Pawnbrokers running eCommerce / eBay operations losing money ? Like GAP?

This last week in San Francisco, I found myself in KIds Gap shopping for my grand daughter.  I was so impressed with the merchandising.  Perfection in assortment and color. Store Traffic was light.  The sales personnel were either straightening stock or busy scanning merchandise.  

My first reaction was store audit, as the employee was behind a wheeled counter was all wired in - headset / scanner / printer.

The Wheeled counter was the Point of Sale fixture, but was missing all of the traditional computer peripherals. The employee was scanning merchandise for a online sale and behind him was a box of completed bagged, tagged ready for USPS.

When we approached the employee he immediately stopped and re-focused on us, the in store customer. Using the same Point of Sale but switching printer to in-store receipt off he went scanning our merchandise. The employee could perform multiple tasks, communicate any questions we posed, and handed the scanner for the customer to finish the transaction.

Yes, the customers have to do their part.  Efficient, courteous, fast and complete.  And as soon as we were done, back to the online sales flowing into the store and producing more sales than the few customers strolling and shopping.

My old school retailing wondered if customers felt neglected.  I think those days are done.  Retail customers are accustomed to being smarter shoppers and want fast efficient check out, everyone is in a hurry. 

One of my take away's was the realization of what Bravo Pawn Systems has done for the Pawn Industry by bringing this vital business process to Pawnbrokers. GAP hit hard by online has turned it stores into efficient and still beautiful retail full commerce stores.

The last question I asked the sales person was how long had he been fulfilling web sales? A couple of weeks and had replaced the online fulfillment that normally was performed down stairs.  I prefer to stay busy and we can operate the entire operation with fewer employees. 

As the CEO of Superpawn, 1999 the web was lifting off.  eBay gentrified used goods and as well all used goods became mainstream selling asset like used cars.  Selling on eBay was fun, fast, and had lots of customers purchasing, not just shopping.  

At Superpawn we got right into the swing, centralized operations, moving merchandise, hiring drivers, and eventually a eBay team.  Everything looked good.  Except for that 6 month duration our net profits declined.  We also noticed our store were getting cherry picked and our inventories were looking shabby and getting older. 

Funny how a great plan goes to hell.  Our eBay team learned fast what merchandise was easy to post, what merchandise was in factory boxes were easier to ship, and before we knew it our store managers were complaining their opportunities were diminished. 

We studied our effort and found our cost to sell was way to high.  We found this out through an accounting practice called "Activity Based Accounting".  

Logistics - Drivers, trucks, and breakage - Most expensive logistic operation.  Really expensive and no return on effort or investment.

Centralized Warehouse - although it seemed centralizing was the way to become efficient, it doubled our cost to sell in the store.  Lots of wasted effort no return on investment.

Inventory turnover was better and we saw extraordinary price lift on merchandise we normally had to discount to get rid of. 

1992 we were using BCLS - Breeze Collateral Loan Systems much like Pawn-Master, Hi-tech, Dazzle still sell pawnbrokers.  As it was outdated then in late 1999 we launched PRIMA - Pawn Retail Internet Management Analysis Systems.  Building out the first Enterprise Multi-store Pawn System our vision was to streamline eCommerce with the Pawnshop operation into one.

Bravo platform launched in 2011 is now 20 years ahead our competition.  Only Cloud Platform with multiple mobile offerings including online pawn. 

Bravo Shopkeeper - Chat Pawn Shop

What we found out in 1999, GAP had experienced the same in 2015.  You can not run separate operations to maximize profits when operating a store and online.  But you can do both.  And why not?  When you look back at GAP they had huge hemorrhaging as they evolved we are seeing many pawnbrokers losing profits and many closing. 

MobilePawn - Get a Pawn from over 1000 stores

Today's pawn operators must develop their employees in multitasking commerce personnel.   As employees are getting harder to find, wages are going up, business operators have to figure out how to drive more profitable activities from their employees. Get more efficient.  Our work force is better educated, tech savvy, and love to use mobile devices. 

