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!


 

PAWNSHOPS GET HIT IN THE SWEET SPOT - LUXURY WATCHES

PAWNSHOPS GET HIT IN THE SWEET SPOT - LUXURY WATCHES

As the retail is getting slammed by Mobile and the eCommerce, big retailers like Wal-Mart, GameStop, and now Audemars Piguet. 

Used merchandise is becoming the most valuable asset class and everyone is getting into it.

Audemars Piguet will be opening 20 stand alone used stores and believe the used market is 20 times the size of new watches.

Many Pawn Brokers have found this niche to be very significant. Audemars will be taking all brands.

https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/2018-01-16-audemars-piguet-to-sell-second-hand-watches-in-stand-alone-shops/

The Mobile myth debunked

This a common myth, a stubborn one, and constantly communicated by software vendors that all don’t have the platform to support a seamless solution.

Our InstaPawn App addresses your concerns though, because before the Internet in 1998 everyone had to shop in the Brick & Mortar and there was direct correlation of your loan department location and pushing customers by your retail.  And should still be a top priority today if you get a customer in to your store. 

However, its 2017 and 20 years later, the Internet is accelerating adoption and consumers have changed their behavior.  Brick & Mortar strategy has no chance with Millennials  and Gen Z without  mobile.

So… Our InstaPawn App we created is a PawnShop in the mobile phone 24/7.  Designed for your Brand: for your store(s).  So, its your Mobile app, with your logo, your inventory, your customers, your business model.

This is the beauty of our app, when you have them on Your APP they are a customer 3x more valuable than a traditional customer that walks through your store.

• 24/7 access – Opens your store an additional 150% more hours.  How much would it cost you to keep your store open 1 hour a week.
• Shopping – see your merchandise each Day real-time.
• Lay-Away Payments – Our most popular payment - Customers love this – having to make payment for a Lay-Away in the store is a huge barrier.  This eliminates this, and they have to come into pickup.  This is the time to re-load a new Lay-Away.
• Pawn Payments – customers love this – redemption rate goes up – customers default most time because of the inconvenience of making a payment in the store.  Again final redemption payment customer must come in the store,  and this is when a retail sale can be made.  Usually loan payments are when customers have no extra spending money.
• Notices – The Mobile Phone is tethered to consumers – there is no better way to communicate.  No telephone communication.
• Coupons – motivating customers with special offers directly to their phone – no brainer
• InstaPawn – your customers can send you a picture of the merchandise they want to Pawn without coming to your store.

A mobile transaction is 80 - 90% less expensive that in your store.

Since 2013 we had loan information only available to consumers, they were pissed they could not make payments.  That is when we knew it wasn’t just a nice convience it is a consumer requirement today.

I love your quote, “sit back and let the loans roll-over”.  Yes, finally in the pawn business we can do this like any other financial institution, increasing our transaction margins significantly.

We have 25k pawn customers using the App at least 1 time per week.

Bravo customers taking advantage of our platform are kicking ass, by expanding their customer base and being the first to grab their customers phones before someone else does.

It’s a land grab and the richest opportunity are those that conduct transactions via their phone…and it growing exponentially.  How about you’re mobile usage?

Want a demo - click here http://info.bravorevolution.com/demo

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.

New Gold Rush - 6 years the fastest growing pawn system in the world - Innovation - Data - Customer Service

It’s critical to be well informed about security, Cloud, and data. Here is a series of questions to help you learn the most about your system.

Data Security:

Do you host your computer server? How is your data backed up?  How irresponsible was Hilary Clinton with hosting her own server?  Internet at your store is the gateway in letting hackers access your customer data.  Businesses today are legally liable and being found grossly negligent if you are not taking measures in protecting customers data.   What is your data encryption standard?

Customer Data:

Do you have your customer data on a server located in your store?  Owning and managing your pawn system on your server today is the single biggest risk today for pawnbrokers.   Is your vendor providing back up services?  Did you know that all of pawn software vendors do not encrypt your data?

--------------------------------

Bravo converts record number of customers converting from another system in 2016.  Talk is talk  - Our competitors talk vaporware, under deliver, break promises, and cost pawn brokers their business.  More pawnbrokers have made less profits and have shuttered stores this year more than any other year.  Why? Lack of innovation, adapting to regulations, and changing demographics are all factors of what your system should be dedicated to in helping you run your business.

