Material Retail Dumps: Recent Episodes
Material Retail Team
Material Retail Dumps is a short-form podcast with brief but valuable content for independent retailers selling clothing, home goods, stationary and more. As business owners we don't have time for a 30-minute lesson with a ton of banter, that's why we created our podcast. We get straight to the meat of the topic and aim to give you actionable information that will help you optimize your retail operations and make more money every day.
In this episode we have a special guest from the lending industry who discusses the best type of loan for an independent retailer. NO Merchant cash advances here!
In this episode, we are going to talk about a few funding options. Lines of Credits, merchant cash advances, and more. Take a listen to learn a bit about the funding world and save yourself a ton of pain next time you need capital.
In this episode we talk about the importance of collecting customer data, why you should collect customer data, and what to do with it. We also discuss the best ways to collect customer data.
Welcome to Episode 41 of Material Retail Dumps, the podcast that explores the world of retail and provides insights on how to navigate the ever-changing landscape. In this episode, we have a special guest, Isabelle Groper, from Klaviyo, a leading platform in customer data and marketing automation.
Join us as we dive deep into the fascinating topic of using data to bring customers back into physical retail stores. In an age where e-commerce dominates, it's crucial for brick-and-mortar retailers to leverage data effectively to create personalized experiences and drive foot traffic.
Isabelle Groper, a seasoned expert in customer data and marketing, shares her wealth of knowledge and experience in harnessing data to engage customers and increase in-store sales. We explore the strategies, tools, and techniques that retailers can employ to better understand their customers, deliver targeted marketing campaigns, and optimize the in-store experience.
From leveraging customer segmentation and predictive analytics to implementing loyalty programs and leveraging social media, we uncover actionable insights that retailers can implement to thrive in today's competitive retail landscape.
If you're a retailer looking to revitalize your physical stores, or simply someone interested in the intersection of data and retail, this episode is for you. Tune in to Material Retail Dumps Episode 41 and join us on this enlightening conversation with Isabelle Groper from Klaviyo.
🚀 "Unlock the Power of AI in Retail & Ecommerce! 🚀 In this video, we delve into the innovative world of AI, exploring 5 key ways you can integrate OpenAI's ChatGPT into your retail and ecommerce business for maximum impact.
Subject Lines & Email/Web Banner Copy: Discover how ChatGPT can create compelling subject lines and ad copies that catch the attention of your potential customers, driving higher open rates, click-throughs, and conversions.
Product Descriptions: Learn how you can use ChatGPT to draft detailed, engaging product descriptions that can turn visitors into paying customers, all while saving you time and resources.
Negotiating with Vendors/Software Providers/Landlords: We'll show you how to leverage ChatGPT to draft effective negotiation emails that could potentially save you thousands of dollars.
Starting a Blog: We explore how ChatGPT can be your new digital assistant, helping to brainstorm, draft, and polish engaging blog posts that will drive traffic and build your brand's online presence.
Writing Job Descriptions: Hiring for your business? ChatGPT can help write clear, concise job descriptions that attract the right talent.
By the end of this video, you'll have a clear understanding of how AI, specifically ChatGPT, can revolutionize your retail and ecommerce business, helping you cut costs, drive sales, and elevate your brand in the digital landscape. Don't miss out on these insider tips and tricks - tune in now! 💼💻🚀
And remember, if you enjoy the content, don't forget to like, share, and subscribe to our channel for more insightful ecommerce and retail tips.
This is another episode in our series about bringing customers back into the store! We discuss a simple social media contest that you can use that really works to bring customers back into the store!
In this episode, we talk about parties and how you can use them to bring customers in-store. It doesn't have to be extravagant. Listen and learn how to get a real ROI from in-store events.
Please please please listen to this episode. It's not fun and cool but this basic knowledge can save you a ton of headaches in the future. Learn about website domains and how to keep yours safe.
In this episode we talk about loyalty programs and how to set them up. If you have one already take a listen to hear some ideas for making it more effective. If you don't have a loyalty program yet, listen and get one!
This is the second episode of a two-part series where we discuss security tips! This part focuses on digital security tips. These basic tips will prevent you from potentially losing a ton of time and money!
In this episode, we talk about inventory, specifically older inventory, and what you should do with it. Become a better buyer and merchandiser by listening to this quick episode.
In this episode, we talk about credit card processing and how you can save money on your in-store processing rates. Credit card processing fees impact all businesses, you'll want to listen to this episode.
