This past weekend's trunk show was done in conjunction with the beautiful silk line Alice and Trixie. I started carrying their line at Zoe last Fall. In brainstorming how we could grow a greater local affinity for the brand, my reps suggested a trunk show. This would allow me to bring in a nice variety of pieces in different sizes to expose my customers to the varying styles and patterns available in the line.
In the previous two trunk shows, the designers themselves came to the store, set up the displays and were available to answer questions for customers. In the case of the Alice & Trixie Trunk Show, one week prior to the show, I was provided with a list of available styles, prints, and sizes and was to select from this list for items to be shipped for the show. I made my selections on April 30th and the items shipped out that very day from New York!
The agreement that I signed in order to conduct the trunk show was to allow my credit card to be charged for the items that were shipped to me for the trunk show. Anything that I did not sell would be sent back to them immediately following the show and those items would be credited back to my account. It was important the items be returned in the pristine condition they arrived in and be returned quickly (in case another store or customer wanted to order the item).
I was delighted with all of the colors in the trunk show - the picture below is just a sampling!
I sent the invitation out to my email list and also posted it on Facebook - the wheels were truly in motion!
Once I received the box on Wednesday, I quickly unpacked it and hung everything up. Since each item needed to be returned just as I received it, I first took pictures of each individual item.
Yes, I know. Laugh all you want. I didn't trust myself to be able to tie back the bag to the item.
Then, I had to figure out how to put price tags on the items without using my pricing gun. Being married to and working around engineers for a good portion of my life has helped me come up with creative solutions to just about any task! I printed tags as normal but then taped them to my jewelry tags, which attach via a string. I looped the string around the inner label! A great solution without a puncture in the garment tag!
The next challenge was how to best display the trunk show items. I decided to put them all on one rack so that I could talk to people about the collection as a whole. This caused a little bit of shuffling around the store but made a nice, colorful display that people would see when they first walked into the store.
Friday morning dawned with a quick run to Buzz Bakery for cupcakes and a stop for ice for the sparkling lemonade. And the trunk show was ON! Oh, and as I told the guys who used to work for me, the phrase "Trunk Show" is a misnomer. The items arrived in a brown box via UPS. But "Brown Box" show doesn't have quite as elegant a ring to it.
I was pleased with the results of the trunk show when it closed on Sunday evening. I spent time getting everything back into the box in the right plastic covers and marking up the invoice to show what had sold and wouldn't be returned. Since I was off to NY bright and early the next morning, I prepared the UPS label and had hubby Jim send it from work on Monday. I'm already excited about the next trunk show.
Next up: The May Market Trip (with special NY Taxicab adventures)
Those colors are so vibrant and summery! I'm glad this was a success for you.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Juice. I learn something new from everything I try in the store! (And I loved all the colors too!)
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