It has been a little while since I have written a new blog post! My life has been very busy lately but I am glad to finally returning back to my normal blogging schedule! Last Friday, Eric and I held our annual business meeting for my full-time reselling business; Typically, we run quarterly meetings throughout the year and then one bigger meeting right before the end of the year. In these meetings, we discuss the successes and failures of the business in addition to our future plans. Today, I wanted to share with you how we structure our meetings, what analytics we like to look at, and share some of my reselling plans for 2024.
The Structure of Our Meetings
During this meeting, we spend a LOT of time analyzing data and brainstorming new ideas for my reselling business. This information is vital for me to have in order to make informed decisions regarding my business’ growth for the upcoming year. Before we begin, Eric will pull 2-3 years worth of data from Poshmark and Mercari so that we can look up specific variables during the meeting. Some of these variables include best/worst selling brands and categories, gross and net sales, and profit margins/ average sales price. [Note: You can access all of your Poshmark data through the Poshmark Sale’s Report.] After looking at this data, we will slowly piece together how this information will influence my business decisions for the upcoming year.
How I Utilize My Data to Make Better Business Decisions
Brands
Since the majority of my items are sold on Poshmark, it makes the most sense for me to analyze my data from Poshmark. One variable that I like to analyze is my best/ worst performing brands over the past 2 years. Back when I was a part-time seller, I decided to focus my attention on selling mid-tier and luxury brands. Over the years, I have continued to sell mid-tier and luxury brands but the exact brands that I sell have changed with time. When it comes to the resale market, the best performing and worst performing brands change from month-to-month and year-to-year. One brand might be hot one minute and then oversaturated and barely selling for $10 the next. By analyzing my data from the past 2 years, I can see which of my bread-and-butter brands are still performing well and which ones are not. Additionally, this allows me the opportunity to do brand research and experiment with new, trendy brands that I might not have known about otherwise.
Categories
Another variable that I like to analyze from my Poshmark data is best/ worst performing categories over the past year. One of my goals for 2024 is to be much more selective with the items that I am sourcing and this data helps me to determine the best performing categories within my business. Based on my 2023 Poshmark data, my best performing women’s categories were: (1) Tops, (2) Shoes, (3) Dresses, (4) Pants and Jumpsuits, (5) Bags, and (6) Jeans. That being said, moving forward I plan on only sourcing items from these categories as they performed best in both sales numbers and the number of items sold within each category. Additionally, Poshmark’s data allows you to filter this data even further to see how each sub-category performed during the year.
Gross and Net Sales
Next, I like to analyze the gross and net sales of my business over the past 3 years. When it comes to this data, I like to look at it in the sense of “I made ___ amount of money in a year running my business __ way.” I have found through my data that there is a direct correlation between my sales performance and my business practices within any given year. When I am unable to keep up with my business practices, my sales suffer and vice versa. In the past 3 years, I have had two sales growth years and one maintenance year (More information about business sales cycles in THIS post); I can pinpoint exactly what lead to those periods and use that information to help guide my business forward. Additionally, each year, I like to set gross and net sales goals for the upcoming year with a quarterly plan describing what I need to do in my business practices to make that goal a reality.
Profit Margins and Average Sales Price
Finally, I will analyze profit margins and my average sales price. When it comes to my profit margins, they have remained between 50-55% for the past 7 years. As much as I would love to increase my profit margins, I realistically don’t think that it is doable based on the cost of goods in my area and my various platform fees. Honestly, I’m happy with my profit margins being where they are. I would, however, like to increase my average sales price in 2024. As of today, the average sales price in my closet for 2023 is $37.02 and the average sales price in Eric’s closet is $35.14. In 2024, I would like to increase these numbers to between $45-$50; In order to make that happen, I would need to source more items that yield those sales prices.
My Reselling Plans for 2024
Here are some of my reselling plans for 2024 after our business meeting:
1. Slim down my current inventory and buy less inventory overall
2. Focus on top performing categories and sub-categories within each closet
3. Continue to set a monthly sourcing budget for both my men’s and women’s closets (More on that HERE).
4. Source items that are classic, trendy, and/or unique
5. Quality over Quantity
6. Set aside money in my monthly budget specifically for experimental purchases and luxury items
7. Consistently hold quarterly meetings so that I can re-analyze data for upcoming business decisions
8. Stop selling on Vestaire Collective and begin listing on eBay
These are just a few of the many reselling plans that I have for 2024 so be sure to follow me on my reselling journey to see what other changes I bring to my business!
I hope that you find this post helpful! If you have any questions or just want to chat, please reach out!
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