Bravo's BUYA.COM Mobile platfrom Drives Consumers to Pawnshops Stores !

Bravo’s BUYA.COM drives locals to your stores!

Over the last year BUYA.COM has become the number 1 Pawnshop eCommerce site for consumers to shop the 122 stores that sell their inventory live everyday 24/7.  

  

See store here - STORES

The magic that enables these stores to sell online is there is no posting effort required.

All the Bravo BUYA.COM sellers are experiencing heavier traffic coming into their stores.  To fortify the marketing influence of Bravo’s exclusive platform, you will find the BUYA Mobile Shop local store search.

Bravo Platform is committed to the success of its user’s every day!

ECommerce today is more about local than global.  Your community of purchasing consumers loves to buy used merchandise and all you have to do is put it in front of their nose, their phone.

This is just one feature that puts you ahead of the curve with Bravo.

 

 

 

2014 - report on Ecommerce and Pawn Shops

The web again is growing at a viral rate of growth and continues to grab the gross wallet share of consumers spending.  Count on your stores to continue being under siege.

“Last year to date announced by Channel Advisors” - Amazon up 32% - EBay up 10% - Ecommerce Marketplaces up 41%.

In addition, Buya.com up 468% and EBay|Buya API up 1168%.

The perfect match between Pawn and eCommerce was the startling realization that consumers will purchase used merchandise at an exponential rate more than previous consumption, and this has been validated since 1999 when EBay became the new disruptive commerce channel.  People love used stuff and all they needed was a distribution mechanism to gain access to this category of merchandise through the Internet.

Today there is still a shortage of used merchandise.  Amazon and EBay still continue the sell through of used merchandise.

Pawnshops with the Internet can sell unlimited number of items through their stores.  Since 1999, the web has extended its dominance through the mobile phone, as the tethered communicator of fact, gossip, and advice.

The only way for consumers to know what you have to sell is through marketing.  90% of the consumers shop on the Internet before they purchase today.  The only way for people to know what you have in your store is to have your inventory on the Internet.
Putting your inventory on the web will drive your local sales.

A pawnshop in store inventory is the most powerful marketing Ecommerce placement on the web.  Yes, your merchandise is being sought after and all your local consumers just need to know that you have it.  They would prefer instant gratification, no shipping fees, and try it out before purchasing on the web.

The bigger eCommerce becomes, the web concentric pawnbroker will become the powerhouse accommodation and supply channel of inventory.

The better the liquidity of defaulted inventory for the pawnbroker the more competitive the lending pawnbroker can become.  Paying the most to your customers for their items drives better merchandise and more business.   The number one word of mouth chats to the local population are pawnshops that pay more.

Selling fast is a retailers dream.  Why would you buy inventory and not sell it immediately.  If you have $100k inventory and sell it at a 2 times turnover, your inventory asset investment at a 50% margin will make you $200k gross profit.  That same $100k inventory turned 4 times a year will make you $400k gross profit.  Without investing more capital you can double your profit.  Its that easy, and web makes possible.

The power of turnover is the most important metric in retail today.

BUYA.COM sales have grown 100% per month for the last 12 months.  It has moved to the top 20K website in the United States this month.

Ecommerce and Pawnshop is a business eco nirvana.  

Turning your store into a ecommerce enabled store front, drives your sell through increasing your loan base.  Most successful pawnshops generate 60% of their profits through their retail sales.  

If you know that you can sell your defaulted loans easily and more profitably, you will buy more merchandise to sell and lend more money to your customers because of the increased confidence.  Its win win.  

California Pawn Brokers Convention - CAPA

CAPA Convention Recap

Bravo attended the California Pawnbrokers Association Convention this October.  It was their 58^th annual meeting in Pomona, California.

It was nearly 30 years ago as President of the Nevada Pawnbroker Association that I attended my first California convention.  CAPA was formerly known as the CLSDA.  Back in those days there was a new generation of pawnbrokers shaking the roots of original founders of the CLSDA.   Today, CAPA is led by a dynamic group of board members fostering and protecting the industry.

As a vendor and former Pawnbroker, seeing the new generation of pawnbrokers emerging, it was a very interesting experience.  There is change in the air!

The most interesting project to watch is the partnership between CAPA and the California Department of Justice – DOJ.  The partnership centers around DATA.  CAPA has decided they would prefer the DOJ to be the gateway collector rather than private industry providers like Leads Online.  The daunting challenge that these interchanges have is the dissemination of this data information to all of the law enforcement agencies, which each have their own unique proprietary platforms.  It’s like putting motorcycle engine into a Mack truck. 

