by Grace Butland

Keep It Moving Off the Shelf

At Bluestem Missouri Crafts LLC, merchandise is regularly moved around the gallery to maintain a fresh and changing appearance to help sales. In one instance, small kaleidoscopes were moved next to similarly sized hand-woven bags, which resulted in increased sales of both the kaleidoscopes and the bags.

In the retailer’s dream world, eager customers snap up items as soon as they’re displayed, creating a constant cash flow. In the real world, however, even the most astute buyers must occasionally deal with merchandise that stays on the shelves too long, tying up cash and display space.

Smart buying: Know thy customer’s price points

The best line of defense against slow-moving inventory is prevention. Know your customers and the sales cycles in your gallery and buy accordingly. “We do a pretty good job of identifying what customers like,” says Chuck Wheeler, co-owner with wife, Jenny, of Mountain Laurel Contemporary American Crafts & Wearable Art in Berkeley Springs, W.Va. “Slow-moving merchandise is rarely a problem.”

The Wheelers are also careful to keep price points at a level they know they can sell. “We’ve tried creeping up to higher price points but the work doesn’t sell well,” says Wheeler. “We know that if we keep the product line at a $100 to $200 price point, it will sell.”

Move merchandise to keep it fresh

After smart buying, the next best way to keep merchandise moving off the shelves is to keep it moving in the store. “We constantly move merchandise,” says Melanie Howard, manager of Baycrafts in Bay St. Louis, Miss. “We have these wonderful, expensive, modular pedestals that we can move around so that the flow of the store is often different.”

Because merchandise and display areas are changed frequently, the gallery always looks fresh. “The same person can come back every week and see something different,” says Howard.

Mary Benjamin, co-owner of Bluestem Missouri Crafts LLC, in Columbia, Mo., re-iterates the importance of moving merchandise within the gallery. “When you constantly move merchandise, people think they’re discovering something new,” she says.

If the price isn’t right …

Even with careful buying and frequent display updates, there will inevitably be items that just don’t move. Maybe they don’t click with your customers the way you thought they would, or they’re the remaining two or three items from a line you’re phasing out. “If something hasn’t sold for awhile, we always check the price,” says Benjamin.

Because Bluestem has a policy of never having a sale, the gallery owners take a “silent mark-down” if they think the price is higher than the market will bear. By making a fresh tag, there’s no indication to the customer that the price has been reduced. But if price is indeed the problem, the item is likely to move quickly after the mark-down.

If you do put slow-moving inventory on sale, it’s important to maintain the integrity of handcrafted items. “We mark down items which have been here for a long time,” says Howard, “but never more than 30 percent.”

Baycrafts has a separate display area where mark-downs are displayed. The store’s staff is very careful to create an attractive display with the items and keeps the area tidy so it fits in visually with the rest of the gallery.

When all else fails, be creative

If the price seems right and moving the merchandise around hasn’t worked, it’s time to get creative. “We’ve begun packaging things [for display] ourselves,” says Benjamin. This is especially effective
with small items that might otherwise be overlooked.

The gallery staff packaged handmade bookmarks in a cellophane bag with a paper backing that contained information printed about the artist and the process. The impact on sales was immediate. Small kaleidoscopes with three marbles benefited from similar packaging. Another small kaleidoscope is displayed next to a hand-woven bag, which is just the right size to hold it — customers frequently buy the two together. “Proper packaging adds to the perceived value of an item and is a very important sales aid,” says Benjamin. “Artists can work with gallery owners to develop packaging to display their work attractively.”

Another way to call older work to the attention of new customers is to feature it in an exhibition. “I create five or six theme shows a year,” says Rose Brein Finkel, owner of the Gallery at Cedar Hollow in Malvern, Pa.

All the exhibitions are widely advertised and the gallery picks up new customers with each show. “For each exhibition, I get new work from all over the country,” says Finkel “When I set up the shows, I mix in things that have been in the gallery awhile.”

Baycrafts uses a “show and sell” technique with merchandise that has been stagnant in the store. If a group of candles isn’t moving, the staff will burn some to call attention to the display. If a dish is packaged with a recommended recipe, they will make a sample to attract customers’ attention. Sometimes these little touches are all it takes to create interest in a product.

Exchanging slow-moving items for new work is another possible solution for the turnover problem. “Whenever we buy wholesale, we always ask the artist if we can return work for new merchandise after a period of time,” says Benjamin. “If the artists agree, it’s a wonderful arrangement.” Benjamin makes sure any returned item is not shopworn, and she always orders new merchandise along with the exchange so that the transaction is profitable for the artist.

Customers love to find something new every time they visit a gallery. You can respond to that demand by giving a “new” look to work that hasn’t sold. Move it to a new place. Display it in a new way. Package it differently. Demonstrate its use. Call attention to it in new and creative ways. If you keep it looking new, you’ll keep it moving.