Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

Hi Cynthia

please forgive me for my ignorance, but what is NP? you have written question in short-cut manner in which i am failing to understand your problem.

since there is no word limit for questions here, would you please elaborate more.

cheers!

Oh! Sorry! I thought I had only so many characters to state the question. Ancient telex skills/truncating is habit.

NP means nonprofit, charitable organization.

Elaborate? Sure you want me to do that? Chuckle.

We operate a thrift store next to one of our stores that is our main business. (Upscale consignment of people's personal property) We started the thrift 19 years ago because we were left a lot of unsold merchandise. Rather than keep it we now send it to the thrift, and the thrift sells it to the benefit of a different group of local nonprofits that participate each quarter. The groups split the proceeds. We are appointed as their agent and thus may give people that donate (mostly the customers from our main consignment operation) a receipt for the donation from the sponsoring charities that may then be used in preparing their income tax return.

The thrift receives donations from customers of our main business and through public donations.

However, the majority of donations received from the public, albeit by well-meaning individuals, are not saleable.
The majority of the saleable items come via the customers of our main business.

Many people use the fact we do accept donations at the thrift to benefit the charities as a way of disposing of their unwanted junk and not paying fees imposed by landfills for certain items. It is a very labor intensive to sort them and costly to dispose of them. The poor quality of donations received from the public is universal to those involved in this work.

The shop itself is cute, tiny (700 sqft sales floor), organized, decorated. It primarily sells clothing (mostly women's and kids), books, toys/games, decorative accessories, jewelry etc. It is not most people's definition of a thrift store in looks (although in Europe Ox-Fam shops are totally remarkable). However, it is located down an outside hallway at the shopping center, around a corner.

The nonprofits that are sponsored every quarter are, generally, very small charitable groups that have a very hard time staffing their own organization and are finding it increasingly difficult to get their own volunteers. They really don't do anything to help with the shop, but are grateful for the proceeds.

Some of the thrift's customers are cross-shoppers. They shop at the stores of our main consignment business as well as the thrift. But, in the main, the reverse does not hold true.

There is a main, hard-core group of daily shoppers (I expect they are eBayer resellers) that are totally obnoxious. They drive staff to distraction. They do not want to pay the already dirt prices. They want to try and haggle, although they know the staff won't. They could care less that the funds received benefit local charities.

We used to publish a calendar - a common practice for thrifts. Mondays - 1/2 all books. Wednesdays - 1/2 of all women's clothes. This only set the recurring customers up to wait for the sales of course, and not pay full price. It also encouraged attempts at haggling. I stopped it. No surprise, the stuff still sells.

But, we want to gain a wider customer base. New customers. Not the same old general crowd. However, the last time we advertised, years ago, it was horrible. We were advertising the shop but because it is a 'thrift' - people know it takes donations and we were literally dumped upon with mostly garbage for weeks.

If we had some huge budget or lots of staff do do educational campaigns like 'Give the Good Stuff' - or 'Give It Up' (I think that was a successful one) , that might be different. I know it sounds ungrateful and odd but we really don't want more crappy public donations. The added labor and disposal costs would be horrendous. Not to mention the staff would probably quit. The thrift raises a tidy sum for the nonprofits from what we (our main business) donates to it.

Our problem is two fold. 1) How do we attract new customers that are not all eBay resalers to this very cute little shop without causing an avalanche of non-saleable donations and appearing to be ungrateful. 2) How do we reward the current crop of repeat customers (annoying as they may be to the staff) without constantly giving discounts and holding sales to make them happy? Selling stuff at full price,eventually, is not the real problem. Nor is a backlog of merchandise a big problem except at certain times of year.

I am at my wits end. We started to do this years ago as a community service - something we could do because we had no time to volunteer. However, it is not my principal business.

The staff wants to advertise for a better caliber customer, or at least a new, varied crop of customers. But, like me, they know if we advertise,what one of the corresponding results is likely to be. (We do absolutely zero advertising. Only once in 19 years were ads placed and that was a nightmare donation wise)

From my perspective, I am grateful to those that regularly support the shop and would like to do something to evidence that. The staff (3 ladies) agree but they are the ones that deal with the public and are afraid of doing anything to encourage even more attempts at bargaining and haggling by the current lot. They feel we already sell the stuff too cheap and, I think they are right!

Frankly, I am almost ready to just close the doors. It is not my main concern in life. I am tired of a succession of staff over the last 6 years complaining about the same things. I am tired of customers that think the stuff should be almost free because it was donated to charities. But, the business person has a hard time following through because it does cover its expenses and makes a very nice amount for the charities. And, the charities need the help/money. I just don't seemed to have the proper distance nor advertising background to sort it all out.

You can see a few pictures of the shop at (as yet published updated website for our main business) the web address in the profile.

Hope I've made the problem(s) more clear. Truly, I apologize for the length.

