July 17, 2020 | 2:19 pm PH time
Good afternoon from the Philippines. I hope everyone is well and safe. 💕
In this blog, I want to share something that made me excited and nervous at the same time.
I and a dear friend of mine will start an online thrift shop business, a.k.a ukay-ukay business. Ukay-ukays are second-hand clothes from other countries. The Philippines import them and they are sold a lot cheaper than the original mall price. But wait. Second-hand clothes? Aren't they dirty? But what if the former owner has a skin disease? Are those safe? Maybe you'll have these questions. Yes, they are really dirty and not safe. That is why those who buy from thrift shops soak the items in hot water first before they wash them with detergent. Some even wash the items twice before using them.
These past few days, I tried to gather pieces of information that we will need. I never took any business courses or classes that is why I need to research and know the basics of thrift shop business. I watched YouTube videos and read online posts from the experts. As I did my research, I stopped many times because my head needs to process the pieces of information. :D I am also happy that I am learning many things. Thanks to the internet.
Thrift items are sold per bales of 45 kg or 90 kg. There are different types of bales like bales of skirts, denims, children's wear, T-shirts, dresses, and others. These are imported from different countries like Korea, the USA, Canada, or Japan. The codes of each bale depend on items inside, the quality, and the country it came from. That is why I need to familiarize myself with many codes. But I filtered it and started with the basic and most needed first.
I and my friend decided to sell children's wear. Some of the things that we considered when we decided this are our prospects, our budget, the items, supplier, and the process.
Prospects. Our prospective buyers are parents, especially mothers.
Budget. Our budget, which is limited, came from our final payment. When the extreme community quarantine was implemented last March, we lost our job and we only got our final pay yesterday.
Items. We decided to sell children's wear because this fits everything. First is that this fits our budget. Because children's wears are smaller, there are also more items in a bale.
Supplier. My friend found a supplier here in our area. This is really good because they deliver within the day of ordering. We don't need to wait for several days.
Process. Selling online is laborious because we need to sort, post, pack, drop, then cash out. But the good thing is, we have our time in our hands.
Last night, I also made our shop's logo.
Yes. ;) The shop was named BCH Thrift Shop. We will still do the normal online selling process, but we will give more benefits to those who will use BCH as a mode of payment. We're thinking of giving some discounts and freebies to those who will use BCH. We are also willing to teach them how to use this. I am really hoping that this will click.
This is what our Facebook page looks like. Our stock arrived this morning and we are going to sort them later.
I will also post an update here from time to time. Whether this business will succeed or not, I will still post an update.
As what I wrote, we are both first timers that is why we will really appreciate any tips or suggestions. Thank you. 💕
Wish us luck guys. 😊🍀
Thanks for reading and have a great day everyone. 💕
-Gwenie
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