Here's a snippet from the New York Times: "The weak economy notwithstanding,…collectibles buffs paid the highest prices ever.…" Well, I did leave out a bunch of important details. For example, the snippet is from the January 17, 1991 edition.The fundamentals of retailing history do repeat themselves. Rare coin prices, along with the selling prices of many other collectibles, actually rose during the Great Depression. In our latest economic downturn, the sales of high quality collectibles have indeed held up much better than most other retailing sectors. When it comes to collectibles, the urge to possess the whole set means there is less consumer sensitivity to price and more drive in the shopper to buy now.
If you own an antique shop or sell mounted sets of rare butterflies, chances are you've personally benefited from the relatively good profitability in high-quality collectibles. And whatever you sell, think about including in your merchandise mix collectibles like the latest annual releases of Christmas tree ornaments, Lladro figurines, and Painted Ponies offerings.
But just as important as this, for any merchandise lines that are not necessities for the customer, consider giving them the appeal of collectibles:
- Feature items in groups, each one a distinctive member of the family. If parallel products are available for different age groups, have those items in the same ad and on the same sign. Stock them on the same end cap.
- Introduce new items in the set regularly, at which point you rotate out older versions. This encourages shoppers to buy now.
- Take special orders and publicize resale markets. When your customer is having trouble getting that special item to fill in the missing spot in the collection, help them buy it from you or from a collectors' group. Keep your customers as dedicated collectors.
No comments:
Post a Comment