FAQs

(1) I do, but I there's still tons that I don't know. We bought it with the store, and sometimes I'm totally confused. I'll try to help if I can, but can't promise anything. I think I know just enough to make a sale and put inventory in. Reports are a total mystery. (2) Heh.

KEVIN: Ideally you want to have around 1.7 SKU's per sq ft in your shop so if your retail space is 1000 sq ft you will want 1700 SKUs. In terms of an initial order you never really want to order just 1 of an item so if the retail price is $20-40 you will

KEVIN:  You want to be sure you have a POS system that gives you plenty of data points to enter in all of the necessary data for properly tracking sales of every individual SKU in your inventory. You will need: your item number, vendor SKU, item description, country, artisan group, size, color, season, month received

(1) This is a very personal choice. I am not a huge fan of sales or sale sections. Most of us are operating in small retail spaces (500-2500 sq ft). Our goal is to do as much in sales per sq ft as possible so every sq ft is critical to maximize sales. On an annual

(1) There are so many good programs out there. I have a great “shopping for POS systems handout that will help you ask the right questions when shopping for one. You can go very wrong though so don’t go cheap and do your research. There are a lot of good cloud based systems out there

(1) This is always a bit of a touchy subject. There are many shops that ONLY buy from FTF or WFTO members and I think that is great. Many shops are also part of small communities that have strong independent local artisan populations. I personally don’t see anything wrong with a hybrid shop that sells

(1) Some POS systems allow you to do this but they tend to be the more advanced ones. I am kind of old school and think there is great value in literally counting every widget in your shop. It is your bi-annual chance to find items that are damaged or mis-tagged and allows for a

(1) Again, you will just have to test your market and see what it can bear. Our store, Momentum started out with the same goal and we had to over time move our price points down. We still maintained a higher than normal avg price point and higher-end level but had to respond to customer

(1) In fact, all items can and should be more than keystone. Talk to your vendors too and find out their SRP. For example, Minga, Mr Ellie Pooh and Costello recommend very high margins on many of their products. Be realistic about what your market can bear but always go for above keystone (52-58% margins)