Making the Most of the Off-Price Show

If you are headed to Las Vegas for Las Vegas Fashion Week and all the shows taking place in Vegas in February, I want to talk to you today about one of them in particular. Because if you've been a part of the Hub and retail bootcamp for any period of time, you know how important it is to me for you to understand how our entire industry works. From those of you who have been on our trips to la to understand the textile market and how patterns and prints come to be, how how they move their way through the manufacturing process, through importing and overseas development, to how the products land in a brand's warehouse and what happens when an order is canceled or when a product simply doesn't sell well, that's when they end up in the off price market. Now, the off price market has historically been a little bit quiet to the boutique industry, but in the last several years I feel like we have really uncovered the opportunities for boutique owners and to find great margin builders at this type of show and to test and to dabble in so many different product categories. So today, my friend Tricia, who we've worked for or worked with for a few years now at the Off Price show, she's the executive director of the show, is joining me to talk about what to expect this February, how the off price market is changing and what you can expect to see not only in February, but also look forward to in August as our off price market evolves. And of course, if you are headed to Vegas, you so are we. We're going to see you there. We're hosting an event at the Off Price show which I'll tell you about in today's podcast, but also a meetup for all of our members both at Las Vegas Apparel and at Magic. We will see you at all the shows to make sure that you are buying all the goodies that you need for your boutique to be successful this year. Guys, get ready to meet my friend Tricia. As we uncover all the details of this year's off price show, Let's talk about your business strategy and the ju juicy details of what actually works from mainstream fashion to fashion on Main street and the entire ecosystem behind it. How do we scale your company and do it with the balance and the happiness that we all seek? Let's hear from those insiders, experts and strategists that actually make it happen. I'm your host Ashley Alderson from the Boutique Hub and I can't wait to chat. Hey, welcome back to the show this week guys. I am pumped because it is show Season. It is a very busy season for so many of us. And so today we are going to take some time to talk about, I would say, one of the shows that is probably one of the most underutilized shows, but one of the most important shows that happens in Las Vegas and that's the Off Price Show. So, Trisha, thanks so much for joining me today. You're the, you're the executive director of the Off Price Show. We've worked with you for how many years now? I feel like we've been coming to.

The show, it's kind of so long I can't keep track. But I know I've known you for a long time now, so.

Yes. And fun fact, I'll never forget when I figured out that like your team is Wisconsin, like Milwaukee based. How cool is that?

Yeah, yeah. We're right in each other's backyard.

Right, right. And we're just, we're mutually complaining about the winter as we speak as it's like 11 below outside and we're dreaming of going to Vegas. Well, I'm excited to talk about what is new and what is changing this year at the Off Price show because the last couple of years there was such a cadence of all the shows in Vegas and now the last couple of years, obviously with COVID things have changed so much. So today is going to be a good refresher of what is the off price show, why would you shop the show, how to shop the show and really where is its place in our industry? And this is fascinating. I think to be a good business owner you have to have like this full circle view of how our industry works and the life cycle of the products. So you are going to walk us on this journey. So can you start with if anyone is unfamiliar with what is off price? What is off price? Sure.

Well, historically, you know, off price has been that place where you would find last season, maybe out of season merchandise, things like that. And you know, you could find great deals on brand names, designers, things like that. For boutique owners, it was a long time way to find great margin builders for sales that you would run. But we're not just for Black Friday anymore. I think one thing that the pandemic has taught us is that we all need to evaluate our business pivot and find new opportunities to help us make money. And so off price is evolving along with that. And so not only can you still find those great deals at our show, but now we're helping find those strategic margin builders, whether it's accessories. At your point of at Your point of sale displays, home and gift. A lot of people are introducing new categories into their stores just to add added value and be more of a one stop shop. And so off price is evolving with that too. And we're finding a lot more vendors above and beyond the traditional apparel, footwear and accessory that people have known off price for.

I like that I want to hear about those vendors in just a minute. But to bring it home in case you're like, okay, that makes sense. But where have I seen this before? And I always like to relate it to TJ Maxx and Ross and like these off price, like big box stores which are slightly different than off price. But at the end of the day, if you're a boutique and you have overstock, you have to run a sale to move things out. And our vendors are the same. When they have something that's out of season, that didn't sell, they have to move it out so they can make room for what's new. And so there is this huge opportunity for like you said, these low priced items that are way below wholesale that we as boutique owners can come in and buy. We can mark up not just three times, but maybe five times, six times, whatever it is and really get some great margin out of it. And traditionally like you said, you know, Black Friday is when we use margin builders a lot. But there's so much room all year long to use this. Tell me how you've seen this off price market evolve, especially in the last two years.

