Going from online only to online & proper shop?

Sid_Wolf

Hey, not been on in ages but would like some thoughts

I run a small business (dog related), currently 99% of what we sell is made to order, however we do dropship a product from another company who we work closely with

We're doing fairly well, the company has been up and running for just over a year and I have had to go full time to keep with the demand. I also bring someone in to help me prepare for shows (like the upcoming Suffolk Dog Day)

My dream is to one day have a shop, perhaps on the outskirts of town, we would have premade stock of some of our designs, and also have 2-4 people employed to work on sewing machines so that people can have their own designed collar made while they wait (1 collar takes about 5-15 minutes). We would also stock other products such as toys, treats and other essentials etc

The sort of thing I have in mind is almost like a dog boutique (but without the boutique price tags!)

How well do you think a business like this would work? can it go from what it is now into a proper shop and still be successful?

bris

Nope sorry, web based you target the whole country and beyond. On the outskirts of a town you have little passing trade and compete with the big guns on the high street, this is just to specialist an area to be busy, certainly to the extent you would need.

Bricks and mortar shops are expensive to run, if your doing well just now build on that, the high street is dying, out of town is much much worse.

DKLS

2-4 people!, how many custom products does your business plan expect to want produce a day?

Perhaps one of these may be a better investment. As above, I would stick to an online presence and build on that by attending suitable dog related events such as country fayres.

Savvy_Sue

Another doom and gloom merchant, I'm afraid. If you have a 'real' shop, it needs to be open when you say it will be, and that means staff, who have to be paid whether you're doing well or not. There are all sorts of fixed costs you have to pay whether you're doing well or not. Leases are often long, and while you should be able to negotiate and get maybe a rent free period and / or an early break period, that lease has to be paid whether you're doing well or not.

My only other suggestion would be to see if there are any dog grooming parlours with a bit of space, maybe if 'pretty pooch products' were known to be present on - say - Mondays and things could be made to order on the spot then you'd both benefit.

paulwf

I know of a shop called Collared in Hastings. It sells dog related products, especially collars! It's much more of a boutique than a traditional pet shop.

http://www.collareddog.co.uk/

Will post more in a min...

phill99

The minute you open a shop your cost base goes through the roof so your sales also have to do this to justify the additional cost. So if your sales go up and so do your fixed costs you are actually no better off.

You would be better off employing freelance seamstresses who work from their own homes. You don't have the additional premises costs and if you have them on a self employed basis, you don't need to pay them if your orders dry up.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

DONT DO IT!!!!

You will find your online business will be paying for the shop...

I would consentrate on pushing your online shop presense...

paulwf

(Apologies for the delay in the promised reply)

I actually think it will be a good idea getting premises to sell a custom product. All very good points made above though, it will increase your cost base and tie you to set hours so not a decision to be made lightly.

As this is your full time job, are you getting to a stage where you want to move the business out of your house and also get a separate business phone line etc? If so then I'd look at cheap retail space rather than an industrial unit, that way you can open your doors to customers and get some extra sales while you work.

Location will important, you don't want a prime retail spot but you also don't want to be on a dying shopping parade in a suburb. Some towns have quirky arty/gifty type areas (a bit like the Lanes in Brighton), just get a small unit but try and make sure there is some life left in the town you choose. People will travel quite a distance for a custom product but it will be much easier if they can combine it as part of a weekend away for example.

Employing so many people sounds unrealsitc at this stage, I'd imagine you could do the work yourself while the customer pops out for a coffee. Keeping to set opening hours is important, make life easier by keeping them short to start with perhaps 10-4 5 days a week. You can always keep the door open for longer if you are there doing work anyway.

Having a proper location where people can visit and see your whole range and talk to you and get their dog measured up will increase business and also boost your image even for online sales. As above it won't magically double your turnover but if you need premises anyway I'd try and find a retail space to run your workshop from rather than shutting yourself off in an industrial estate with a website between you and your customers.

martindow

I'm another who would caution against going into a shop. Many of us run small, fairly successful internet based businesses operating from home. These are successful because overheads are so small.

As soon as you increase overheads with a shop many of these would no longer be viable unless the turnover increased enormously (which is not very likely).

Sid_Wolf

thanks for the replies everyone (and sorry for my late one, we had a stall at a dog show yesterday)

Currently we're fine running from home, I dont really have a need for a shop it's just something i'd like to do, if it does happen we would stock a lot of different things to the larger pet shops

but im definitely going to stick to the webshop and the dog events (going to post a seperate thread on this as I need some help with boosting sales at events)

sniggings

in a local area how many people are going to keep coming back to have a collar or anything else made!

These sound like a one off purchase, or at least only once in a while, so your machines will be sitting twiddling their thumbs, also the price would have to be cheap as if I walked into a shop and could walk out again 5 mins later with a "custom collar" etc I would not want to be paying much for 5 mins of work.