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Kids Consignment Sales: A Growing Trend
Kids consignment sales may be the largest held because children outgrow their clothing, equipment, and toys so quickly. Seasonal (spring, summer, fall) and annual events are commonly sponsored by churches, charities, and communities.
Consignment
Consignment sales have several different formats:
- Children's boutiques are physical stores that create an opportunity for families to turn their no-longer-needed clothing and items into cash. The store owner provides the venue and pays all the expenses related to operating the resale business. Ownership of items remains with the consignors, and payment is made only when items sell. Typically, the percentage of sales paid to each consignor can vary, awarding larger shares to family and friends.
- Online operations in the business of reselling kids' merchandise haven't fared well. There's a ton of inventory. Overhead is high, and an online business is fraught with dissatisfied customers returning items or just getting credit card refunds and keeping the merchandise.
- Seasonal, semi-annual, and annual events have become more popular. Shoppers understand that there will be no refunds, and the face-to-face environment curbs much of the larceny. Churches and communities can draw large crowds by combining the inventory of several families.
Consignment software organizes consignors and their inventory. It processes sales (POS) and settlements and provides the store owner with detailed reports for any time period.
Resale
Resale is 'buy outright' - purchasing items from individuals for the purpose of reselling them. This doesn't appear to be a popular business model. The downsides are required investment and narrow profit margins.
Resale software keeps track of purchase and sale prices and computes profit/loss. It also processes sales. 'Settlements' take place at the time of purchase.
Seasonal
As the name implies, events are held during 'season' where multiple sources (individuals, organizations, dealers) bring inventory for resale. While this form of selling requires a great deal of preparation and organization, it has grown in popularity in part due to its 'finality'. Sales are final. No returns. No refunds. 2-3 days, and it's over.
Churches and Charities
A community or congregational sale is a 'bazaar'. Like seasonal sales, they provide participants a quick way of cleaning out closets and converting unneeded items into money - all of which is donated to the sponsoring church or charity.
Best Consignment Shop Software
BCSS is a comprehensive consignment-resale software program for managing consignment, resale, and seasonal sales events, as well as consignment and resale shops. Its most attractive feature is ownership - one payment for lifetime use with no scheduled payments for support after purchase.
The program records and tracks activity for all participants and offers an extensive variety of options for managing inventory, processing transactions, and reporting in detail.
The software is layered in pricing and features, allowing small businesses and startups the opportunity to automate in steps, both in computing skills and cost. The Intro edition ($295) is a basic sales-processing app - well suited for stores that don't need to track and discount unsold inventory.
The other editions (Deluxe, Diamond, Virtual) add enhancements as business and computer skills grow.