Mobile grocery shop... good idea?

Savvy_Sue

Obukit wrote: »

They want a village shop and post office as they are useful services, but not always viable "full time" in small villages any more.

So... just to back up my market research... if you got a flyer through your door tomorrow, saying that there would be a mobile grocery shop/Post Office coming twice a week to your village for half an hour, delivering telephone orders if you are out (paying by card), what would your reaction be? Would it be the sort of thing you'd find useful?

Have you checked whether you'd be able to run a mobile post office? You might be able to sell stamps, weigh letters and take them to the PO, but actually running a 'proper' PO depends on being allowed to do so. And there's no profit in stamps ...

As for would I use it, I think I got to the mobile library twice when the boys were young. They just weren't that cooperative about getting to places within half hour time slots!

And if people were out, you're rather dependent on them having a safe place to leave their delivery - and that's safe from the local wildlife as well as safe from the attentions of the local burglars, and out of sight of the latter as well.

Obukit wrote: »

Thank you, really useful advice. Yes, I would really want to keep it as a one-man thing at first, at least until I got the experience.

Then bear in mind that you will NEVER be able to be ill, NEVER be able to make an appointment when you would normally be working, and very rarely be able to take a holiday.

Obukit wrote: »

Thankfully I know people who work at supermarkets, and who are able to get cases of stuff if I need it and it is much cheaper (I speak as an avid MSEr!), although clearly I would want to get most of the stuff at a wholesaler from a time point of view.

Just wondering what the supermarkets will think of cases of their stuff being bought and passed on for re-sale.

Obukit wrote: »

Obviously the issue there is wastage, but I hope to get most of it on sale or return. I guess as I do it for longer, I'll get a pretty good idea of what I'll need each day.

I don't see you getting fresh veg and cakes on sale or return - is that really how it works for small shops? Plus, if I found I couldn't rely on getting what I wanted from you, then I'd be less likely to make the effort, if you see what I mean. DH and I choose which shops to use for 'top up' shopping, because we know where we will and won't be able to get bread after work, for example. We just don't bother trying the shops which, in our experience, rarely have any left at 6 pm.

Also you're at the mercy of the weather: I know the supermarkets sometimes have wastage simply because they were expecting BBQ weather, and then it turned cold and wet. Salad sales plummet, badly overstocked.

I know I'm sounding a bit negative. You might have hit on a winner, I just think it needs very careful thought and planning, and maybe not being TOO ambitious!

paulwf

Be selective about what local suppliers you use otherwise you will potentially create lots of supply problems. There is a farmers market local to me and some of the stalls have had excellent items for sale but some of the stuff is highly seasonal, some traders give up after a few months, quality can be hit and miss...if you use too many one person businesses they will drive you mad. Perhaps use one established baker for all bread and cakes and see if there is a veg box scheme that sources from a range of local farms so you get more variety in available fruit & veg.

soba

Obukit wrote: »

delivering telephone orders if you are out (paying by card)

It's really expensive to accept payments by card for a small business, ususally involving hiring a card machine and then a charge per transaction. I guess you'd have to have a mimimum spend per transaction to make it worth your while accepting cards. You certainly wouldn't want to be accepting a card payment for a loaf and a bottle of milk.

paddyrg

If there is a vege box scheme, why not offer to take over their delivery route for those villages you target? Kill 2 birds with 1 stone, and have the box scheme people generating leads for you and paying you ast the same time!

Errata

So... just to back up my market research... if you got a flyer through your door tomorrow, saying that there would be a mobile grocery shop/Post Office coming twice a week to your village for half an hour, delivering telephone orders if you are out (paying by card), what would your reaction be? Would it be the sort of thing you'd find useful?

How can you deliver orders to people who are out? Can you be a mobile post office without a contract with the Post Office?

Snakeeyes21

Just ask yourself one thing.. If there isnt any service such as this already, there must be a reason for that

I really cant see this a as being a viable business.

Being somewhere 2 or 3 times a week for an hour isnt what most would call convenience.

You say these villages are affluent, in which case most will be drivers, or have the funds to grab a taxi to nip to the shops.
I really cant see people waiting in for you to come around so they can buy a pint of milk and a loaf of bread.

How have these village people survived up till now without your mobile shop?
they certainly havent starved for the last 10 years

Maybe a decade or two ago this would be a good business model,
but now people just dont live somewhere if they cant get access to food, everybody has access to a shop of somesort that they can get to anytime between 9 and 6 to buy their bits and bobs:rotfl:

15 to 20 years ago we used to have a veg man that came around weekly, a spud man that done the same and we didnt live that far from civilisation, theres a mobile butcher and fishmonger that goes around still but thats completely different to just a general shop, I think most of their orders are placed in advance.