15 years ago our development team worked with Los Angeles Police Department in creating their platform for collection of information.  We know this well as experts dealing with every 3 letter government agency. In the end, if the data is purposed for the intended audiences and utilized well it should serve the public well.  CAPA is blazing the trails in this new era.

The convention offered the standard industry package.  The main focus of pawn conventions from a vendors perspective is the Diamond buyers concourse.   It’s amazing to me to see pawnbrokers selling to diamond brokers in this fashion.  Over the counter transactions.  Diamonds for Cash.  Millions were exchanged.

The Gold Rush is over.  California has the history of the Gold Rush.  Pawnbrokers over the last 7 years made hay like the Gold Miners of the 1860’s.  Today, we are all back to our regular jobs.  The Pawn Industry in California is very much the same cottage industry.  And there is nothing wrong with that (as long as you can protect your turf).

What is the ironic collision in the “Golden State” are the Pawnbrokers and Silicon Valley.  Over the last 18 months nearly $500 million dollars of capital have been pumped into the secondary merchandise startups.  As eBay and Amazon have become the world’s largest sellers of used merchandise, they have become the market.  Wal-Mart is now the largest store merchant dealing in used merchandise in the world.

Technology investment looks for inefficiency.  This is a basic premise of tech investment.  This is one of Silicon Valley’s mantra.  If there is a way to create a mouse trap that creates efficiency, this is where the pocket of gold lies.  Attracts the capital.  Attracts entrepreneurs.  And if they are lucky with their vision and execute well, they cause disruption.  Like Uber has done most recently to the Taxi Cab industry.  Are Pawnbrokers efficient?

Wal-Mart is not a retail store.  They are systems company.  They are the most efficient product exchange in the world.  This is a well-documented history. Sam Walton created the most sophisticated warehousing network utilizing computing resources and network.  Wal-Mart’s disruptive business processes are delivered through technology.  Wal-Mart is on now their way to becoming the exchange station of used products to cash.  Like Pawnbrokers.

As business people, we all see obstacles each and every day and we have to choose which one to focus on.  Where our time should be focused.  The biggest bang for our buck with the limited amount of resources and time.  What are you focused on?

I have always believed that the Pawn Industry severely lags in many areas of inefficiencies.  The major reason for this lag is that we are slow to react because pawn brokering is a lucrative craft.

With the advent of our Industry exposure with reality TV, we now have Lucrative Craft + Inefficiency = Major Target of More Competition.

Start keeping your eyes open and share what you see on your forums to create awareness.  Wal-Mart is easy to see, but there are hundreds of incremental competitors poaching your business.

It’s time to start putting your energy into ways to be the most efficient.  One more time…  It’s time to start putting your energy into ways to be the most efficient.

Many of you know me, some have heard of me, and for some, this might be the first time you have read my blog.  My advice has always been…

Get better at what you do every day.  In the pawn business don’t strive to be better than other pawnbrokers. Rather, strive to be better than the best lender and retailer. 

My vision, the things I do every day, the products that I build, are all intended to put you into a leading position for the next 100 years.

I believe if done well the best days of pawn-brokering are in front of us.

Be brave.

Mobile Pawn has arrived

We believe your customers are starving for convenience and information about their loan account.  Today's pawn customers expect the same services as any bank.  

Next week Bravo launches this exclusive service to all of its customers.

The advance of mobile proliferation and nation wide adoption, your customers with Bravo's Pawnbroker Platform enables your business in providing relevant services to your customers.  Everyone wants their information via Mobile.

Bravo has made this easy for your customers to access their account by validating their active Pawn Ticket Number and Identification the first and only time.  Once this verification process is completed, they simply login into their account and they can see real time all of their loans, payments due, and across all your stores.

This simple service can reduce this time consuming calls at your store from these Pawn customers by 80%!  This increases customer satisfaction. No waiting by phone calls being put on hold and being able to offer 24/7 access to their information. 

A single store operator can save up to $1500.00 per month in productivity pickup because of the time eliminated answering these routine calls.  This is based on a store with 500 loans outstanding.  Also, by having this information readily available to your customers, your loan yields are enhanced and customer satisfaction is greater.  Customer love this new product and having this available on Mobile, offers your local customers an exclusive product.

This is a exclusive product offered by Bravo.   B different, B special, B out in front, B the best, and B a part of the Bravo Family.

Best yet, this service is included at no additional charge to our Bravo users.

Check this out on your mobile phone at:    WWW.BUYA.COM

Call us now to learn more about Bravo and other exclusive products that your customers will love.

Steve Mack

CEO - Bravo Store Systems