posted on January 28, 2010 01:14:26 PM new
there are many forms of marketing that work for some industries and not at all for others. same is said for how you manage inventory.
if i am uncomfortable with shelling out a lot of money on an item that we want for our store, i will push someone to consign it. i don't make as much, but i also don't sink any money into it either... other than some floor space. it frees up my money to purchase other items things that i know will make me more money.
we used to rent floor space to dealers. if you have a dealer pay $500 a month for space and 12% commission and they sell $5000 a month... I am looking at getting $1100 from the dealer. if i charge 40% consignment for the exact same items the dealer would have sold for $5000 i make $2000.
my point is that everyone knows what makes or breaks their business. every spring and summer my storage gets filled with tons of goodies... by this time of year that stock is down to nothing. right now my storage is empty. i have never filled storage during winter. it just doesn't seem to happen. it drives me nuts not having a nice stock of things on hand, but that is the nature of my business. i have certain items in my store that i have priced high in order to keep them in the store. vintage shelving is a commodity, so i charge a premium for it. it also means it doesn't sell quickly. i have a shelf that i've had for 2 years and haven't sold it. it is overpriced... but i have sold 10 times its value in small items that sit on that unit.
vintage paper ads don't take up huge amounts of space like a few sofas and chairs do. it is easy for these things to be stored and it is vital for this type of business to carry a huge stock. the thing is that this type of business is constantly growing vs. retail businesses that are constantly changing.
you better believe best buy has to clear that stock of televisions quickly because the next technology is about to hit the shelves. if they get caught holding the bag on technology items, they lose big. vintage ads is a whole different world. every week, month, quarter thousands of new magazines come out. people collect these ads and when they want an ad, they are going to go to someone who has a huge collection to choose from. when the right person is looking for that vintage 1967 ad for a Ford Mustang, they will find it b/c Vintage Paper Ads carries it. Will they care that it has been sitting on a shelf for 3 years waiting for a buyer? Will an electronics consumer care that an iPod sat on the shelf for 3 years?
posted on January 28, 2010 02:42:17 PM new
I understand what you are saying about vintage ads and postcards .
I deal in Japanese antiques and the good ones are rare and much sought after,Japanese loathe to see their antiques fall into the hands of non Japanese,esp tasteless Americans.
Most of the Japanese antiques offered in the market today come from Europe,the German and the French were collecting them as early as 18th century when they were buying direct from great artists like Hokusai.
Now they are selling them either they need the money for food and medicine or their heirs just dont appreciate them.
I do not deal in electronics or jade carvings ,my friend who ended up with 10,000 pieces of jade carvings is not really a dealer or retailer,he just came up with an idea and thought he could make a fortune.
Of course we can all critique what he did wrong,it was so obvious how can he not see it??
I am glad all you paper dealers are doing well ,and wish you good luck holding your large inventory !
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There is no 'Global savings glut',only wild horses and loose bankers.
