What sold and what didn’t – Fall 2022 Edition

As consignors gain experience, they use it to help their items sell better and at better prices during consignment sales. Learning how to package items in nice bundles, learning how to clean items to look their best, and learning what items sell best can all help increase their consignor paycheck at the end of the sale. To that end, following the Sunflower Sprouts Fall 2022 sale, we thought it would be helpful to give some insight into what sold, and what didn’t so you can all become seasoned consignors as we head into 2023!

Here we go! So, what is a sell thru rate anyway? Our sell thru rate is calculated by our sales inventory system. It takes the total number of items tagged into a particular category and then divides that number by the number of items SOLD out of the category. The resulting number is the sell thru rate. Easy, right?

So here are the Top Ten of Fall 2022:

Okay, now let’s talk about clothing! In both the girls’ and boy’s clothing categories, clothing sell thru rate was just under 70%. This is very typical as literally everyone who comes into the sale purchases clothing of some sort. How could you not? With this huge selection?! Keep the great quality clothing coming!

1. Consignors, now we talk about the stuff that you might want to consider the extras. Meaning if you have room to tag them in your 350 item limit, go ahead, but if you want to eliminate something, due to lack of time to tag or space in your inventory, then these are the categories with the lowest sell thru rate.Jewelry – socks – hats – mittens/gloves – accessories – infant accessories – basically those little items. Suggestion to help you in this category – don’t sell a single pair of socks – bundle everything! Put 10 pair of socks together in a ziploc bag, bag a nice selection of hair bows, put a complete hat/mitten set together. Making your items BIGGER makes them more valuable and more of a bargain to shop.
2. Maternity clothes. We get lots of pregnant mamas in to shop the sale – but they aren’t buying whole wardrobes like we do for our kids – they are just picking up single items that fit into their wardrobes.
3. DVD’s – these have lost popularity in the last couple of years with the many streaming options that are out there nowadays.
4. Bedding – we are constantly working to make this category more shoppable because we get really nice things onto the sales floor in this category. Remember to check it out during the next sale for your own purposes! Do your kids sleep at Grandma’s house sometimes? You could set up such a cool space for them in your old bedroom!
5. Nursery Decor – We assume this is because new mama’s pick a theme for their nursery and register for many matching items. So the nursery decor that comes in may not match what they want.

The important part to remember is that in almost every category that you tag into, our sell thru rate was at least 60% and most were in the 70-80% for sell thru. This is PHENOMENAL for a seasonal sale and is WAYYYYYYY more than you would expect to sell at a garage sale, doing Facebook meetups, or trying to take things to a consignment store.

Keep your wonderful items coming! Remember that clean and nicely packaged items give the buyer a sense of newness, and help your items sell for a higher price and faster.

We can’t wait to see you all in the spring where swimwear, outside toys, and rainboots all join the sales floor in their quest to be top of the list! See you soon!