Anatomy Of A Doll Sale

What is it about a big doll sale that makes normal, everyday doll collectors go just a little bit crazy? Next week, my doll shop is starting its once a year Giant Sale, and I get to observe the sale phenomena close up. The collectors will show up in droves, they’ll drive great distances, and (with some luck and good sales preparation) they’ll buy, buy, buy. Some collectors will seem as excited as children at Christmas. Others will play it cool and try to wring even more bargains from me. One collector, inevitably, will stand in the store stupefied that a doll that they’ve seen for two years sitting on a shop shelf had the audacity to be sold before the sale “But, I’ve wanted her so badly!” they’ll wail, “How could she have been sold to someone else?” Meanwhile, outside at the sidewalk sale, a collector that has repeatedly seen the same poor, homeless doll with a discreet 50% off tag on my indoor shop close-out table will scoop her up, triumphant, just because she is sitting outside on a table.

The Sidewalk Sale

The sidewalk sale part of the whole enterprise may be the true heart of the matter. I think that a psychology text could be written about sidewalk sales. There is something about tables, outdoors, piled high with merchandise, that drives collectors mad. They’ll elbow each other, grab all sorts of goodies in their arms, and be thrilled about the bargains they are getting. If you put the very same merchandise in the store at the very same price, it would not sell even a tenth as quickly. Trust me—I’ve tried!

A True Sale Is The Key

Of course, in order to get a true collector//customer frenzy going you have to have a true sale. Stores that constantly give 20, 30 40 or 50% discounts cannot generate any excitement with a sale. My store tends to have one small table with a few closeouts year-round, but we only have one storewide sale. It’s a big event, with newspaper ads, a newsletter that goes out (with special coupons for regular customers) a drawing for prizes and the aforementioned sidewalk sale. My customers know if they miss my Giant Sale, they truly have to wait a year for another one.

The Magnet

The sidewalk sale, by the way, is an excellent magnet even for those who pooh-pooh dolls. Ladies will walk all by, and do a double-take. They HAVE to check out the sale. Often, they DO buy something, a doll or a bear or a gift item, while sheepishly saying that they never stopped by before because my shop is “just a doll store.”

Why Doll Retailers Should Embrace Occasional Sales

Some small retailers hate doll sales. They refuse to have them, hating to make less than full mark-up on an item. These are the retailers that have dolls from 1998 still on their shelves. Having old dolls around is a sure way to squelch doll collector excitement—if dolls from a particular doll company are sitting around for years, how can you convince a collector that this year’s releases from that same company are a must-have?. Its hard on the ego, I’ll admit, to show the world that you occasionally make a buying mistake or two. After marking down for my Giant Sale some dolls I was closing-out today as much as 60% off, I think its safe to say that I have a pretty tank-like ego. I am definitely a believer in clearing out the old to make way for the new—a believer in keeping my store fresh, always with something new for my collectors.

We’re Off!

So, next week, my two doll collector employees and I will show up very, very early at the store. We’ll drag out three large tables, and fight the early risers trying to look in our boxes as we are putting out the Sidewalk Sale items (its just like a garage sale! Saying that we don’t open until 10 does no good, so we just go with the flow). We’ll make sure the bags are stocked, that the indoor sales tags are on, that we’ve got plenty of register tape, and we’ll start our Giant Sale. Wish us luck, and lots of happy collectors!