Mobile grocery shop... good idea?

texranger

Obukit wrote: »

My hope is that if they're in to buy a pint of milk, they'll also buy some local fruit and veg, bread, cakes etc. where I can make a much higher POR.

this wont work. how long and how wide is your van.

this works in supermarkets as they place the milk and bread at the far end so you have to walk through their 2000sq foot premises and 9/10 you will add other things to your basket/trolley before you get to your milk.

how are you going to get this to work in a 14 ft x 3 ft wide van.

texranger

Obukit wrote: »

I think the retired people are my key market, as these will have high disposable income.

who says, have you not noticed domestic fuel and heating prices have gone through the roof so retired people DO NOT have a high disposable income.

i suggest you do some market research.

texranger

Obukit wrote: »

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.

regardless if you have a card service for another business 9/10 you would have to get a separate account for this new busjness venture and as it is mobile i dare say your phone cables wont stretch accross the county attached to your card machine, so you would need a mobile card machine that relies on the mobile phone network for a connection to the provider, some rural areas dont have good reception for mobiles so how would you overcome that

Obukit

texranger wrote: »

regardless if you have a card service for another business 9/10 you would have to get a separate account for this new busjness venture and as it is mobile i dare say your phone cables wont stretch accross the county attached to your card machine, so you would need a mobile card machine that relies on the mobile phone network for a connection to the provider, some rural areas dont have good reception for mobiles so how would you overcome that

It already works on mobile phone signal.

texranger wrote: »

who says, have you not noticed domestic fuel and heating prices have gone through the roof so retired people DO NOT have a high disposable income.

i suggest you do some market research.

I've already done quite a bit of market research but suffice to say, most of the villages around me have a high proportion of ABC1 homeowners. I've chatted to a few village shopkeepers and they've said that most customers have an average spend of £7 to £8, and there is a lot of impulse buys of homemade cakes etc. Difficult as I find it, being on MSE, people here pay £5 for a sponge packed with preservatives just because it says it was made on a "farm".

Looking at the quality of the produce in a lot of these shops I'm confident I can better them on price and quality... that's why I was asking if people would USE the service and find it convenient, because that's what I'm a little unsure of.

MyMFDream

There is a mobile shop near where i live. He is outside the school gates every morning at 9am and seems to do a decent trade in papers, morning rolls and milk. We are less lthan a mile from morrisons but no-one seems to fancy the drive of walk there first thing

Savvy_Sue

Obukit wrote: »

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.

If you can get the proper 'outreach' licence, I'd be more confident of using you. If not, it's tricky: while it might be great to get my Ebay package sent off through you, and while I might trust you completely, if you can't give me a Certificate of Posting on the spot I'll probably want to go to the PO. Plus there are so many options to consider: not just weight but 3 dimensions of size; does the customer want it airmail / printed papers / 1st or 2nd / registered / recorded / signed for / guaranteed first thing tomorrow - it's all a bit of minefield (and they don't always get it right in the PO!)

MyMFDream wrote: »

There is a mobile shop near where i live. He is outside the school gates every morning at 9am and seems to do a decent trade in papers, morning rolls and milk. We are less lthan a mile from morrisons but no-one seems to fancy the drive of walk there first thing

Ah, now outside the school gates every morning, I'd have bought from that to save a mile walk before I headed on to work!

firesidemaid

i like the school gates idea! likewise any large work places at lunch times for sandwiches, drinks, crisps (meal deals ) and the like.

i know what you mean about 'home-made' cakes. i would always rather make my own, but if i EVER see real home-made cakes on offer i snap them up (likewise jams before i made my own, but i'm still a sucker for h/m lemon curd).

i wish you well.

Sach_123

Hi

could you let me know how this idea fared?

Also, any experiences, suggestions for those thinking on similar lines?

aggypanthus

Never again! Its a very outdated idea, DH did this years ago, then I tried it with him, rural customers were few and far between, spending only a small token ammount . when we needed staff, they stole from us and took family on day trips! you must consider your holidays or time off sick. Wealthy people wont run out of food, the prob stockpile when they get to the supermarkets. i reckon it will take a long time to break even , from your start costs.

aggypanthus

OH, just noticed this is an old thread