About Gateway Jewelry & Pawn:
Gateway Jewelry and Pawn is a family owned and operated business located in the exciting college town of Athens, GA. Their first store opened in 1985 and expanded to open a second location in 2006 – and in October 2014 had a store remodel that doubled the size of one of their locations. They pawn and sell a wide variety of items, ranging from tools and firearms to electronics and musical instruments. Also, they are proud members of the National Pawnbrokers Association and a member of the NFIB.
In July 2013, Gateway signed on with Bravo after previously using 3 different pawn software and have been a loyal customer since. A few months ago, they added on the eBay module in an effort to maximize and elevate their eCommerce presence.
Business Challenge:
One of the biggest challenges that Matt and Holly Sams face with their pawn business is the same issue many face – cash flow. However, they realized that to help alleviate those worries, they needed to leverage their online presence.
Before investing in the eBay module in Bravo, Gateway had an eBay store but only posted inventory occasionally because it was very difficult to manage inventory in store and online. Without Bravo’s eCommerce integration, they would have to pull items from the sales floor when if they wanted to list on eBay, take a picture, and formulate a listing – all of which were very time intensive and kept them from potentially selling the item in store. Now with Bravo, they are notified when an item sells online so they can immediately remove it from the sales floor or vice versa.
Buya has always been a consistent extra stream of cash flow every month but now with the eBay module, their eCommerce has become around 20% of their overall sales. They also contribute a lot of their eCommerce success to optimizing their listings with high quality and professional photos, accurate product descriptions, and using keywords in the listing titles.
Pawn Tips:
While talking with the Sams’, they provided some great tips and advice for other Pawnbrokers:
Professional Image:
It’s crucial with Pawn Shops to dissuade the preconceived notions of being dirty with a clean and well-maintained storefront. This can be difficult with inventory constantly moving in and out, but it’s very important to take the extra time to remain tidy and organized. Invest in showcases to display jewelry, and other small and valuable items, to portray yourself as a viable competitor to jewelry stores. Also, consider uniforms like matching collared t shirts with a store logo for employees.
Create Departments In Your Store:
Most pawn shops sell a variety of items so make it easier for your customers to locate the particular items they are searching for by segmenting your store into different departments. For instance, Gateway has a different section for firearms, jewelry, and even a section for musical instruments where customers can pick up the instruments and play (which also creates a great ambiance in the store).
Vinyl Window Lettering:
Gateway purchased a vinyl cutter and did their own vinyl lettering on the storefront windows. It essentially acts as a billboard advertising their services while also protecting their merchandise from mischievous onlookers.
Marketing Tactics:
The Sams’ use a variety of marketing mediums to promote their business like radio advertising, posters that they hang around town, flyers to handout to customers, and a sign twirler to draw in road traffic.
Networking With Local Businesses:
For the grand re-opening of their store in October 2014, the Sams’ reached out to the other businesses in their shopping center to participate. In exchange for donating items for their raffle and giveaways, Gateway promoted them on their social media and radio ads.
eCommerce is a MUST:
Selling online is the future and everyone is doing it, so you might as well too. Buya is only going to get bigger so it’s a no brainer. Devote more time to optimizing your eBay listings. Make sure to stuff the title with keywords, write accurate descriptions, and take high quality photos.
Great Photography:
Accurately portray your products by taking professional looking pictures for your online listings. Invest in a photobox and lighting to make your pictures look high quality. Remember, people can’t touch your items when purchasing online so a great picture is very important.
Online Presence
Ensure your website is SEO and Mobile friendly, while also monitoring and responding quickly to reviews/complaints online – it’s imperative to keep alert of your online presence.
Invest in Facebook Ads:
Not only can you post special inventory on Facebook but consider investing in targeted Facebook advertising to bring in customers who might not normally consider visiting a pawn shop. Use promos like “Receive a 10% off coupon if you like our Facebook page” to help grow your audience.
Internet Backup:
Highly consider purchasing a Hotspot for your store as a backup in case your Internet goes down. That way, if there ever is an issue with your ISP, you will only be without Internet service for about 30 seconds – keeping your business running smoothly until your ISP is back up and running.
Experience With Bravo:
Besides elevating and streamlining their eCommerce presence, using the Bravo software has helped Gateway Jewelry & Pawn immensely in their business in many other ways:
User Friendly:
Changing software programs is a huge deal for any pawn shop – between transferring inventory and retraining employees – but it is worth it in the end. Since the Bravo interface is so user friendly, employees were able to learn the software quickly and rapidly came on board.
Gold Pricing:
Before, they would lump gold together and have to manually figure out what the cost of each piece was. Now with Bravo, they don’t have to calculate the prices (based off of preset information they supplied) and also have the added functionality of splitting items.
Inter-Store Management:
Since Gateway has two locations, it is important for them to be able to track what is going on at the other store – especially when it comes to managing online inventory. Bravo links the stores together so they can view what is happening at each location and sync inventory accordingly.
Efficiency:
Anywhere you can save time in your processes greatly helps the success of your business. Gateway has noticed how Bravo makes every process so quick- they can take a photo while pulling it, print a pricetag, and place on the shelf in the matter of minutes – saving them lots of time that can be devoted elsewhere in their business.
Dashboard:
The Bravo dashboard is “like having a secretary on staff to remind you of what needs to be done,” taking the guesswork out of daily tasks. It also gives good insight as to what is currently going on in your business through the task manager and reporting available.
Support:
With other Pawn software, you have to pay a yearly fee for support and even then, may not get an immediate answer. Gateway’s experience with the Bravo support ticket system has been very positive and everybody on the support team goes above and beyond to respond quickly and precisely. Also, if there are any mission critical issues, the team is always available 24/7 to respond ASAP and to get your business back up and running.
Automatic Updates:
As a cloud-based software, Bravo is able to provide customers with automatic updates – constantly bringing new and improved features. This is unlike other pawn software where you would have to actually shut down the system and store to process an update.
Learn more about Gateway Jewelry and Pawn by visiting their website here. Also, find out for yourself if what they are saying about Bravo is true – contact a sales representative today to request a demo!
About the Author:
Tally Mack is a fifth-generation pawnbroker and eCommerce enthusiast. She loves traveling, being outside, and working out.
Before taking the reins as CEO, Tally served as Bravo's Vice President of Business Development, leading the company's sales and marketing organization. She's been instrumental in leading and executing many of the company's strategic shifts, including the acquisition of CompuPawn and the recent launch of UsedGuns.com.
Tally earned her Doctorate of Law (J.D.) from DePaul University College of Law in 2013 after attending the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she earned her B.A. in Communication Studies. She also completed the Key Executives Program from Harvard Business School in 2013.
Tally is a pawnshop lover and eCommerce enthusiast—dedicated to the success of both her employees and customers!
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