Productivity Creates Sales
"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." ― Dr. Seuss
Sales are the result of many combined efforts converging at the cash register.
In the thrift business, one of those critical efforts is keeping fresh goods going to the sales floor every single day. Knowing how much goes out is the key leading measure in thrift retail.
The concept of lead versus trailing measures was best explained in the book The 4 Disciplines of Execution, by Chris Mchesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling. “Lead measures are predictive of achieving the goal, and it can be influenced by the team members.”
“Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.”
― Dr. Seuss
The answer is surprisingly simple. Keep track of daily production (what goes to the floor). It only takes a simple producer form or two and an understanding of sell-through percentages. Tracking spreadsheets also help a lot.
Whether it’s a store goal, individual goals, or a combination; daily, weekly and monthly goals are important. They should tie into enough, or a little more than enough, fresh inventory going to the sales floor to sustain sales.
The first thrift store that I took over had that exact issue. The sales floor was, I kid you not, 50% empty. (The back room was full) I pushed clothing together on each rack to get a clear idea. 50% was being kind in many departments. Much of what was there shouldn’t have been. I was amazed sales were as good as they were.
All I worked on for the first couple of months was filling the sales floor and keeping it that way.
When customers figured out what was going on sales started to go up, up, and up. Sales is a combination of a lot of things, quality, freshness, merchandising, pricing, and so on. Once we learned to sustain a full sales floor we started working on the other pieces.
Most thrift merchants know and do this. I suggest sustained quality production should be nearly a religion.
I have created a few free simple producer forms that some might find useful in tracking production to the sales floor. They are available in PDF, Excell, and Numbers formats.
Let me know what works and what doesn’t. None of the sheets or cells are locked (except PDF of course) so feel free to modify them as suits your needs. I would appreciate feedback so I can make them better. Or maybe more versions.
Thanks for reading!
“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road’ll take you there”
― George Harrison
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