Writing on retail, recommerce, margin, and the calls that actually move the P&L. Practitioner's takes from someone who has run the store, not read about it. No vendor agenda, no filler.
Resale is booming, but does it pencil in your store? An operator's honest math on the five levers that decide it: margin, labor, space, sourcing, and whether used sales are incremental or just cannibalizing your own floor.
Read the article →Used goods often beat new on gross margin. But contribution margin, after acquisition and processing, is the number that tells you the truth.
Read the article →Buy outright, consignment, or trade-in? Three models, and the one you pick reshapes your margin, cash risk, labor, and how customers behave.
Read the article →Where does used inventory actually come from? The channels that feed a department, and why reliable flow beats one lucky haul.
Read the article →Used goods have no sticker to defend. A repeatable way to price on condition, demand, and comps, with a markdown cadence that clears stock.
Read the article →The objection every owner raises. Usually it's backwards: used pulls incremental traffic and, with trade-in, drives full-price sales.
Read the article →A buy-sell-trade program is a business unit with its own P&L. The full picture: acquisition, processing, sell-through, and the trade-in multiplier.
Read the article →Too little and used never gains traction; too much and you starve new goods. Size the footprint by sales per square foot, not feel.
Read the article →The biggest reason to add used isn't margin, it's retention. How a used department and trade-in drive the repeat traffic most stores miss.
Read the article →Patagonia and REI put resale inside the business. Why recommerce fits independents even better, and how to run it at your scale.
Read the article →More notes are on the way. In the meantime, tell us where you're stuck.