Another antidote.  When you get good at running your Pawn business as a full service commerce operator, your LOAN business will grow.  Number one reason your employees turn away loans is they are concerned they can not sell it.  They tend to lend less in item categories they are wary of and lack confidence.   Selling online accelerates inventory turnover driving more confidence, and lending up.

Time is running out for the tech lagers as MobilePawn will be the number #1 Pawnbroker this year. Customers using mobile to pawn and bring their items for a quick efficient predictable experience.

Making the transition from your old system has never been easier.  With over 1000 pawnshops switch to Bravo give us a call or sign up for a demo - Bravo!


 

Bravo innovates stream line process of items returned.

Bravo innovates stream line process of items returned.

Challenge

Merchandise returns—and the associated credits, inventory updates and reconciliation—challenge suppliers and 3^rd party alike; all other systems continue to use manual processes. Manual processes can double the amount of time and cost; impacting the pawnbrokers’ ability to manage inventory, labor, accounts payable, inventories, orders, and receivables. The “return” is the biggest cost for retail operations and for Pawn twice.  This can take up to 4 hours to complete.

Solution

Bravo revolutionized the automated return process by creating a seamless (RMA – Return Merchandise Authorization, Partial Refund) process for Pawnbroker Store Operations.

• ·         Automated Customer Authorization
• ·         Task Manager automatically alerts store personnel
• ·         Pre-printed shipping label w/ barcode authorization code
• ·         Return item verification process
• ·         Automated refund with 3^rd party payment processor
• ·         Automated complete work flow communication via email to customer.  
• ·         Return item quality assessment process.

Benefits

The return process is much faster.  Customer experience meets Online customer expectation.  Reactivating inventory back to selling status immediately.  Returning funds to customer expeditiously and accurately.

eCommerce – Selling online in the Pawnshop is essential today and processing each transaction efficiently determines profitability.   If you take too much time you lose.  The return process is the hardest transaction to complete accurately and processing returns manually inherits internal theft loss.

Bar Coded Label Scan opens Return to the specific transaction

Many online customers will keep merchandise with a partial refund.

Top 10 reasons when choosing a system for your PawnShop – #3 Your system must be on the Cloud

The dollars saved in upfront costs alone pay your expenses and can result in a net ZERO cost forever.

 

The dollars saved in upfront costs alone pay your expenses and can result in a net ZERO cost forever.  I know I typed that twice, but I wanted to make sure you see what I’m saying. 

There is no business in the world other than pawn where cash is so important and so critical. 

Cash in the stores register to make loans to individuals is the mainstay of the pawn business.  So often, pawnbrokers run into a wall while growing the business, so you end up turning away a customer’s loan because you ran out of money.  

The pawnbroker’s yield of dollars lent to a customer for their collateralized assets is between 110%  - 240% per year.   There is no lending business in the world that offers up an opportunity like this.  At the end of the day, every dollar that you save on costly up-front fees and put into your loan business as quickly as possible is the mission critical everyday effort.

  

The Cloud saves you big money.  Cloud systems offer today’s big solutions for a fraction of the price.  Does the company have experience developing a Cloud Platform?  A Cloud platform is a major investment. On average, a Cloud Platform takes 3-5 years to develop and $10 - $50 million dollars invested. The business model is predicated on lots of people using the platform at the same time to share the overall cost.

Cloud platforms should not require proprietary hardware.  They should not require a server.  They should not require special printers.  They should not require special routers and network.  They should not restrict where you can access the system. 

Cloud platform should be easy to use from anywhere from day one. It should be a snap to transfer. 
  

Today, the internet’s dependability is amazingly robust, secure, and has gotten really fast, which has also reduced the on-site hardware cost.  A quality Cloud product should reduce your hardware requirements.

  

A reduction of upfront dollars for hardware required by traditional server-based vendors when implementing a store is eliminated. A start-up fee or one-time “unit price” should be eliminated. The Cloud doesn’t demand software licensing fees, like Pawn Master’s $4,000 - $12,000”.  Never again should you have to lay out these dollars.  

