Last week, Kelsey (kjansy) was our featured Poshmark user on the Posh Spotlight.  Kelsey has seen quite a bit of success on the Poshmark selling platform, and treats her closet like a serious business.  Utilizing her industry knowledge, she has developed key strategies for selling on Poshmark. Let’s take a look on her strategies on managing a successful Poshmark closet!

When Kelsey sources, she already has a certain idea of what she needs to purchase:

• Basics and fashion staples that she calls  “evergreen styles”.  These are items that are always needed and wanted.
• She takes into consideration seasonality, weather changes so that her stock matches the season.
• She researches potential profit before purchasing an unfamiliar or new item.  This is done by reviewing comparative listings.
• She finds unique one of a kind items that are also in demand/popular.
• She also visits the California Market Center, Cooper Building, etc. where all major department store buyers go during market week etc.  This can help with what’s trending.

Kelsey utilizes a weekly dashboard, which only takes a couple of minutes to review. In includes the following:

• Aging Inventory/ Inventory plans. She reviews aging inventory and determines viability.  She looks at inventory at 30-60 days, 61-90 days, and 91+ days.
• Sell-through of her shopping trips.
  • What’s working, What’s not.
  • How long is it taking to sell through and how should she turn more inventory (inventory turn)
• Dollar valuation on inventory that hasn’t sold or hasn’t been listed yet.
  • What actions are required to to sell?
  • Is there a need to re-list or take a new cover shot?
  • Should it be moved to another selling platform?
• Keep track of the money in unlisted inventory
• Sku efficiency
  • What are the performing skus?
  • What should be bought?
• Gross margin by category

“When you calculate your total ROI, it’s important to have the total cost and gross margin only related to sales you’ve already made and not inventory as a whole. It’s harder to understand where your successes or failures are when you include costs of overall inventory that you haven’t sold yet. Analyze your success on the inventory you already sold. Plan for what you need to sell.” – Kelsey Jans

When it comes to managing her listings and ensuring sales, Kelsey believes these tips help:

Use SEO Best Practices

SEO allows content to be searchable via google and Pinterest. These are the top search engines. When people are searching, they are looking to buy. Within a few days, a Poshmark listing will show up in search.  It’s important not to intentionally use the wrong keywords. Search engines will pick up on this and can exclude or ban users from search results.

Track and Analyze Inventory

It’s important to understand where it goes and what categories have a faster turn rate? What is the story behind the inventory?

Increase visibility

Apply to be a suggested user or host a posh party. Gain more followers which leads to more shares and more sales.

Follow strategically

Think about what areas the items may sell.  Consider the different climates, income levels and add people from cities where inventory may sell.   Follow people who wear the sizes that you are selling.  What sizes are you not selling? Lastly, follow new users who might need to use their first $5 off posh credit.

Develop a Sharing Strategy

• Don’t share from your feed, share from categories Ex: Tops under Women’s listings. You want new eyes on your closet.
•  Share from your closet then switch to sharing items from the women’s listings and repeat ( not your feed! You need fresh eyes!). The people who share your listings back as a thank you tend to share the first few items in your closet so if you keep changing the order of your listings, you’ll be able to have a variety of listings shared not just the top 4 etc.

Packaging Makes a Difference

Add detail to packaging but don’t put a lot of money into packaging supplies. Kelsey utilizes wholesale bulk of white tissue, twine, kraft labels in the shape of a heart, which shes uses write a thank you message. 

Don’t Underestimate Good Photographs

You don’t have to be the best photographer:0; just get listings up. The cover photo can always be adjusted later.  If it isn’t listed, it can’t sell. Make do with what you have for the time being. Sometimes artsy photos won’t provide buyers with an idea of what the item looks like or how it might fit. You don’t want to risk a return.

Utilize Batch Processing and Listing

Take all photos in advance. Take photos with the tape measure so you can refer to measurements later. Sit down, and write descriptions ahead of time so you can just upload the photos, then copy and paste the description.

Most Importantly….

Take risks. Life is short. Don’t become complacent. Find out what you’re passionate about and GO FOR IT!

Thank you Kelsey for a very detailed and useful guide on managing a successful Poshmark closet. It’s easy to see how lucrative these strategies are, and it seems that her Poshmark sales are increasing every month! Please visit her closet and take a look!

💙, jenn

 Want to join Poshmark? Sign up and use my code HWUQL for $5 credit! My closet is jenn_sd.