Business Idea

geordie_joe

I have a great idea for starting a new business.

The idea is selling door to door. Lots of people already use the product, so I know I will have a good customer base.

I have done all the usual checks for competition etc. Nobody is selling this product door to door in my area, so I will have a clear run.

I can sell the product for £2.35, which is a good price for it delivered to your door.

You can get this product in any supermarket for 80p or in any hardware/pound shop for £1.

But I will be selling it door to door!

I need to put an estimate of the number of sales and amount of profit I will make on my business plan.

Does anyone have any realistic estimates of how many sales I will make and how much profit I will make per week.

Please note that I am will to work VERY HARD.

McKneff

Probably not very many sales and probably not very much profit.

Do you honestly think people are stupid enough to give you £2.35 for something they could pick up from a supermarket for 80p while they are shopping for other things.

Move along now.

Ebe_Scrooge

The main thing you need to do is to canvass the local households and find out how many of them would be willing to buy from you. Given that you've said they can buy these things in the supermarket for 80p, why would they pay you over 2 quid for them rather than just pick them up next time they're shopping ? Granted, not everyone has the use of a car to do big supermarket runs, but I'd be willing to bet a large majority of the neighbourhood do. That seems a hell of a markup to me, and I'd be surprised if many people were prepared to pay that much. Sorry, not wishing to put a downer on you, all credit for the initiative, but I'd be wary of getting your hopes up too much.

scotsbob

You say you need to put figures on your business plan. You buy something from a supermarket for 80p and sell for £2.35. What on earth do you need a business plan for? Surely it's all summed up in one sentence.

xbrenx

hahaha loving it!
Come and knock on my door geordie - I would pay £2.35 if you have a geordie accent! :rotfl:

paulwf

OP how can any of us give you an estimate of profit when we don't know your profit margin? And how can we give an estimate of sales when we don't know what the item is?

However, let's assume for sake of argument your *net* profit (this is your profit after costs) is 50p an item. To make £60 a day (a wage just above min wage) you need to sell 120 items. That is 600 a week.

How many items can you sell to each household, how many households will buy from you, and will you get repeat sales?

Just do some basic maths...if 10% of households buy from you (probably a high figure as 50% of the doors you knock on won't be answered) and buy one item each you'll need to knock on 1200 doors a day. Obviously that won't be viable, either you need to sell lots of items per household or sell much higher value products. I imagine Bettaware, Kleeneze etc survive because orders are in the £5-20 range, some probably higher.

alanbluecat

Don't waste your time trying to answer this post seriously. GJ's post is tongue in cheek. He probably expects to be told he won't make a profit as nobody will buy such a product under the circumstances he cites, which will give him some ammunition in his anti-Kleeneze/Betterware/wikaniko crusade, or whoever is flavour of the month.

I'm surprised GJ doesn't have better things to be doing with his time.

If I am wrong, I apologise and wish you luck with your business venture.

geordie_joe

Can I first say thank you to all who replied.

alanbluecat wrote: »

Don't waste your time trying to answer this post seriously. GJ's post is tongue in cheek.

It turned out that way, but to begin with it was going to be a serious question.

alanbluecat wrote: »

He probably expects to be told he won't make a profit as nobody will buy such a product under the circumstances he cites,

That's exactly what I expected to be told, but I wanted the answers to come from people who weren't trying to defend, or recruit people into a catalogue business.

alanbluecat wrote: »

which will give him some ammunition in his anti-Kleeneze/Betterware/wikaniko crusade, or whoever is flavour of the month.

I don't have a crusade aganst betterware or wikaniko.

The question came from a serious look into wikaniko which I have been doing for a few days. Everything I have read says how good the company is, how much commission I can earn etc. but, as with all these type of things, they avoid the one question that matters most "will people buy the products at the price you will be selling them for".

alanbluecat wrote: »

I'm surprised GJ doesn't have better things to be doing with his time.

What could be better than seriously looking into a business venture, deciding it is not for me, then having a little fun at the end. Having a little fun is all I am going to get for my trouble, so I reckon I earned it.

alanbluecat wrote: »

If I am wrong, I apologise and wish you luck with your business venture.

No need to apologise.

NeverInDebt

Actually I think some people are too stupid you only have to see the amount of people who buy Betterware/Kleenezy or for that matter think is a very profitable idea, it is for some but those are top of the chain

McKneff wrote: »

Probably not very many sales and probably not very much profit.

Do you honestly think people are stupid enough to give you £2.35 for something they could pick up from a supermarket for 80p while they are shopping for other things.

Move along now.

geordie_joe

NeverInDebt wrote: »

Actually I think some people are too stupid you only have to see the amount of people who buy Betterware/Kleenezy

This is the problem.......The people who are recruiting for those keep saying lots of people buy from them. But the people who tried and gave up say it was because people were not buying.

In all the threads/posts about kleeneze/betterware I have only ever seen one person say they bought from them. That person said they bought something to help out a relative who have just started doing the catalogues.

Not one person has ever come forward and said "A complete stranger put a kleeneze/betterware catalogue through my door and I bought something from it"

You'd think, out of all the people in here, someone would have bought something.

alanbluecat

Sorry to spoil the fun earlier!

Serious question geordie joe - as you have spent some time looking into various business ventures, is there anything you would recommend?

If you take someone like me for example, I have an illness where I can't work full-time, do anything physical like lugging catalogues around, struggle to work regular hours as my illness is different at different times of the day and varies from day to day. I could probably manage part-time hours but couldn't commit to an employed job on fixed hours.
I have a shortfall of £100 per month so that would be a minimum return, although more would be gratefully received.

What would you suggest?