Starting up your own retail store these days can be incredibly difficult. Renting a location is perhaps the least of your worries. You’ll need to focus on marketing, you’ll have to appeal to your local customers, and you’ll also need to worry about maintaining and protecting your store. There are loads of different considerations to keep in mind, and it can make running your own store seem like a hassle that just isn’t worth it.
But starting an online store isn’t exactly simple either, especially if your primary focus will be on thrifting. So to help you decide on which is the better option, we’ve put together this helpful article that will explain some of the biggest decisions that you need to keep in mind and how you can better prepare your brand-new thrift store.
What to consider with online thrift stores
Online thrift stores have become increasingly popular over the past couple of years. It’s a great business to start because it can help you sell lots of outdated or unwanted goods, and internet-based services have made it incredibly easy to get started. Setting up a website takes almost no effort or time at all, and you can start selling almost immediately. But what other kinds of benefits can you expect if you start an online store and what sort of concerns should you have in mind?
You’ll probably save a lot of money starting an online thrift store
One of the best ways to save money when starting a business is to actually set up your store on the internet first. There are fewer investments and costs that you need to focus on and there’s a good chance that you’ll reach a wider audience than you could with a retail store alone. Money is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome when you start a business, so anything you do to reduce the amount you’re spending can certainly go a long way.
It’s also a bit easier to reach a wide audience
Another huge benefit of starting an online thrift store is that you’re more likely to reach a wide audience with all of the online marketing options at your disposal. Whether you use social media, influencers, online banners, or even video advertising, there are plenty of ways to reach your intended audience thanks to all of the different platforms on offer. The ease of acquiring new leads and customs on the internet helps to ensure that your business gets a steady flow of attention. While not all of these leads will be qualified, it’ll definitely help with your exposure and start growing your brand.
But you’re probably going to have trouble with inventory
A thrift store lives and dies by its stock, so you need to get creative when it comes to filling up your inventory. The major challenge here is building up enough stock so that you have plenty of items to sell. This is usually a bit easier if you have a store because people can drop off unwanted items that you can add to your store, or they might even approach you with large bags of items for cheap.
Some of the most common options with an online thrift store include searching through your own belongings, going to garage sales, or even going to other thrift stores. You can even buy and sell cheap fashion, furniture, and other items that you find on marketplaces such as eBay. As long as you have a list of options for procuring stock, you can ease some of these concerns.
You’ll need some kind of logistics process
Don’t forget that as an online store, you need to actually mail items to customers. This sounds easy at first, but sending them as regular packages like you would for a friend or family member isn’t going to work long-term. Sooner or later, you’ll need to strike some kind of postage deal to ensure that you’re not overpaying when sending goods. You’ll also need to have consistent packaging so that buyers become repeat customers.
Packaging your goods properly will lead to a better customer experience. It’s a vital part of running an online business and you’ll need to figure out how to best manage your logistics process as an online thrift store.
You’ll also have to deal with customer concerns and complaints
Lastly, don’t forget that you also have to deal with customer concerns and complaints. If an item isn’t as you’ve described, if they’re not happy with it, or even if it’s damaged in shipping, you need to respond to your customers and you typically need to give them some kind of favorable outcome. Much of the time, this means a refund or giving them a replacement product.
But whatever the case is, you need to have some kind of policy or process in place to ensure that your customers can reach out to you if they’re unhappy. If you don’t deal with customer concerns, then it’s going to negatively affect your reputation and may even destroy your business if you’re not careful.
Why you should consider going all-in with a retail store
So now that we’ve covered some of the ups and downs of running an online thrift store, what about starting up a retail one? While there are a couple of benefits to doing this, there are also a lot of challenges that you need to face before you can even get your store ready for customers. So without further ado, here are some considerations to keep in mind.
Picking a good location will make things easier in the future
One of the best ways to ensure long-term success for your thrift store is to pick the right location. Unlike regular stores that focus solely on foot traffic, thrift stores tend to thrive when there is both high foot traffic and nearby residential areas. If you can set up your thrift store near lots of apartments and houses, then it means you have a wider audience to not only buy your products but also to donate unwanted goods.
Choosing the right location for a store requires a lot of thinking and planning, so don’t skip this step. Resist the temptation of setting up a thrift store in a typical retail location and think about how and where you can procure inventory from instead. You’ll find that being in close proximity to a large residential area is generally one of the best ways to establish your thrift store brand.
Decorations and renovations will make a big difference
Thrift stores can generally be quite relaxed and laid-back because there aren’t many amenities that you need. You don’t even need a stock room in most cases because you don’t have multiples of an item like a regular clothing store. You can simply place all of the clothes on racks on your shop floor, and fill your shelves with a variety of different items.
However, there are a couple of ways to make your thrift store look more appealing. Some people love a vintage look by using things like old furniture, a steel pipe across the ceiling or walls, or even brick interiors. Decorations like this can create a lot of charm and is generally one of the best ways to add personality to your store. But if you can’t do much to transform your store to make it look nicer, don’t stress over it.
You might need to hire staff unless you can work all-day
Hiring staff is normal for stores, but if you’re smart about when you open and how you organize your thrift store, you may be able to run it on your own. For starters, think about when you should open and how long you should open. There’s no point in opening during late hours if there are no customers interested in shopping or thrifting past a certain time. You should keep track of how many customers you get on certain days and think strategically to avoid opening during dead hours.
But if you do need to hire staff, then you need to decide what duties they have. Since a thrift store can be fairly easy to run, staff that you hire will generally take care of a bit of everything. This makes it cost-effective to hire staff, and there’s very little training required which makes it even cheaper to build a team.
So is it worth starting up a retail thrift store or is it more cost-effective and smarter to just do it online? The answer is difficult because both of them are valid options for running a business, especially if you have an interest in vintage fashion or antiques. In general, if you have a lot of ideas, connections, and money, then you should definitely try to rent a commercial space for your business. If you don’t, then starting an online thrift store is a much more cost-effective option that will have you up and running in less than a day.