For a pawnshop that makes a minimum of 110% yield on their money, that in itself pays for the Cloud services free forever.

Read the fine print.  Not all Cloud offerings are equal.  There are no short cuts that some vendors take.  Some providers host their cloud in public shared facilities.  Sarbanes Oxley Federal Regulations prohibits the use of these facilities and offerings for data storage.  Why do you think they require this?   This is a basic requirement.

Pawnshop business requires a mission critical product.  You can’t afford to be down.  Not only should the Data Center be located in a Private Cloud, but the technology needs be advanced commercial quality.  Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM are the best in the tech industry.  You need to make your bet on a technology that will be around for the next 30 years.

Quality Cloud providers update their systems routinely, in short cycles, and will continuously improve and add features.  When was the last time your current product was updated?  This is a basic requirement.

Be wary of “products videos of the future”.  See the product, use the product, require your vendor to allow you to try out the product.  See it and use it before you commit. 

Take advantage of the Cloud... Move your store to the next level.

Bravo Announces NEW PRODUCT LAUNCH AT NPA - 2016 - InstaPawn Mobile

Get ready to see the most important product ever to hit pawnbrokers and their customers.

So we just finalized the biggest Pawn System Merger with Compupawn and Bravo last week and this week we start showing off InstaPawn Mobile for your customers to make payments on Loans, Lay-Away, InstaPawn, Shopping, Coupons, and Notifications all seamless through Bravo Pawn Store System.

Customers will be able to make all types of Pawn Payments - Renewals, Redemptions, Partial Payments, Extensions and even Pick-Up notification.

Lay-Away Payments - customers love the pawnshop lay-away, so get ready to make it easier with fewer cancellations. Bravo gives you flexibility to set up any term and payment frequency.
Now your customers get gentle reminders on their phone and make payment.

Shopping 24/7 will never be easier for your customers. Entice your customer to purchase with Coupon Promotions. Increase your customer loyalty, sell your merchandise faster, increase your yield and profits.

Shop all your Stores  Now you can operate like a national chain and have all your customers from your 1 store or all your stores see your entire inventory 24/7 real time.  Purchase to Pawn - any item purchased through the mobile app will automatically feed into future loans tied to the customer.  Loan - Sell - Loan again.

InstaPawn - What is InstaPawn? We put Bravo into your customers mobile phone so they do the loan. With 2 clicks, a customer can submit a item for pawn from their mobile phone, get confirmation from your store, and simply show the barcode on their phone and get a loan.

Never have long lines in your store again. Can you imagine having your customers bringing in merchandise pre-evaluated, entered into the system, and tied to your customer? Imagine no more.

Customer satisfaction will sky rocket with InstaPawn.  Customers will know what they get before they get to your store.  Customers will never be disappointed again.  Customer will pawn more frequently bringing in more merchandise.


So, you are wondering, do I want my customers being able to make payments and shop without having to come into your store?  Before mobile, probably.

Coupons  Customers love coupons and now you can direct coupons to your customers and entice them to shop and transact with promotions you create. 

But today customers demand convenience.  Everyone has less time, and its really expensive to drive every time to your store.  Customers that know they have this convenience will transact more frequently, pay on their loans more consistently, and will have no reason to try the other Pawnbroker down the street.

Mobile Notifications - the number one reason why pawn customers default on their loan is they forget!  They pawned because they wanted it back.  Everyone wins when the customer pays.  Make it easier and more convenient.

Mobile Payments costs Bravo Users a fraction of what it costs you to transact in your store.  As your employee costs increase with higher minimum wages, health care costs, and general overhead, this application will give you the ability to grow your business and stabilize your overhead expenses bringing in more profit to the bottom line.

Company Branded Mobile  Did you notice the mobile application is for your company to build your brand.  This is all about your company and the way you want to run your business.  Bravo customizes each company to the way you want to run your business.

Payments with PayPal  Seamless payments with PayPal directly into your account.  Doesn't get any easier.

NPA - 2016

This year we are having parties at our corporate offices before and after the NPA show.  Anyone wishing to come to our offices to see our team and products please let me know.