Children’s Resale…How does your Face Book and Website stack-up?

Posted by on May 14, 2013 in Online Marketing

Recently I visited a new hair stylist and was very embarrassed when I discovered she didn’t take credit cards, because I had quickly mapped out the location, added her address and phone to my contacts, but never even gave payment terms one thought.  In my hurried and overly scheduled world I had missed reading the payment policy buried on the very bottom of her web page, an unlikely location...

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Children’s Resale…..That’s Easy!!

Posted by on Mar 28, 2013 in How to Open a Children's Resale Store

People dream of owning a children’s resale store…full to the brim with colorful, charming, children’s clothing, toys, equipment and baby gear. Such a store predicts success, and promises to be a wonderfully endearing business. Visualizing a revolving door of customers who have growing families, people plunge into ownership thinking all they have to do to achieve their dream of instant...

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Setting Fair Children’s Resale Prices

Posted by on Mar 8, 2013 in Online Marketing

How to price children’s resale items quickly and fairly?  That is the $64 dollar question, … or is it $79.99 $52.99???  There are any number of pricing systems for children’s resale goods, but none as sophisticated as NextGen’s. NextGenResale spent nearly two years developing its pricing system using data from multiple stores over many years, and continues to hone it.  The...

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Golden Rule of retailing

Posted by on Mar 1, 2013 in How to Run a Children's Resale Store

Golden Rule of Retailing:  “It’s not what you said, but how you made them feel” Words today fly through the air at warp speed, crash landing on FaceBook, Yelp, and other public sites for the entire world to see. The Internet is loaded with reviews and complaints about businesses that drive owners frantic. Any given day I read owner responses to issues/problems posted on the Internet and...

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Sitting Ducks – easy pickings!

Posted by on Feb 1, 2013 in How to Run a Children's Resale Store

I love to shop resale and in my travels always try to fit in a visit to a local shop in a flourishing community.  Last week as I pulled up to such a children’s resale business… a “sharp looking, cute store” I started to visualize the treasures I would find.  But alas, I left disappointed and empty handed; me and my wallet walked out the door.  Once again I had visited a resale store I...

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Part 7 How to Open A Children’s Resale Shop–Negotiating the Lease

Posted by on Jan 18, 2013 in How to Open a Children's Resale Store

“Standard” commercial leases are constructed to serve the interests of the lessor.  In the words of one authority in the area, they “are never fair Negotiation is about bargaining with the landlord or their leasing agent.   Everything is negotiable. Preparation Above all, be prepared.  Talk to other tenants on their leases and any related regrets;  school yourself on common...

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Customer Service…Are you the norm or exception?

Posted by on Nov 5, 2012 in How to Run a Children's Resale Store

Over the last few days I have heard some horror stories and they weren’t about Halloween.  They were horror stories about abysmal, unfriendly, customer service, and the saddest part of the story is the businesses were small and independently owned. A new-to-the-community, green business sold a customer a product that would not function out of the box without having to purchase a second...

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The Value of Resale POS Systems

Posted by on Oct 16, 2012 in Point of Sale (POS) Software

Our experience in offering NextGen’s Children’s Resale POS to prospective clients over the past two years has been illuminating.  What we’ve discovered is that most children’s resale owners new to the business—newbies if you will—fail to understand the enormous value of a POS as a profit generating tool.  They don’t appreciate how much time and money a robust POS will save...

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Should my children’s resale store have a Website or Facebook Page?

Posted by on Aug 21, 2012 in Online Marketing

This blog is a follow-up of one I wrote on the topic of the Internet in February 2012.  I felt it was important enough to revisit given the following points  (newmediatrendwatch.com): 74% of people who use the internet use it to search locally for stores, products, and services 61% of their searches ultimately end in purchases 90% of local searches for specific businesses result in offline...

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Making a List – Checking it Twice – Good for your Business, Good for your Life

Posted by on Aug 3, 2012 in How to Run a Children's Resale Store

When having coffee with a friend some months ago, I silently chuckled to myself as I watched her re-order a to-do list on her smart phone.  I thought to myself “what a waste of time; who really has time to keep them updated?”  This was of course, my excuse for the sad state of my own list—or should I say Lists, always created with the best of intentions. But in recent months, my thinking...

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