Three Ways to Raise Your Average Transaction Hiding in Plain Sight
If you have, let’s say, 500 customers a week and you pick up an extra fifty cents on average. That’s $13,000 more per year.
Raising your average sale is like increasing the dividend on your investments. actually, it's exactly the same. inventory is an investment you are looking for a return on.
Even if your store is fresh, full, organized, and priced right, there are still ways to increase average transactions.
1. Maintain purposeful and appealing displays
In traditional retail what goes on end caps, around checkouts, and in high-traffic areas is a science. Highly-paid professionals sitting in corporate offices make decisions for hundreds or thousands of stores. Theirs is a high-stakes job.
It does appear that some for-profit chains like Savers are intentional about where new goods are merchandised. Strategically placing new goods may be a post for another day.
Even with the variable nature of donations, some control is possible. The secret sauce is being consistent with whatever is available.
A book endcap is great, one that is full of hardcover best sellers is better. Maybe they are even priced a little higher. Or all romance novels, or all kids' books. You get the idea.
Pro Tip: Cookbooks are consistently a top-selling category. Especially in the fall and winter.
A home decor end cap works, but a themed end cap is much more appealing. Even if it’s just a color scheme. You might be surprised how many red, or blue decor items are hiding in those aisles. Or candles with candle holders, the better ones.
A rack of tee shirts is fine, a sized colorized rack of tees with no logos or all logos is better.
An end cap of coffee mugs themed with places.
It just takes some creativity and effort to pull things together.
2. Merchandise for impulse sales
Anyone that has ever bought anything in an actual store knows about temptations at the checkout.
It can work much the same in thrift. I especially love/hate the way TJ Maxx has its checkout area set up. There is basically a gauntlet of stuff to walk by before getting to the cashier. If you are into new goods in your thrift operation it’s worth taking a look at what they keep in this area.
There is no rule that I am aware of that requires only new goods at the checkout. Donated paperback books, kids' books, CDs, coffee mugs, and t-shirts as noted above are all candidates. The list goes on and on.
One of my favorites is small toys. Cars, trucks, dump trucks, tanks, dolls, kids' yard toys. In the winter, games, and puzzles. Try them near the checkout, you will have a hard time keeping the shelves full.
Clip Strips is a niche of its own. As a customer, they can be annoying. As a merchant, I am regularly amazed at how much sell off of them. For the most part, these tend to be purchased goods.
Oven mitts by pots and pans. Batteries by electronics, scrubbies by dishes, balloons by toys. Picture hangers by, you guessed it, framed art.
An employee once complained to me about how much work it was to keep them full. I smiled. Then we set up a rolling rack that had all of the regular clip strip items on it. All they had to do was roll it out each day and refill it. It was a nice little Kaizen moment.
3. Round up
This one might seem kinda weird for an average sale increase. If you are running a not-for-profit those few cents should 100% support the cause in some specific way. Yes, it increases the average transaction. If you are running for-profit and your round-up goes to a charitable cause you support, hooray for you!
Depending on your traffic, this can add $500 to $1,000 per month per store to support the cause. Just don’t be pushy.
In conclusion
None of those examples are complicated. They just take some time, sustained effort, and a bit of creativity. The sustained effort seems to be the hardest part. Find a person or people with some creative flair and turn them loose.
If you have, let’s say, 500 customers a week and you pick up an extra twenty-five cents on average. That’s $6,000 more per year. Per store. Those quarters really add up.
There you go.
Thanks for reading!
Tim Gebauer — Thrift Merchant
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