I think you should just operate it like a flea market. Change the slogan of your thrift shop to "Refurbished Items for Sale" . State that the profits received will be donated to local schools, orphans, charities, donations and etc. Make a policy stating that the price in the tags are final so no negotiations or haggling. If you have to, make a t-shirt for your staffs that say "No Haggling & Negotiations".

Make a stricter policy on what to accept and what not to accept. Make a big sign that states what your NP will and will not accept as donations. Enforce a strong policy so consumers and customers will know what to expect and what to do.

If you can, try to hire an employee to make a website that updates daily or weekly of the items that are for sale. Include pictures and description of items that are sold.
Give out some of the items to local schools, orphans, homeless, poor so people understand that your objective in your business is giving it back to the community.

Cynthia,
Thank you for explaining your situation in more detail.

I agree with David that you should operate the thrift with a strict policy of no haggling or negotiating. If you don't invest in a staff t-shirt, at least plaster the store with posters stating the policy. This will help to ease the employee's distractions.

On the topic of donations, this is a common issue with most thrifts. David suggests creating and maintaining a strict policy about donations and I agree. Make sure a staff member is placed at the drop-off door to evaluate all donations as they arrive and refuse those that don't meet your policy standard. Post a list of other organizations that will accept the items that you can't accept.

With both these policies in place, you may want to give display advertising another shot. Usually a simple ad, run frequently and in the right publication(s) can reach an audience effectively. Have a marketing professional help you with researching the right newspapers or magazines. With your store running more efficiently, you'll be ready to handle more traffic.

Good luck!

One person's trash, is another person's treasure, or so it sometimes is.

Yes, its far too easy to drop off crap and call it charity. Seen it many times in the Salvation Army throft store, the Mennonite CLothes closet, the Value Village business model. All have had to deal with it at some point.

While at first it may be easy to write a 'no crap please' policy, you will find donations fall accordingly. Rebranding as a 'Refurbishing' is a great idea.

But then again, perhaps changing the marketing approach to solicate items in 'working' repair may help you reduce the pure garbage sorting expense. One of my drycleaning clients takes in clothes for a charity he supports. (See: https://www.dcadshop.com/tinyurl/2h ) His staff will examine the garment, make repairs if needed, cleans and restores the outfit to 'ready for work' status, and then sends them over to the 'store' where the ladies re-entering the workforce can pick up quality clothes for a greatly reduced price (or even free). I think if you tell a more complete story of what the stated goals and mission is, your supoorters and folks making donations will rise to the occasion.

No Haggling. Well, for those that need the price break, I can see a need to 'register' to weed out the eBayers and resellers who are taking advantage of the system. I can see a need to have some system in place to ensure those who have the greatest need for the lowest price, get it. Again, see my client and how he handles it above.

I see many folks trolling through the local Value Village, seeking items for resale. I confess, I've done it myself a time or two, and with the used book store across the street. Its fun to find a bargain or an undiscovered gem in the stacks, and make a few bucks on eBay from it. So, why not join into the eBay fray yourself? Sign up and create a profile. If other's are making a profit, why not ave that profit stick to your hands, and use it to aquire better inventory, better goods, or increase the outflow of funds to those who need it. Maybe even hire some extra staff with the extra funds. Ebay is for EVERYONE, so if you can't beat them, join them.

Our local Salvation Army has set aside some of the more unique items and offers them on ebay direct themselves...if someone wants to buy it, it goes to the highest bidder in open contest. The funds raised then go to work in other ways within the community. Milk it yourself and put the system to work FOR you!

Hope this helps.

Darcy Moen

I'm going to join the chorus of "If you can't beat 'em" recommendations here and suggest you get onto eBay yourself with an online thrift store to sell the best of the items that don't get sold via consignment.

Also you need to implement a stricter item acceptance process to ensure you aren't simply a landfill substitute.

Perhaps in some cases a $5 lodgement fee might dissuade people merely seeking to offload faulty electrical items.

Donation bins for my local NFPs have signs asking people not to dump electrical items as these can be resold due to safety compliance risks.

Some items can be recovered or recycled for cash - especially eWaste which contains precious metals. Perhaps you could get into partnership with recyclers that can take such stock away weekly or monthly to save it building up in your stores.

My local Salvation Army collection service creates rough felt padding blanket meaterial from recycled/chopped up clothing. It's sold on a large roll or reel to removals firms and logistics suppliers to pack materials for shipment and on-board trucks.

Try getting your local paper (local/community TV or radio stations, too, perhaps?) to visit and walk them through some of the best bargains available - they may run a segment or article for you that will attract new shoppers who were not aware of your store.

Hope that helps.

ChrisB

I'd post fliers at the local high schools and colleges. I used to shop for nearly everything at the thrift stores when I was in high school and college, as did my friends. We bought anything that looked vintage, stylish, outlandish, gaudy, whatever. We'd hit three or four thrift stores in a day, spending a half-hour or so in each one in search of hidden treasure.

You may also want to post fliers at or near the grocery stores like Fiesta or others which cater to working class individuals.