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Online Pound Shop
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I think most people only buy small amounts- mainly impulse buys thinking they have a bargain.
When people buy online they have longer to consider whether they really want to buy it or not.
I dont know anyone that would spend £15 in a poundshop (unless christmas) and i dont think its the right time (ressesion) to open one.:starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod::starmod:0 -
I have a client who is thinking of transfering his pound shop into an online version.
What do you guys think of the idea? Would you use an online pound shop? Would you be willing to pay a fiver for delivery? What if the delivery charge was lowered to £1 but there was a minimum spend of £15?
I’d be grateful for any feedback and opinions, good or bad!
Free research on MSE so you make money in consultancy to your 'client'? :rolleyes: You should pay us for our opinions!0 -
I'm not sure that shopping online at a pound shop would be the same as shopping in a real store in terms of stuff bought - I think people could easily buy more to stock up online, as they wouldn't need to carry it all as they would in town. It would work well, I think, at its core being a cheap alternative to online supermarket shopping; i.e. that it offered the same brands and products you'd find at tesco etc. It could then offer other things - jewellery, candles, stationary - as an extra, so people can perhaps bolster up their orders to reach the £15 mark. I think it's important to make it look as clear and professional as possible though, that online poundshop site's pictures look so... homemade. It put me right off buying anything from there. The poundland site, in contrast, looks much more appealing. Your client might find that, with very good, professional-looking pictures and site that people make more impulse buys, that, even if they don't turn up as good as they look online, people keep anyway as it wouldn't be worth returning over a measly £1, if that makes sense.
I think delivery shouldn't be more than £1, as people start seeing delivery charge in terms of products they could get, and thinking it's not worth paying as much as 4 or 5 extra items again for delivery. Hope this helps!One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you!
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Palice you are missing the general consensus here; if you read the thread through, most people will not spend more than £5 in a pound shop and most buys are on impulse.
So buying £5 worth with a £3-£5 delivery is a no no. Spending £15? Just over christmas perhaps but not at any time of the year. Quite a lot of items are tacky in a pound shop.0 -
Personally, I'd buy online if postage was £1 as the items I use tend to be large/heavy to lug around town. (eg kitchen towels, bleach, baked beans!) That would surely mean it couldn't be cost effective to the owner if they were stumping up for postage?
£15 minimum spend wouldn't put me off as I always spend more than £5 anyway; it's easy;)
I would never buy sundries like candles/ornaments though, as they really are tacky (just my opinion:D).0 -
Daft idea:
bulky items cant be posted, but need a courier (more expensive)
cant pay by cash online (card transaction charges are not worth it on purchases less than ~ £10)
poundshops are browsing places, look at all the stuff outside them
no obvious range of goods0 -
Thanks for everyone's thoughts so far - they have made very interesting reading! Just to summarize where we're at now...
Forget about the £5 delivery charge - that clearly isn't going to work.
Forget about the viability of whether a business could afford to deliver for £1 - as mentioned previously, it would be run alongside an existing online business that enjoys significantly discounted postage rates so that's all been factored in to the calculations.
The £15 minimum spend is here to stay - it's only with that size order that the £1 delivery becomes an option.
So what we're interested in knowing is, forgetting whether you think the business model might be viable or not, if such a site existed, would YOU buy from it? If you would buy from such a site, how much would you be likely to spend, how often would you order, what type of things would you buy, etc.0 -
Quite a few people from this site have been ordering from http://www.approvedfood.co.uk/index.asp where there's a £5.25 delivery charge for 28kg. Most things are under £1 and they seem to be getting a lot of repeat orders. Sorry I can't recall the exact name of the thread but it's in the shopping sections. I'm just waiting for my first order to arrive.0
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Thanks Applepie, that's a great link. As you say, lots of people on here seem to be ordering from that site. And their £5.25 delivery charge seems to fly in the face of the comments in this thread!0
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