Turns Baby, Turns

Inventory takes up space, space needs to generate sales.

Photo by Dan Roizer on Unsplash

The job of retail, no matter the flavor, is to turn merchandise. Simply put, bring things in, sell them, rinse and repeat. It’s that simple and that complicated. Thrift retail has less control over the bring things in part, yet the idea is the same. 

There is one often overlooked and scary-simple factor that affects turns. 

Getting stuff to the sales floor. 

This isn't just a thrift thing it’s a retail thing. When I was with Wal-Mart, 10 times out of 10, if there were a lot of out of stocks on the sales floor (long before covid) I knew the back room was clogged before I even got there. The same thing in thrift, if the sales floor was thin there was too much in the back room. 

Disclaimer: I was fortunate to work in areas that generally had plentiful donations. (what to do about low donations is a topic for another day)

My thing from Wal-Mart days to today has been to deal with the back room first. Once that is under control it’s easier to see and understand issues on the sales floor. I have been in some retail and thrift retail back rooms that were as neat as a hospital surgery. Others, well, whatever the opposite of that is. Consistently, a sloppy back room is a symptom of a sloppy sales floor and operation in general. 

If a store is struggling with sales, dig into the backroom operation. 

Where to start:

Walk around receiving and back room. Spend an hour or more really looking at the current situation. Go behind stuff, look in the trash bins, dig in gaylords and bins, watch things coming in and Watch the processes. 

As tempting as it can be to start fixing things, don’t jump in right away. You will end up addressing symptoms, not the cause. Use the 5 why’s concept. Keep asking why until you get to the root. 

Things to consider:

Does inventory flow like a river, or is it like a bunch of puddles after rain? 

Are there defined places for everything and are there clear roles on who does what? 

If everyone just grabs the first thing they see, that’s a problem. 

Why is there clutter? Odds and ends laying around on tables, shelves, and so on are very bad signs. They are rocks in the river. Clutter causes things to be damaged, lost, and even stolen.

Using the flow like a river idea where are the rocks, where are the unnecessary bends in the river? Where are the dead-end stagnant pools? Where does stuff go to die?

What categories need their own tributary?

Once you see the issues get the team involved in solving them. Most of the time the people that do the work have most of the answers. As a leader, it’s often a job of pulling ideas together and getting the resources they need. Sometimes it is as simple as a pallet jack, extra price guns, or a computer at a station. 

The recipe for thrift success is simple - Fresh - Full - Organized - Priced Right

Fresh starts with moving goods out of the back room to the sales floor. 

Today’s Quote:

One will win who knows when to fight and not to fight.

Sun Tzu

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Tim Gebauer - Thrift Retailer