Hear from Avery a Material Retail employee and marketing strategist. Avery works with over 75 retailers to strategize and execute their marketing plans. We ask her four questions.
Let's assume that we are going to go into a deep recession, as a retailer you need to be prepared. Let's discuss 5 ways to prepare for one, if you do these 5 things you'll be better off regardless.
Material Retail Dumps is a short-form podcast with brief but valuable content for independent retailers selling clothing, home goods, stationary and more. As business owners we don't have time for a 30-minute lesson with a ton of banter, that's why we created our podcast. We get straight to the meat of the topic and aim to give you actionable information that will help you optimize your retail operations and make more money every day.
This episode talks about email marketing and we spend a little time going into open rates and why you should second guess them. Is the data being displayed to you real? Find out now.
Hiring and finding the right people is hard but sadly that's just the beginning. Once you have the employee ready to work, you now need to train and onboard them into your shop. Doing this right can be hard, but it doesn't have to be. Listen to this podcast for a few tips on making life easier when training employees
In this episode, we hear from Robin at y&i clothing. Robin owns 3 locations in Texas and California and spends a ton of time thinking through employee compensation, bonuses, and commissions. Listen to this episode for some real tips on how to use different strategies to motivate store managers and employees.
This is the first episode in a series of episodes focused on hiring, managing, and retaining employees. In this episode we hear from a boutique owner in Oklahoma who has a very unique way of treating staff. They are not just retail employees, they are #WystleDolls. Listen to learn more about how and why you should think about doing something like this in your own store.
This episode focuses on how business owners can attract more eyeballs online and turn those views into in-store traffic. We'll have a special guest named Justin who will walk us through some tactical strategies to achieve that.
Dialing for Dollars. Retail markdown money.
Welcome to Material Retail Dumps episode 4. My name is Elliot and I’m very excited to be the host today. This is the third and final episode in our gross margin series. In this episode, we will talk about how you can improve cash flow and gross margins using markdown money. If you haven’t listened to the first 2 episodes in this series, I suggest doing so as it will put a lot of this into context.
This episode and the execution of these ideas may be a bit uncomfortable for some. But, you know the saying, no pain no gain.
So let’s get to it, what are we talking about?
Very simple, when you have a bad style, you know that you need to mark it down quickly and aggressively. So now that we’ve marked the item down and are looking to get our money back as quickly as possible, let’s take another route towards recouping the money.
Pick up the phone, call your sales rep to explain to them that this style is not working for you and politely ask them if you can return the style. They will very likely say no, guess what, that was the plan. Now you can pleasently accept the no on the return and ask them to discount the item after the fact. So say you bought the item 6 pieces of the item for $20 each, maybe they give you $4 for each item. That’s $24, that phone call likely took 3 minutes.
If you haven’t paid for the item yet, you’ll just pay less when paying the invoice. If you have paid for the item already, just ask for a credit on the next purchase.
4 Tips to make it work.
1 - Don’t be shy - This is business, as a customer you are expecting your vendors to provide quality styles that will perform in your store. I am sure the sales rep was not shy in telling you how great the jacket you bought was performing when she came to make the sale.
2 - Don’t be mean - You need to keep the relationship strong, everyone needs to be respectful. You are simply coming as a buyer, explaining that the item you bought is not selling and you need help getting rid of it.
3 - Make sure to ask for a return first - It’s best to just get rid of the item and return it. Most vendors will reject you. That’s okay, once they say no, they already feel bad for you, now they will be more likely to give you money off.
4 - Be careful not to keep going to the same vendor over and over - 2 reasons,
A - They’ll get sick of you
B - If you need to keep asking them for markdown money because their products don’t sell, you should probably just stop buying from them.
Well, that’s it for today, thanks for listening! I am very excited about next week, we will discuss branding with a very special guest.
This is the second in a series of episodes designed to help independent retailers improve cash flow and gross profits by managing inventory more efficiently. Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, for independent retailers cash flow management can be the make or break. Geared towards Fashion retailers, this series can be applied to many brick-and-mortar businesses.
This is the first in a series of educational articles designed to help independent retailers improve cash flow by managing inventory more efficiently. During hard economic times when customers are more likely to buy gas than clothing, it’s extremely important to manage cash. Cash flow is the lifeblood of any business, for independent retailers cash flow management can be the make or break. Geared towards Fashion retailers, this article can be applied to many brick-and-mortar businesses.
