Specializing Your Consignment Shop

Catering Your Store to a Niche Market

When you start up your consignment store, one of the biggest decisions that you need to make is what kind of market you are going to cater to.

Many consignment stores choose to hit as many potential customers as possible by offering a wide range of items. While this is a good strategy, but it can be a lot of work managing every type of merchandise, rather than a few select types. For this reason, there are many consignment shop owners who choose to cater to niche markets, rather than offering a one-stop shop to all.

Types to Choose From

There are several different types of consignment store merchandise that you can sell. There is also no reason why you can’t sell a combination of a few types if you feel they fit together nicely.

1. Antiques: The sale of antiques is big in North America. What was once old is new again to many people. Many decors actually center on antiques and bargain hunters know that consignment stores are an antique gold mine. Some antiques that you may sell include furniture, glassware, collectibles, lamps, books and kitchenware.

2. Books: Everyone loves books and second-hand books tend to be widely sought after. Many readers would rather spend two dollars on a used copy of a book than buy it new for $10 to $20 at the bookstore. As a second-hand bookstore, or consignment book store, your life will revolve around books. There is a lot of business in books as people read more now than ever before.

3. Clothing: Probably the biggest area of business for any consignment store is clothing. By specializing only in clothing at your consignment shop, you can take in a lot of money without having to stock anything else. People need clothing and the bargain hunters out there know that there is plenty of nice clothing at consignment stores.

4. Music and Videos: As technology changes, what was once new is now old and easily replaced. That being said, there are many people out there who still buy vinyl records, or who prefer watching movies on VHS. Those who aren’t fans of new technology can be your biggest customers with this type of consignment store. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t still sell CDs, DVDs or even MP3 players. When new technology comes out, there are always those who buy it right away, and there are always those who are happy with older models of new technology.

5. Sporting goods: Every year, millions of kids, teenagers and adults enroll in sports programs. With each enrollment comes the need for equipment, and that is where a consignment store can come in. By stocking skis, hockey equipment, golf equipment, baseball equipment and anything else relating to sports, you can make good money by capitalizing on the bargain hunters out there looking for sports equipment. If someone wants to try golf for a year, they won’t buy new clubs, they will buy used clubs. You can do great business by stocking a year-round supply of sporting equipment.

By choosing to specialize in certain areas of merchandise, you can make it much easier for yourself to manage the consignment store. You will be able to know what you sell and what you don’t sell. You won’t have to worry about people seeing the consignment store as a place where anything and everything is dropped off to be sold. When you specialize, you make yourself a much more valuable shopping destination for those niche clients looking for a good deal.