pair of witchy socks near the womens shoe area).
Liquidate Old Items and Keep Moving Inventory
Holding onto stale inventory can be a serious drag in the retail world. By keeping a solid spreadsheet or SKU system, you will be able to focus on rotating your inventory in a fashion that will be sure to keep your items moving and leave space for new trending items coming in.
- Keep a spreadsheet to track your incoming and outgoing inventory.
- Follow a SKU system that fits your needs, to be sure you aren’t losing inventory and potentially losing sales.
- Leave space for new items coming in, so that you can consistently have fresh products to stay up to date with trends as they change throughout the seasons and year.
By keeping a spreadsheet, you will ensure that your numbers and items are tracked, which in turn will help you decide which products are best to keep in the store on a regular basis, and also which items may not turnover as well, (in which you will know to not pick up or bring in in the future).
Follow a SKU system that works best for you and your business. Make sure it allows you to keep track of your items individually, so that nothing is ever going amiss.
If something is of multiple quantities, be sure that you aren’t counting wrong and double checking consistently how many of those specific items are left, so that you’re not needing to cancel orders and losing potential sales.
Always try to leave space for incoming donations, and keep in mind that trends are constantly changing.
If a product or category doesn’t fit into your space, or doesn’t follow any trends, try your best to liquidate those items or re-donate them to fellow thrift stores and non-profits.
Get Your Items Online to Increase Sales Through Added Traffic
Going online can benefit your store in so many ways. Let’s talk about those.
- Increased traffic to your items via an online auction site (For example, eBay, Mercari, etc.), or even your own website.
- Higher foot traffic after seeing your brand posted online and peaking potential new customer’s interest in what you have to offer.
- Faster sales to a wider audience (potentially worldwide).
By listing your new items online, you’ll be able to gain substantial traffic that you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise.
You could opt for using platforms such as the ones listed above, or choose from several others that are available across the web.
Alternatively, you could even utilize space online by creating your own webpage displaying your items for sale, showcasing your best ones on the front page.
Doing so will gain tons of eyes to your items that may not have had the opportunity to see them before.
After gaining an online presence, you’ll notice that more people may start coming into your physical store.
This is because they have either heard your brand somewhere, noticed the logo online, or even read about your store perhaps if someone talked about it on social media.
*Pro tip: Offer customers incentives to post their new purchase on their social media or on their own website, so that you can increase your presence and potentially gain additional traffic from their followers.
Moving online can present opportunities to sell not only nationally but internationally, meaning you will be able to tap into that growing online market.
Did you know?…
In the year 2020, more than TWO BILLION consumers did their shopping online.
Sell globally with ease on platforms like eBay, by using their Global Shipping option or opt for allowing international sales on your own business website.
Listing Online Doesn’t Have to be a Struggle
Growing bigger and better is easier when you have help. There are multiple ways to do so, but we have an option that is even better than doing it all yourself.
- List online with ease when you use Hammoq.
One and done. That’s all you’ll need when you start working with Hammoq.
We implement multiple platforms into one, so that you can focus on growing your business and spend less time worrying about the little things.
When you sign up for our service, you will get easy access to our expertly trained remote workforce.
This virtual assistant staff has been taught how to list your items accurately and efficiently online so that you can lay back and take a load off.
Listing online for the first time can be super overwhelming, but with us, you’ll be able to feel confident and comfortable that your listings are being handled in a professional and timely manner.
You’re already doing so many tasks in your business, why not let us handle your online presence?
Moving your inventory online will leave you with no regrets. Gain access to more eyes on your products in no time at all.
Get started in as little as 12 hours, and start seeing more sales come your way.
The online world is waiting for you.