Retailers have high fixed costs such as rent, payroll, utility bills, and more. One thing that most people don’t take into account is that a large portion of your cash will be tied up in inventory, after all, you need a product to sell. Being a small business, you may not find many vendors who are willing to give you credit, and even when you get to that point, sometimes the 30 days of credit is not long enough to sell the product. Most times, you’ve been forced to lay out cash for a product before you sell it.
Some owners will resort to carrying balances on credit cards when buying merchandise, which then brings interest payments into the equation, making the cost of goods even more expensive.
This brings us to the importance of selling your products quickly, or maybe, more importantly, knowing that you are stuck with a “dog” and when it’s time to dump it.
So what is a “dog”?
It’s a product that you bought that just isn’t selling. Say you’ve purchased 6 pieces of 5 different styles from a vendor, and in the first month you sell through half of 4 of the styles but in one style you’ve sold 1 or 0, that’s your “dog”. Every business needs to identify when to consider a product a “dog” a good rule of thumb is if something is selling half as quickly as average.
For example, if your average inventory turn is 6x per year, it should take you 2 months to sell through a product. If after 1 month, you’ve only sold 1 of the 6 pieces you’ve purchased in that style, you are on pace to sell through the product in 6 months, which is 3x worse that your average product.
Okay so I’ve identified a “dog” What do I do with it?
Well, now here is where retailers run into trouble, many retailers make excuses for why the item isn’t selling. Sometimes they are valid, for example, you bought sweaters in August and it’s still 85 degrees on the east coast, in that case, you can wait. However, sometimes the excuses are emotional and not valid, for example, ‘my good customers haven’t come into the store yet’ or ‘if I just put the item in the window it’ll sell forsure!’ Thinking like this and creating excuses for why items haven’t sold yet can be keeping money out of your pocket.
Okay now, what?
Mark the product down, be fast, and be aggressive. Go straight to 50% off. Just get your money back.
But why would I do that, if I wait 6 months I can sell the product at full price for just 10% off?
Wrong, let’s look at the math and see what you can do. First, for a dog, you’ve sold slowly.
- First, you buy 6 pieces of an item for $20 each costing you $120
- In the first month, you sell 1 at full price — $50,
- Then in the second and third months, you sell another 2 for 10% off — $90,
- Then in month four, you sell another 1 at 20% off — $40
- Then in month six, you sell another two at 50% off — $50
- So in 6 months, you’ve done $230 in sales and made $110 in gross profit dollars.
Now let’s look at a product you’ve identified as a dog and aggressively marked down.
- First, you buy 6 pieces of an item for $20 each costing you $120
- In the first month, you sell 1 at full price — $50,
- In month two, you sell the next 5 at 50% off — $125
- So in two months, you’ve done $175 in sales and only $55 in gross profit.
- Now you take that same $120 and go buy another 6 pieces of a style for $20 each, this style happens to be a decent seller.
- In month 3 you sell 2 at $50 — $100
- In month 4 you sell another 1 at $50
- In month 5 you sell another 2 at $40 — $80
- Finally, in month 6, you sell the last one for $25
- In total for the second style, you’ve done $255 in sales and $135 in Gross profit dollars.
- In six months you did $430 in sales and $190 in Gross profit dollars.
Summary, please! How is that even better?— Sure let’s compare the two.
Let's focus on gross profit dollars, in the first example, when you were hesitating to aggressively mark down the dog, you did $110 in gross profits in 6 months, in the second example, you did $190 in gross profit dollars, that's a 72% increase. Do that 100 times a year and you’ll notice a big difference when you look at your income statement. I guarantee it.
So from this exercise, what we learn is really important! Here are the three main takeaways.* Don’t get emotionally invested in your inventory, it’s all about numbers. If the numbers are not showing strength, you have your signal to start taking markdowns aggressively. * Once you identify a dog, be very aggressive in marking it down and getting it out of your store * Just because you sell something cheaper than you wanted, doesn’t mean you’ll make less money, it means you’ll be freeing up cash and space in store to get a new good style that you can sell at a strong margin.
Looking to learn more about running a retail business profitably? Schedule a call here https://calendly.com/elliot-9/shoptiques
There is a shift in the way consumers are responding to marketing happening right now. If you are a business owner or plan to be one, listen to this guide on First-Party Data to find out what it is, how to collect it, and what to do with it. This guide is written through the eyes of a retail business, but you can apply these concepts to any business.