Setting up Your Consignment Shop for Optimal Consignment Store Layout

Your store's layout will contribute as much to its personality as the items you pick for resale. It will also have a huge, huge effect on your sales. Here are some tried and true tips for making the most of whatever floorspace you have to maximize your sales and keep customers coming back.

1) Put the good stuff up front

This is different than the milk-in-the-back store layout for grocery stores. Resale industry experts say that 80% of a store's sales occur in the first 20% of space at the front of the store. With that in mind, you want to make sure that front 20% is well-lit, that prices are clearly marked, and that you are showing off your best goods. That does not necessarily mean your most expensive merchandise, but it might. Do keep in mind that putting your most-expensive item right at the door could be an easy mark for a shop-lifter. What you want to express is value -- that's why people walk into consignment stores in the first place.

2) Keep it roomy

Once you've got people into the first 20% of the store, you want to draw them in further. There's a great book called "Why We Buy" that will be invaluable for helping you with store layout. One of the points the book makes is that people, especially women, do not like being bumped into while they are shopping. A cramped store sends messages that ou don't want people in there. So even if you have to sacrifice some stuff, make at least one wide pathway through the store. You can have little side cubbies that one of two people can stand in, but you need that one wide aisle.

consignment store aisles 3) Draw people into the store

That may mean using the classic retail technique of putting "end caps" on aisles -- "end caps" are great items at great prices that tend to also make people look down the aisle. Or you might want to employ another space design trick of a focal point. That would be something at the end of a row that is visually arresting and interesting... maybe a great selection of jewelry or decor put up on a wall, or even a big mirror.

4) Reserve some storage space

About 25 percent of your store should be set aside for storage. Not all the products you sell will be on display, and some of them you may need at a moment's notice. For example, you won't sell Christmas outdoor displays in June, and you won't sell beach umbrellas in December, unless you are in California or Florida. Some items need to be kept in the back during various times of the year, and you need somewhere to store them where they can be accessed easily. Of course, if there are items you are pretty sure you aren't going to be selling in the next month or so, renting a nearby storage space might work out. Or you could buy a van.

5) Impulse items at the checkout counter

It is essential that you have a checkout counter at the front of the store. The reason for this is that you want to have someone greeting your customers when they walk in, and you don't want your customers to walk far with heavy bags towards the doors. Also, don't forget to place impulse items at the checkout. These are items that are cheap and usually unique or interesting to the customer. By placing them at the checkout, the customer may pick one of the impulse items up and buy it because it is accessible and inexpensive. Even though most of the items at the checkout counter cost no more than ten dollars, they can create a large amount of sales for your store.

6) Have seats

Put in at least one bench near the dressing room. Tired kids and husbands, or tired friends and bored girlfriends, will be very grateful for a place to sit while their companion tries on clothes or looks at used electronics or tries out a used amp. Many consignment stores have a box of old toys to keep children busy. Any mommy will tell you it makes a difference where they shop.

7) Shelves and Racks for Merchandise

If you have merchandise to sell, then you are going to need a place to put it all. You want to buy the racks that have rollers on them because your store's layout will change over time and you want to make it easy to move these shelves, especially if you have a lot of them in a large store. Large shelves along the wall work great, as well as in various parts of your store. You should have some smaller racks so that people don't feel closed in, and for clothing you need lower racks that are easy for individuals to access. At the display window, a mannequin or two will work well to advertise some of the clothing you have in the consignment store. One good tip is to do up a scale drawing of your shop and then arrange everything on paper before you try to arrange it in the store. For the clothing racks, make sure you have several hundred hangers for the clothing you are selling.

8) Dressing Rooms

You need to have at least one dressing room in your consignment store if you are selling clothing. People won't want to buy clothes, even inexpensive clothes, unless they can try them on first. While one dressing room can work for a smaller store, you should generally have at least two dressing rooms in your store. Each dressing room should have a large mirror and a chair in it.

9) Lighting and Music

You want to make your consignment store bright and happy, and large track lights and fluorescent lights will do this for you. In the clothing section, you want to make the lighting beneficial for the customer. If they don't look good in the light in your store, then they won't buy the clothing. Ensure your lighting is flattering to them.

In regards to music, just have a stereo system hooked up into the store's intercom system and play easy listening music. Don't have any hard rock, hip hop or anything that may drive more conservative customers away... unless you are catering to a clientele that doesn't want "old people" around anyway.