Bravo continues to charge ahead with innovation, eCommerce, new applications, Mobile, Machine Learning AI, and best practices that drive efficiency and profits.   Bravo’s enhancement and new feature releases continues every 6 weeks.

In 2017, we expect 500 stores added to the Bravo Platform.  If January is any indication, we are on target for the best year ever with the biggest pawn shop brands switching to Bravo.  Pawnbrokers of all sizes - single store, multiple store operators, and international enterprises are choosing Bravo.

We launched 6 years ago. Bravo’s stability is unmatched in service uptime.  Pawnbrokers using Bravo outperform other pawnbrokers.   

Bravo makes it easy to switch.   Our conversion process is smooth.   New pawnbrokers can have Bravo running in 1 day.  Our average customer only sees 2 days of business adoption when switching to Bravo.  The days of nightmare conversions are over.

Your data is valuable.  Bravo’s expert data engineers know how to extract data and take away the headaches of getting you ready for Bravo. 

While most of the data we receive from antiquated systems is corrupt and incomplete, Bravo has invested over $1m in creating automated conversion processes with powerful data scrubbers that turn garbage data into useful data from day one on Bravo.

Remember the Gold Rush?  Bravo creates value by utilizing your data for your use.   Pawnbrokers talk about the Gold Rush being over.  Pawnbrokers that use Bravo have found that our technology and use of data creates a mountain of gold for you to utilize.  Find out why data can be of value with Bravo.  

Bravo is committed to your data security and is our #1 priority.  Bravo enables pawnbrokers full access 24/7 to all of the data in 10 common file formats.  With Bravo you see your data the way you want to with AdHoc custom reporting tools.  Don’t be subject to old technology that limits the way you run your business.

If you are interested, email me directly

Steve@buya.com

Bravo Mobile.. Lay-away Acceleration .. Mobile will UBERIZE the pawn industry.

Do you believe in the Lay-away program?  Many Pawnbrokers believe that Lay-away is more important and profitable than their loan business.  These pawnbrokers enjoy establishing a form of credit to their pawn customers without risk.  The item never leaves the store with a Lay-away.  Over 80% of the Lay-away transactions are paid off.  The most successful pawnbrokers have the most liberal terms like, Zero Down and No restocking fees.

Did you know that you can double your lay-away business by allowing your customers to pay on Mobile.  That is what our data is telling us.  Why?  I found out yesterday.  While at MaxPawn in Las Vegas owned by my brother Michael Mack, a customer over heard me training his staff, she said "making payments on Max Pawn Mobile was the deciding factor purchasing a $2,000 Chanel Purse, I hate having to make a trip to the store all the time just to make a payment.  It takes 45 minutes out of my day."

It is so obvious.  So customer Service.  How much does everyone need and require convenience today?  No one is more aware of their time and expense than value conscious pawn customers.

Below check the Mobile work flow for your customer.

Bravo Offers a complete Mobile Platform for your Company.  Your Brand.  Your Customers all fully mobilized.  In this example once logged in, your customer has your pawnshop in their hands.  

We are highlighting Lay-away in this article.  Customer can see all their transactions, and  make payments through PayPal.  The transaction is 100% automated.  Funds are directly deposited into your Company PayPal account.  Your Company PayPal account shows the mobile payment with the transaction number.

The customer account balances are all updated. A receipt in your store will print when a Mobile payment is made. Payments can be made 24/7.  Its like magic. Customer receives a bar coded mobile receipt.  Cash in your company account.... BAM.

Don't fret that not having your customer making payments in your store will deter future purchases.  Convenience over rides this notion.  Lay-away defaults cancellations are less frequent because through the Mobile app they are notified when a payment is due.

As well our data shows that customers purchase when they payoff and pickup their item.  Again, this makes sense that once a customer has paid off one Lay-away they are ready to do it again.

Our data as well shows, customer make more frequent payments on Mobile.  Its to early to tell, but we believe that the lay-away will payoff sooner.

Want a Demo - Click Here


Email our Bravo Mobile Expert
Tally.Mack@Buya.com

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.