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Business start up
- Thread starter Clgale88
- Start date
jenic
ClioSport Club Member
Presume you mean car detailing products?
I had a crazy similar idea a while ago and emailed the usual suspects about trade costs.
Only people who would give me trade prices without a business running or a business plan were meguiars, and you have to buy in massive quantities to be competitive. So one thing you need is a lot of start up money.
I had a crazy similar idea a while ago and emailed the usual suspects about trade costs.
Only people who would give me trade prices without a business running or a business plan were meguiars, and you have to buy in massive quantities to be competitive. So one thing you need is a lot of start up money.
PH2 172
Brother deals with a bloke locally who works for Autoglym he delivers in his van aroudn to various compnaies so he always gets good prices on products. and delivers once a week so wouldnt be sop bad if stock got low. just wasnt sure on thr route to go about a business start up with car care.
Martin_172
ClioSport Club Member
i wouldnt have thought car care was a big enough market to make money, especially from a shop, theres a market for online sales if your competitive enough in pricing
You have to really knuckle down on a business plan.
There isn't a shop doing that in your area, maybe because it isn't viable.
I bet there's a halfords.
Most people will be happy with their turtle wax and wouldn't know the difference between a full detail compared to a wash from a bloke in sainsbury's car park.
It's a niche market and a lot of the detailers that buy specifics will buy online for practicality and price.
There isn't a shop doing that in your area, maybe because it isn't viable.
I bet there's a halfords.
Most people will be happy with their turtle wax and wouldn't know the difference between a full detail compared to a wash from a bloke in sainsbury's car park.
It's a niche market and a lot of the detailers that buy specifics will buy online for practicality and price.
If you want to do it then why not set up a website and mail order company?
There are very few physical stand alone shops. Where as there are quite a few "on the side" shops, for example Polished Bliss that offer a range of detailing services with a product warehouse on the side. The same goes for other smaller detailing businesses, where they will have a small show shop.
An actual shop would die on it's arse.
Look at Halfords. They pretty much run 3for2 constantly and imagine the quantities they can buy in at. You'll never match that.
If you want to do it, start small. Get a website. (Pay to) advertise on various forums. Get on DW. Import micro fibres for China (read Costco) at tiny pence each. Bit of this. Bit of that. Max a credit card get £10k's worth of stock from Meguiars or something. It's risky but if you believe you can do it, then crack on.
Then make sure everything goes out FAST! If I order today, when you get home tonight from work you're packing it up and posting it out tomorrow. Good customer care. Have a place where people can ask advice. It might cost you time but if you helped me, I'm more likely to use you again. Customer service/keeping people happy is far more important in a lot of cases than the price.
I bought a HU adapter lead from MT Audio last month. I PM'd him and bugged him with questions, he helped. I fitted it (wrongly) and bugged him with more questions. Each time he was quick and helpful to reply. Got a good price and it was sent out very quickly. Absolutely zero complaints. Now if anyone asks me about buying anything audio related, where am I going to send them? That's where you need to be. Keeping people happy.
I think it was i4detailing that used to, maybe still do, stick a little packet of tiny sweets in with the order. Those sweets probably cost him 20p a bag at the most but it's customer service and it's a nice little surprise when you open your box.
Look at Halfords. They pretty much run 3for2 constantly and imagine the quantities they can buy in at. You'll never match that.
If you want to do it, start small. Get a website. (Pay to) advertise on various forums. Get on DW. Import micro fibres for China (read Costco) at tiny pence each. Bit of this. Bit of that. Max a credit card get £10k's worth of stock from Meguiars or something. It's risky but if you believe you can do it, then crack on.
Then make sure everything goes out FAST! If I order today, when you get home tonight from work you're packing it up and posting it out tomorrow. Good customer care. Have a place where people can ask advice. It might cost you time but if you helped me, I'm more likely to use you again. Customer service/keeping people happy is far more important in a lot of cases than the price.
I bought a HU adapter lead from MT Audio last month. I PM'd him and bugged him with questions, he helped. I fitted it (wrongly) and bugged him with more questions. Each time he was quick and helpful to reply. Got a good price and it was sent out very quickly. Absolutely zero complaints. Now if anyone asks me about buying anything audio related, where am I going to send them? That's where you need to be. Keeping people happy.
I think it was i4detailing that used to, maybe still do, stick a little packet of tiny sweets in with the order. Those sweets probably cost him 20p a bag at the most but it's customer service and it's a nice little surprise when you open your box.
172 RS Ph1
Exactly the way that I work with my webshop: www.wax-on.nl
Start small, you wouldnt need more than 2k to start out with. Prices must be competitive, but they don't have to be the very lowest on the market I believe.
Goodluck!
