How to Handle the Merchandise in Your Shop
Are you about to have your dream of opening a gift shop come to pass? Maybe you already have a gift shop, but you want to present and store your merchandise in a better way. In either circumstance, here are some ideas that might inspire you.
Mix Things Up—In most shops clients will find clothing, jewelry, home decor, men's gifts, women's gifts, and children's gifts in separate areas of the store. Instead of doing that, give your presentation a twist by including things from each of those categories mixed in with others. For example, if you are displaying jewelry boxes, think of having things like baby toys peering out from each drawer. As you display a fancy set of golf clubs, consider tying colorful scarves around some of them. A beautiful painting could perch on top of a tool box and a tricycle would serve to display cute sandals sitting on top of the seat. A child's little red wagon can display personal items like hand lotions and perfumes.
Storage—To keep your merchandise current with each season, you may need to store some of the objects that will be sold later. For example, if you have an excess of men's tools, some of them will surely sell at Christmastime, but after that there won't be as many sold until Father's Day. Sandals might sell to people who are vacationing in warm climates during the winter months, but most of them will sell in the spring and summer. You get the picture!
A great idea is to keep off-season items in heavy-duty storage cabinets that will protect them from dust. Heavy-duty cabinets can also be locked, which means that the contents will be safe from anybody who wants to steal them. Using storage cabinets will be especially important if you carry collector's items and things like jewelry or antiques that are worth a small fortune. Therefore, the money you spend on storage cabinets them will be worth every single penny when your merchandise is kept safe.
Final Tips—It's a good idea to take pictures of each section that you have set up for your displays because you might want to use the same setup in later years. In addition, if you are pleased with displays you established for different holidays, you can refer to the pictures every year to recreate each display. Keep these new ideas in mind for your gift shop and see the changes they make!