I think the biggest part is that people are actually understanding, I think people understanding how off price can be strategically in your store. Even though you don't consider yourself an off price store. You can be a traditional brick and mortar and you know, do find those unique pieces that you do the traditional keystone markup. But wait a minute, I have, you know, it's summer. I'm thinking about bringing sunglasses in to my, into my store. I can find great, great selection and items at, at our show. And it's like you said, it's not just the keystone markup. It' sometimes three to five times you can mark that up and just think about that great profit margin that you can get. And it's just something that's kind of you wouldn't even think about. And so I think people are educating themselves and getting a lot smarter about their pricing, pricing strategies in their stores.

Yeah, and it's for brick and mortar like you say. And it's also for online, online live sellers. I mean it's open to anybody. But when I think about like I grew up in a town of 1600 people, right? Real small town. And it was an hour and a half to the local Walmart. Like we were kind of the middle of nowhere for a brick and mortar store in a town like mine. There's such an opportunity to go to off price and to bring in the things that your local community needs. But maybe you don't want to do a full run of. I mean there's things like swimsuits and underwear and socks and every single thing you can imagine available at the show. And it's a fun way to test new product lines that you may not have carried new categories but also really serve your local community in a unique way.

That is a very good testimonial, Ashley, about that. You know, we always talk about off price is a great way to have a low risk investment to try new categories in your store and small towns. It keeps them certainly more competitive against those big box stores. You know, when you can buy something very similar to what you would find at a Walmart or wherever it might be and you can buy it at 20 to 40% below wholesale and still mark it up at that same price, you're still making a nice profit there.

Yeah, it's a great way to do that. And especially there's brand names there too. I feel like I've seen like billabong things and I mean Hanes obviously and all kinds of brand names. So you can get in and test those things and have that name recognition with customers a lot of times too without that huge upfront investment.

Yeah, absolutely. And I think one of the things with the, that everybody knows and is aware of because it's in the news a lot is the supply chain disruption is that you are going to find a lot more of those recognizable brands in our traditional market.

So I want to talk about that. I was in TJ Maxx the other day actually in the home goods part, looking for something. Towels. It's always my go to for towels.

Yes.

And the store was really empty and I was like, gosh, I wonder, you know, how does this trickle down to the off price industry? I wondered with the supply chain, is that making off price harder to come by because goods are limited or how has that supply chain impacted the off price industry?

Yeah, it's actually the opposite of that. It will be easier to find goods in our market. So you know, I think think back to just before Christmas and everybody was worried about getting their Christmas gifts and we saw those big shipping containers out in the ports and Things like that. Well, that stuff still has to come into and be unloaded. But by the time that that's happening those, those retailers that had originally placed those orders, they no longer have a need for that. But that inventory has to go somewhere. And so that's where off price comes in. And so all of those goods that were stuck out in, out in the ocean are going to find their way into the off price market. And we are actually just starting to see that into our February show. We're hearing from a number of our vendors that they're getting some great products, some good deals on some of this product that is finally catching up in the supply chain.

So yeah, that's really interesting to see how that and I'm sure in August we're going to see even more of that.

Yeah, it's like I said, it's starting to trickle in. So now in six months time, you know, we're expecting that it's a fully be in the market. So yeah, interesting.

I so a little bit of education I want to give to maybe someone who's a newer boutique owner who has maybe made the statement in the past and that is I saw Cancan Jeans being sold at Blah, right. Or I saw this name brand that I bring him into my boutique being sold at Blah and there's a lot like this knee jerk reaction that some new boutique owners will have saying how dare they like they should be selling to only me, the boutique. But I think when you understand the off price industry and how it works a a lot of times there's no control over where some of the goods and products go.

Right.

They're being bought in bulk. And so we aren't able to say okay, this can't be sold in this type of establishment. It can only be sold into boutiques. Can you talk to me about that? Like how some of the brands end up there and how some things are bought in bulk in that way? Sure.

You know, you did definitely touch on it. There is that, you know there will be a wholesaler or a vendor that will find this deal where it's a factory that's trying to unload all like a canceled order for example that like you say Tin Can Jeans.

