starting up a second hand shop

[Trecocia]

Hi all,

We've just opened up our own "new and used" shop, week 2 just commenced. Obviously sales are low due to our embryonic state and it being a poor time of year for retail outside of the January Sales. However, there is a lot of interest and positive comments from customers, passersby and visitors, and there are a number of charity shops along the same street so we figure we are in a good location for our kind of customer.

My wife who is running the shop is incredibly chatty and has made a raft of friends already in the local community so word of mouth is drumming up a lot of interest already. We are also considering a leaflet drop in the immediate area advertising our arrival and offering a discount with the flyer.

Facebook Likes are creeping up a few a day and we are planning to offer discounts to those who text/email/like us, thus giving us a contact list of interested parties.

I know it is a "piece of string" sort of question but does anyone have a guestimate on how well we are likely to do in the coming months considering the time of year and our relatively unknown status. What are "normal" variations in monthly figures? Google searches give me a variety of conflicting answers!

Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated!

Thanks,
Tom.

 

[JD@fifty6]

Did you do much in the way of research before opening the shop, Tom? If you did, hopefully referring back to that will help give you an idea of where you expect to be at what point in time.

I've not had any experience in second hand shops, so I can't offer specific advice for that sector. I can say that you sound like you're doing a decent job at starting a 'buzz' locally. It's probably worth looking into the real 'obvious' actions first. Cheap local radio ads, for instance, are a great way of getting some exposure to new retail businesses. Offer something to people who act on the back of an ad so that you can track its effectiveness. More specifically, offer something different (or a different code) for each piece of marketing activity that you do, so that you can track them in competition to each other.

From there you can start to get into the more interesting (to me) work of cost per acquisition, average order values and the like.

There's no real way of answering your question directly, because we don't have enough information. Even with all the information you could give, it would still be educated guesswork – your only real course of action is work at 100% to get business in, and then work out whether that's enough! Good luck

 

[myfairworld]

February tends to be a real low in the retail year. People got into the habit of spending before Christmas and tend to keep on with the habit for a while at least in January. By February they've had their Credit Card Statements which have been a shock and economy is the order of the day. Also it is not a very interesting month in retail terms. Most of us do our best with Valentine's Day - at least it gives a theme for the shop window - but for most of us this isn't a really big event. I run a dedicated fair trade shop so we gain a bit at the end of the month from Fairtrade Fortnight though this is mostly in the form of people wanting to borrow stock from us for special events and us hoping they'll actually make some sales and not damage the stock while they've got it.

August is likely to be particularly good or particularly bad depending on whether you are in a holiday destination area or not (I'm not).

I think the reason you are getting conflicting answers from online searching is that so much depends on where you are, your type of shop, the weather, immediate environment factors and so on. For example I trade near to a large Primary School and a large High School. We get a lot of custom from the teachers and other staff at those schools and some custom from the parents of the children at the Primary School plus a bit from the older pupils at the High School which mostly disappears during school holidays.

Then there are issues such as Easter which moves around. Easter often produces an increase in spending but when that is will vary each year. I trade in an area where there are a lot of Muslims, who buy from us in any case but we'll sell more dates (i.e. the edible fruit) to such customers during Ramadan and more 'gift' type items as the celebration of Eid approaches. So if you are in a multi-cultural area you may need to tune in as best as you can to the 'year' of different religions and cultures and see if you can use this to increase sales.

It's a challenge but it is a different challenge for every shop and every area.

 

[Trecocia]

Really, really helpful advice, thankyou!

We did a good amount of research prior to setting up, sure. The problem with the second hand market is that because we can't guarantee what stock will come in, or its value, we can't so accurately measure our figures, which probably makes my question even more impossible to answer. If we knew we were buying 100 nike trainers a month at £30 each, and planned to sell them at £45 we would know our margins more clearly.

I think what I am getting at is knowing the bigger rises and falls in figures, across the retail industry, but even that would depend on the type of shop I guess. Anyway, really good to hear from you both, much appreciated!

It certainly is a challenge, and one I am keen to take on. Profit is a major goal of course, but so is gaining life experience!

 

[RPower]

@Trecocia One thing that some second hand shops do really well on social media, is when they get something rare or amazing come in, they snap a picture and share with 'just came in this morning - get down before it's gone!' or something to that effect. You're lucky in that you can create a buzz of exclusivity; vintage and second hand clothing is a bigger market than you expect.

Sorry I can't offer much more than that but good luck with your venture! (and if you want to send me a link please feel free, I'll like your FB page )

 

[Leather Briefcase Company]

A new shop's turnover forecast is very difficult.
February is usually a poor month. December the best!
Road works or your pavement being dug up can decimate business.
Regularly go to the opposite side of the road and watch pedestrian behaviour.
Your shop window should be well lit, attractive and pull people in to look at what's on offer.
The interior should be welcoming and also invite entry and exploration, and hopefully the sound of the cash register drawer will follow frequently.
Very best wishes.

 

[Dave Stickland]

Hi Tom,
Sorry I am late to the party, I have just joined this forum. Your question is not really 'a length of string' question. Your success will be directly proportional to the amount of effort you put in. Remember that nobody ever made money out of retailing only from marketing their retail business! I believe too many business people start to look at external influences such as seasonality, economy and overheads when they should be addressing.... What can I do today, right now to improve my footfall. So look no further than your frontage and getting yourself into peoples vision. Your idea of flyers is a great one but it must speak to your audience, have a compelling offer and a deadline to make people act.

 

[Leather Briefcase Company]

May I ask how you're getting on now you're completing the first month's trading ?
What has gone well / badly / been the biggest surprise?