The best advice I ever received, and as a result I can now manage any business in any industry with no issues…
“Hire out your stress. Hire out what you don’t want to do. Don’t like to do.”
May be easier said than done, but if you find creative ways to have someone else do what you don’t like about your father’s business, then do it. You are the new generation. Inject your own into it such as what other suggested… youtubing your new found adventure. Make it an challenge instead of a chore. Make your life interesting. Set up the studio in the shop or office or wherever. Soon as you have an idea, get to recording. Compile those videos. Involve your staff. Make it fun for yourself. You will see in no time, it won’t be as bad. It’s what you make of the situation that matters… ANY SITUATION.
It’s all up to you. good luck.
Everyone has provided excellent advice and insight, but unfortunately you have to have multiple sales channels in this day and age to be profitable. Especially if you are paying for retail space. You need to maximize your revenue as much as possible and this entails other channels…
- Instagram Shopping - Take nice photos (videos are better) of your products. Invest in a good quality phone or camera for this purpose. Be consistent and post regularly. No customers in the shop, get to posting. There are also apps which let you schedule out your posts. So if you take 50 photos / videos in 1 day, spread them out so they drip post 1-3 every day. The algorithm will love that, and start to show your posts more often to new people who have interests in what you are posting about. Make sure you use hashtags which may lead to new people finding out about your business #cowboyclothes #cowboyclothing #cowgirlclothes, you get the idea.
- TikTok Shop - I know I know, it’s a horrible platform. But its great for selling stuff. We don’t use Tiktok on a personal level, but we damn well post on here frequently as a business. We recycle the same photos / videos from IG here.
*** Make sure you have an online presence to send these customers to your site to checkout. Both platforms use their own shopping platform, but its good to have your own so that you can control that data / customers.
And also get on these other notable apps and start selling what doesn’t sell in your store…
- Mercari
- OfferUp
- Vinted - completely free to sell
- Depop
- ThredUp
- Vestiaire - International community of shoppers
- Grailed - A men’s clothing platform.
- Swap.com - a great online consignment shop. They only sell 2nd hand, but if you have any returns you got stuck with, this may be a good option.
- Buffalo Exchange - they buy clothes and resell them. They favor higher end brands.
As you can see you have plenty of channels.
TIP: I would create 3x5 flyers with X% off your next order. Track future sales by using specialized discount codes. Say, if you sell on Mercari, include a flyer that has a coupon code “MERC10” so you know that’s where the lead came from. Then you can see which works better and can then prioritize those channels since they bring in more leads.
Well, hope this helps some. I know it sucks to have a retail store and you still have to sell online, but it’s just the nature of the beast now now a days. Hard to compete otherwise. Plus, you’ll be securing your future going this route.