Somewhere in.

The supply chain canceled an order. But this factory is left with this inventory taking up space in their warehouse. So it has to go somewhere and that's where you find the vendors in our markets and you will find some brands that won't allow it and will only sell it as you say to certain boutiques. And it is Unique to that, but they still have a need to offload that inventory and so they can't just sit on it forever. So that's where a lot of times some of these off price vendors will come in. And that's where you find those great deals on some brands that you're looking for.

I like that. Have you also seen, I feel like this is a trend we are definitely seeing is someone who maybe is primarily apparel and now they're dabbling into other spaces. So they're dabbling into that gift or they're dabbling into some different types of accessories. I'm assuming there's all kinds of opportunity to get those different categories at off prices.

Yeah, we're seeing more and more of that. You know, I speak from personal experience. I was shopping prior to the holidays in a footwear store and as I'm waiting to check out, I see they have all of like the makeup, wipe removers and chapsticks and I'm like, when did Beauty come into a footwear store? But it makes sense. You're sitting there waiting and those are like those impulse purchases that you just can't, you just can't hold back on. You know, you always need those things. So I think those are some of the newer vendors that we're seeing. And we created an entire section at the show called Evolve where you'll find a lot of these more unique items like home and gifts. So candles, soaps, makeup and beauty, those types of things, we're kind of corralling all of those guys into one section called Evolve to make it easier for the retailers to find because that's not what you would traditionally come to off price for. And it's great to see some of those things trickling into our market as well.

Yeah, it is. It's such a great way for stores. I always think of like the Old Navy model. Right. When you're walking through Old Navy and you have to snake through this line and there's like your kids are grabbing all the crap and you're yelling at them to put it.

Yeah, yeah.

But what a great way to increase your average order value. Right. And your margin at the end of the day.

So very good.

Well, one thing I wanted to mention today, Tricia, is we, we've worked together for so long just to spread the awareness of the off price show because I firmly believe it's really important that boutiques know about it and know how to use this side of the industry. So we are teaming up again. We're going to be doing a tour. Do you want to give the schedule and the lay of the land of what we have planned together while we're in Vegas in February?

Yeah. So we will. You are right. We are doing a tour with boutique pub members and I think the best way for anybody to start to dabble into off price is to take one of our tours. Because education is king in terms of the off price industry. So we've worked with your team to come up with a Bubbles and Bobbles event on Tuesday, February 15th at 10am in the morning. And essentially we'll have some drinks, some sweets, and then our team will walk you around to the show and really highlight some of these things that we talked about today. Really give you that firsthand experience on how off price is can benefit your retailers. We really find that us walking through, getting to understand what retailers are looking for, we love to help people understand and that light bulb moment of off price coming to them. Yeah.

So good. And one other thing to note is your show starts before some of the other shows and obviously it's Super Bowl Sunday this year. So where can the guys find the game? And tell me about the benefit of coming and shopping off price before you go to the other show.

You're right. So we are, we do kick off Las Vegas Fashion Week on Sunday. So we do open before the other markets and really we do that by design to give people the opportunity to come find some deals and steals at our show and then go to the other events in town and find all those other things that they might be looking for, understanding trends and things like that. So you're right. We do open on a pretty important Sunday in the football world. The game does kick off local time in Las Vegas just before 3:30. So we will be live streaming the game that day for anybody that's interested in watching and doesn't want to go out into the casinos or whatnot and try to fight the crowds. We'll have drinks, appetizers, things like that. And for those that want to continue shopping, we'll still be open and the vendors will be ready for you.

Awesome. And where is the show?

So we are back in our home. It's formerly called the Sands Expo. They have just updated their name to the Venetian Expo. But back in our home where people would traditionally find us in Las Vegas.

Perfect. And actually I feel like it's such a good change. Like they needed to be the Venetian Expo a long time ago because everyone's like, where is this?

It was a bit confusing between the two.

For sure. Yes, for sure. Well Trisha, thanks so much for coming on the show today. I look forward to seeing you in Vegas. We both will be a lot warmer. Praise the Lord. We'll get out of this negative temperature. But thank you as always for all that you do. This is a really important message to share.

Yeah no, we appreciate your time and are here to help whenever anybody needs.

Awesome. Thanks so much. We'll see you soon.

Thanks Ashley.

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Sam.