FLGS- Old Inventory and Organization UPDATE!!

[derelictjay]

I'm going with the crowd that says if I know I want it I'll order it online. But I'm a big impulse shopper, and if I like what I see then I'll buy it, of course, if I can't see it (for instance the book being shrinkwrapped) I won't buy it.

 

[Storm Raven]

A shrink-wrapped RPG book tells me one thing...that whoever shrinkwrapped it thought that me looking inside the book would make me less likely to buy it.

Unless they shrink-wrap everything in stock, in which case a shrink-wrapped RPG book tells you exactly nothing on that subject.

 

[TroyXavier]

I hate shrink wrap. It guarantees that I won't buy an item unless I already knew I was going to get it anyways.

 

[Sado]

I don't like shrink wrap either. I like to flip through a book to see if it looks interesting. I at least want to see the table of contents, for goodness sake!

I do understand why some stores do it, though, at least with paperbacks. If you have people flipping through them eventually the covers start to curve outward and the spine starts to crack, and...well you all know what happens with paperbacks.

Most game stores aren't big enough to do this, since they usually have just a couple of each book in stock, but for stores with enough stock, a good idea would be to shrinkwrap all but one copy of each paperback, and make sure there was always one open available for flipping. That way you can see what you are getting ahead of time and know that you are still getting a relatively new, untouched copy.

 

[Lord Foul]

Skip the shrink wrap. I refuse to shop at a store that shrink wraps it's books. I won't buy a book unless I can open it and read a few pages, and I don't mean read it with the owner of the store breathing down my neck. I want to pick the book off the shelf, skim through a few chapters, read a page or two in a few sections, then put it back on the shelf and go on to the next book that I might be interested in. I want to be able to open two different books next to each other and compare things (if they are on similar topics).

I agree 100% with Cthulu's Librarian. If I can't Flip through the book then its a no sale. I've been burnt a couple of times on an impulse buy because of the pretty packaging. I've also been burnt on an item that got a good review and when I got it home and unwraped it I found that it was nothing that I could use. Now I will not purchase anything with out looking at it myself first. I'll even go out of my way to find a FLGS that doesn't use shrink wrap. Plus by looking through a book I thought I would not want I might discover something in it that says "I gotta have this".

You can't judge a book by its cover.

 

[James Heard]

One. Kill the shrink wrap. Unless it's a mint copy of a 20 year old book then there's just no use in it and it (obviously) puts people off.

Two. Invest in "Bundle Boxes", by which I mean some medium sized boxes that will fit your bundles and don't do "all my stock all the time" sales - do "we rotate our sales on older goods per month sales". I don't know exactly why it works, but creating a small (but managable) sense of urgency in customers sometimes works to get them off their behinds and pulling out the wallets. If the bundle boxes themselves have some strange value then even better. I've never priced custom boxes, but looking around for something that's somewhere above "moving away from college" and "expensive plastic storage crate" might be workable. Consider adding dice and dice bags even, because you're trying to bypass the "that's old, I don't need it" and into "that's old, but you can never have too much of that - and it's sort of neat."

Three. There's always a chance that you could trade some inventory that you've got too much of for inventory that you might need. Make up a wishlist and shop around, maybe to even other FLGS', you might be able to make some deals.

Four. If you've got a gaming room, consider starting the discount at a reduced rate and increasing the discount for gamers who are taking advantage of the game room. Then you have customers with added value for coming into the store and spending time there, as long as they aren't all shoplifters you'll probably come out ahead.

Five. ADVERTISE. If game stuff is only a small fragment of your total inventory then make CERTAIN that, unless you're afraid of being burnt down by the J Chick crowd, people KNOW about this massive windfall of goods that are now in the store.

 

[haiiro]

Shrink wrap is the devil!

If I go into a store to check out gaming books, and all of the copies for sale are shrink wrapped, there's zero chance I'll buy something unless I already knew I wanted it.

If they go with shrink wrap, there should always be a copy for browsing. I'm so anti-shrink wrap on the whole that I actually think less of the store if they don't do this (and I question there business sense if they shrink wrap at all). Ooooh, it makes me hopping mad!

As for impulse buying, I know I do it a fair amount of the time, particularly if something is old/cheap/on sale.

 

[TDRandall]

I really like schporto's ideas, and line up with bagpuss'.

I want to look through potential book buys, but would actually prefer to walk out with a shrink-wrapped copy so that I know it is in great condition (and would pay closer to retail for). When all the shrink-wrapped ones are gone that last open one gets a SEVERE discount to see it walk out the door.

Same for magazines, for me. I'll look throught the one on top to decide if I want it. If I decide yes, I put it back on top and shuffle to the 1/2 point or more to get a "fresh" one.

Yes, stores end up being impulse buys, or out-of-print searches, or great deals that I can't match online anywhere. I keep a (sorted!) list so I know what I want and what they cost online at various sites (if they are available anywhere).

I'd definitely be a sucker for that "buy 1 in box 1 at full price (at a middling interest level) and get some off box two (higher on my list) and greater discount from box three (near the top of my list)". Problem is that I expect most everyone would differ on what should be in each of those categories, as well as the headaches of ensuring they remained in the right box somehow, so it would probably work better as 10% off 2, 20% off 3, etc.

Good luck to you and especially your friend!

 

[jgbrowning]

Basically, her co-owner, who owns a majority believes that RPG people know what they want, so there is no need to update the section. I need to convince her that a lot of gamers do not know ahead of time and that sales can be generated if the store has a great selection.

Tell them to join the GIN. Game Industry Network. It's a delphi forum for everyone involved in publishing, distributing, or retailing gaming products. There's over 200 (I believe) game store owners who constantly exchange information. They'll be able to give opinions that are more informed than ours.

joe b.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Ebay the hard to move items.

Also look at what (if any) tax breaks you could get for donating items.

Open gaming, if they allow it or have a place for it, either rent a book out, for a small deposit, for gaming or just have it in the area. You may have to deface it but it could generate sells as people read it.