Supplies

• Ornament Bags
• Thank you bags for other products (Piggy Banks, Stockings, Table Toppers, etc.)
• Baskets to hold ornaments while customers are shopping (great introduction)
• Post Its to write on and stick on product so that the person writing knows the correct spelling, date, and year. (If they write the name, you will never misspell it.)
• Pens (Ornament Pens, Paint Markers, Should always have inventory)
• Cleaning Supplies — These items should be stocked at all carts. These are very important when it comes to removing an error on the product. (For example, teach your operators when they make a mistake on an ornament to put it aside, get another ornament, satisfy the customer, let them walk away, then go back and clean the ornament. No one wants to feel like they are receiving a "reject" ornament.)
  • Cotton Balls
  • Q-Tips
  • Nail Polish Remover
  • Paper Towels
  • Goo Gone/Goof Off

Personnel

• Aware of opening time and closing time
• Inform your operators they will be fined if they open late or close early
• Carts must be staffed at all times
• As the season gets busier they are going to need to make sure they have enough staff (Example, my personal carts I ran had 4-5 people working at one time). Person in charge of money, people who had no interaction with customer and people who just interacted with the customers (helping select and answer questions).
• Be concerned with:
  • Appearance
  • Hygiene
  • General Attitude
• People Oriented
  • I have entered malls and seen inappropriate material on laptops, inappropriate conversations on cell phones, ripped jeans, food all over the cart, boxes all over the floor, kids hanging out around the cart.
  • Remember if the cart does not look inviting you can not hit the target customer
    • Target consumers consist of: wives, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, etc.

Cart Set-Up

• Be honest with your operators, this process is horrible
• Labor intensive
• Time consuming
• Done at most unreasonable hours (after the mall closes)
  • Things to remember:
    • Contact Mall Security
    • Schedule Set Up Times
    • Provisions (own food, drinks, bathrooms may be a problem)
    • More people helping, the easier the process will be. 6-8 people isn't unreasonable
    • They have to build the slat wall
      • Unwrap every single ornament
      • Fill each hook
      • Clean up the floor and cart
      • Lighting (does it come with the cart or do you have to provide the lighting yourself)
      • Electric/Power to cart
      • Credit Card Machine (need either phone or wireless system)

Process for Re-Stocking

• One of the most important things no one talks about
  • If cart is busy all day it has to be done after hours
  • Which means you better have product on hand
    If you do $600 worth of business and each ornaments costs $12, that means you sold 50 ornaments. If you don't restock for 3 days, you are 150 ornaments down and you will never catch up
• Cleaning and Organization
  • Fixing Bows on Pigs
  • Taking out Garbage
  • Replacing empty hooks with available product
  • Straighten out station near register
  • Close all paint pens
  • Don't leave money or valuables on the cart
  • Where do you go with empty corrugated and garbage

Break Down

• In the past many owner-operators have been fined because they leave early, break down during mall hours and people get lazy after Christmas
  • Supplies Needed
  • Boxes
  • Personnel
  • Tape
  • Hand Trucks