Unless you can subsidise it somehow by either becoming an 'offical' mobile post office, thats paid a wage, or subsidised by some commuinty charity then I really cant see you being able to make a living by selling old Mabel and Betty a loaf of bread and a couple of apples a week.

Now if you could get an alcohol licence and deliver to people out in the sticks then there could be a market there... people will pay inflated prices to have booze delivered in the evening

Visiondvd

Wow
What a lot of info.lol
Consider this
If you dont try it, you'll never know.
Go for it.

Obukit

Thank you for all your feedback.

R.e. card payments etc... as said, I already have a different business however that's mostly weekday evenings. Obviously this means the card machine, van etc. are all sitting unused for a lot of the time.

R.e. deliveries... obviously mainly this would be for housebound people who would be in. My thought was that if someone wanted a couple of bits, you could leave this by their door, like the milkman does, but maybe I'm wrong on that front .

R.e. why doesn't anyone else do it... well, there are other mobile shops, just none around me. However, quite a few of the villages do have shops. Obviously you'd never get 100% of the people that would use a village shop, but if only a quarter of the people who would visit their village shop in a day come to a mobile shop instead, and you visited 10 villages a day, then that would still be 2.5times a "normal" village shop, with much less overheads.

R.e. the post office, I have a agreement with a nearby post office to get a substantial discount there, so I'd just weigh the letters, charge the customer and give them paperwork if necessary. I'd then take them all along at the end of the day, pay my "trade" rate and they'd deal with all the stamps etc. It's not a great deal of profit, but then the profit a corner shop makes on a book of 2nd class stamps is only 3%. The point would be to draw people in and get a few impulse purchases. However, the Post Office is looking for "outreach" branches so this could be a revenue stream in future.

Thank you for all your posts though, it's given me a lot to think about. It would certainly need good planning, but TBH it's the part of business I love... nitty gritty details!

firesidemaid

i like the idea, but am trying to think if it will work or not?

we are fortunate and live in a village with a shop and po. i am always nipping there at the end of the day when i realise i have forgotten some vital ingredient!

is there a milk round to these villages?

perhaps include lots of baby/child essentials - nappies, wipes etc. lots of baking stuff or homemade cakes, jams, like you say.

wine, beer etc. i also cannot believe the prices of some wholesale places - supermarkets and good-value stores often look the best prices for stock.

perhaps do some market research re. required products first?

Errata

Obukit wrote: »

Thank you for all your feedback.

R.e. card payments etc... as said, I already have a different business however that's mostly weekday evenings. Obviously this means the card machine, van etc. are all sitting unused for a lot of the time.
Is the van refrigerated? What happens to half a pound of butter or a carton of cream on a hot day?

R.e. deliveries... obviously mainly this would be for housebound people who would be in. My thought was that if someone wanted a couple of bits, you could leave this by their door, like the milkman does, but maybe I'm wrong on that front .
Customers could swear blind you never left all their order / some chancer could help themselves.

R.e. why doesn't anyone else do it... well, there are other mobile shops, just none around me. However, quite a few of the villages do have shops. Obviously you'd never get 100% of the people that would use a village shop, but if only a quarter of the people who would visit their village shop in a day come to a mobile shop instead, and you visited 10 villages a day, then that would still be 2.5times a "normal" village shop, with much less overheads.
What's the footfall in each shop? What's the spend per visit? Customers visit a village shop not only to buy something but also to have a bit of a natter, how long are you prepared to natter to a customer after they've made their purchase?

R.e. the post office, I have a agreement with a nearby post office to get a substantial discount there, so I'd just weigh the letters, charge the customer and give them paperwork if necessary. I'd then take them all along at the end of the day, pay my "trade" rate and they'd deal with all the stamps etc. It's not a great deal of profit, but then the profit a corner shop makes on a book of 2nd class stamps is only 3%. The point would be to draw people in and get a few impulse purchases. However, the Post Office is looking for "outreach" branches so this could be a revenue stream in future.
Trade rate? What volume would you have to guarantee Royal Mail to be given the Trade Rate?
Thank you for all your posts though, it's given me a lot to think about. It would certainly need good planning, but TBH it's the part of business I love... nitty gritty details!

Which area of the country do you plan to cover - roughly? What is the total population size? Do you know what percentage of all the residents can't get to the shops / don't order online from a supermarket / would want more than a first class stamp, pint of milk, small loaf - and how often would they need ithat?