Why Your Uniform Store Should be a Revenue Centre, Not a Cost Centre

Uniform stores in schools are a tricky business to run. While they can contribute to the overall revenue, it’s not their sole purpose. After all, once a parent has bought all the appropriate uniform pieces, they rarely will be needing to make another purchase so soon, unlike tuckshops (which are profit centres).

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Just like any business, a well-run uniform store is one that makes ordering uniforms easy, inexpensive, fun and without being wasteful. So, how do you turn your uniform store from a cost centre to a revenue centre? My School Connect provides some suggestions on how to ensure your school uniform shop brings in revenue.

Depend on parent or community volunteers

Removing overheads like salaries can help cut back on wage costs. Instead, encourage parents or community members to volunteer their time for just a couple of hours to manage your school uniform store. It doesn’t have to be open every day – simply pick times and days that the uniforms can be picked up. Set up a rotating roster between the volunteers so your store works like clockwork.

Market your uniform store

You could sell the most beautiful uniforms, made from the finest fabrics and at an affordable price, but if you’re not promoting their existence, who’s going to know about them? Not many people. That’s why you need to market your school uniform, and do it well.

While you might already know about presenting your uniforms in a clean window display, the trick is to keep it fresh by regularly updating the display. You could also put up posters around the school promoting any new pieces.

Don’t forget about the power of social media, either. Take advantage of your school’s wide reach when it comes to its Instagram or Facebook account and post photos, stories and relevant information about your uniform store.

Assess the strategy

Is there something you could be doing differently with your school uniform shop? Can you improve quality, price, service or speed? If so, it could be time to renegotiate terms with your uniform supplier. Or, you could adopt a more efficient method of operation within your team of staff. Don’t forget that every dollar saved lessens the burden.

Drop the excess stock

There’s not much worse than ending up with excess stock and finding that sizes or styles aren’t moving as fast as you’d expected. In the future, you can let parents know that you will be placing an order with the supplier for uniforms, rather than holding any excess stock for them. This saves space in your shop as well as prevents stock sitting around gathering dust.

Uniform shopping made easy with My School Connect

If you’re looking for an affordable way to run your uniform shop, why not try My School Uniform? Our school uniform app gets your school set up in a matter of minutes. Simply register and upload your available school uniform for parents to purchase online.

Our online ordering system is simple for staff to operate and parents to use. If you would like more information, please contact us today.