Online Pound Shop

siren13577

It would cost me £2.80 on a return bus ticket to visit my local poundstore so any delivery would have to be cheaper than this as I normally go into the city centre for specific reasons, and only once a month. While I'm there I will visit more than one store so I personally don't think I would buy online. I can't really think of anything more positive but I wish your friend all the best and lots of success in whatever they decide to do.

a11waysindebt

I have tried this and the postage killed it.pound shops normally work on around 45% commission.IF you are running a pound shop already it could help move stock but thats about it.

If you do go ahead stick to only lightweight items.

lynzpower

I agree about the postage & the impulse nature of pound shops.

I generally either
a) need something like shower gel then come out with a couple of extra things ( cleaning stuff, toiletries)
b) pop in for a browse then buy something thats particualrly good.
c) pop in for a look and buy nothing

I dont think iver ever spent more than a fiver in £ shops, mainly because I simply dont need that amount of toiletries or cleaning stuff in one go.

ladyfalco

out of curiosity i added 10 £1 necklaces to my basket from the link above and the shipping was £6.50!!!! no way would i pay that......

spora

i sometimes go into pound shops to get some toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo etc as they are a lot cheaper than the supermarkets. But i wouldnt buy very much in one go so it wouldn't justify the p&p for me.

Im just trying to think about whether this idea could work. I dont think it would because either:
the customer spends say £5 and then has to pay say another £5 for postage (therefore not really worth it)
or the customer spends say £15 and pays £1 postage (which is reasonable) but then the owner would surely have to dig into their profits to cover the rest of the postage.

I hope this person researches it very carefully because i would hate for them to try only for it not to work.

Perhaps it would be worth them trying whilst keeping their shop open so if the site fails they stillhave their shop. If its a success then they can close their shop if they wish.

Maybe a good idea would be to hand out questionnaires in their shop see what their customers think

groovyjon

OK so the £5 postage was never going to be a viable option - I was just throwing it out there to get the discussion going!

So let's concentrate on the £1 postage offer with a minimum order value of £15. My client already has another online business so has some pretty attractive rates on despatching parcels so that may be viable.

zenseeker

We have a pound store in our town, and to be perfectly honest I think that £1 is way too much for some of the items that they sell! In the area of toiletries and cleaning products I find supermarkets to be cheaper, sometimes charging as little as 69p for something that £1 shops by their nature charge £1 for.

This £1 stores used to be a shop called "Card Market" and before they brought in their £1 store structure they charged 65p for a can of air freshener....but the day they changed that can went up to £1...overnight!!!

You really need to be careful in these kinds of places, not everything is the bargain that it appears to be.

As for an online £1 store, I cannot see it working very well, but if you could set up something like free P+P for orders over £25 or something like that, then you could get some business. You's have to set up a contract with a courier firm to keep postage costs as low as possible for customers.

ArsenalFC

Someone has already mentioned they have tried it and it doesn't work, there are a few few websites that sells things for a pound too, don't know how profitable they are.

Like most people going to pound shop I would probably spend £5 max. So spend £15 to get delivery for £1 just doesn't work. If spend £5 and pay £3 delivery then I wouldn't do it either. Like another poster, buying from £1 shop is sometime about going in and pick up things on impulse, so I wouldn't specifically go online to buy one pound items. Also like above some toiletries are cheaper in supermarkets.

I don't think this model will work, more hassle for little return.

D_e_n_i_s_e

tel your friend to do some market research, stand next to a pundshop till and see how much each person buys!

what iv noticed (and by no means a generalisation) is that most people in pound shops spend less than £5

now if you were to add a delivery charge which will vary (heavy stuff, bulky stuff etc) that will be another £3-4 delivery so in total it will be £9-10 altogether.

i wish him all the best, but in my opinion the logistics is too much, the product types available in a poundshop dont lend themselves to being 'post freindly' lets just say.

with regards to the £15 spend and £1 delivery offer, well id have to find £15 to spend to begin with!

Intresting point is that the poundland i visit i always take loose change with me. why??? because they only accept debit/credit cards >£5. and i never end up buying £5 worth of stuff!!!

onetomany

i would if delerivery is cheap