Business Venture

A friend and I were looking at opening a PoundShop; given the current climate and success stories of Lidl and Aldi. Sadly premises are very expensive and business rates are extortionat - which put out a negative cash flow forecast.

Basically I was wondering if you guys would use an online PoundShop? Would it work? Any other suggestions?

Thanks Guys!!,

Serious question,

If you bought online something that costs £1,

What would you charge for delivery ?

Well we were thinking that an average basket of goods from a poundshop totals £20+ so, if we took into consideration that driving too and from shops, parking etc etc would cost £4-5, then we could have a delivery cost of around £3. As the amount spent increases to, let's say £30, then the cost goes down to a token amount of £1.

Thank you for your feedback btw.

We would possibly instigate a minimum spend.

Quoted from MARINERSMAN22

Well we were thinking that an average basket of goods from a poundshop totals £20+ so, if we took into consideration that driving too and from shops, parking etc etc would cost £4-5, then we could have a delivery cost of around £3. As the amount spent increases to, let's say £30, then the cost goes down to a token amount of £1.

That seems reasonable, I hope it works out for you.

Nice to see someone trying something different.

Couple of quick points:

- Poundland already do online ordering (http://www.poundland.co.uk/help/buy-online/). They are a multi million pound organisation so you need to be doing something very good or very different to take sales off them.

- Selling something for £1 means you won't be making much on each sale. Volume will be key. Work out how many items you need to sell per day, per week, per month etc to stay afloat. Then consider if it's realistic.

- Could you not start small by trying to sell on ebay or something? Free to set up and will give you a feel for demand.

- If you do go ahead with the idea. Hammer social media as this is free and surprisingly effective.

- This local organisation can help you with the practicalities of setting up a local business (https://www.businesshive.net/)

- You should check out One Lincolnshire (http://www.onelincolnshire.com/). They have set up an online market place for local businesses which means you can avoid having to set up and run your own website.

Hadn't heard of One Lincolnshire

I am primarily looking to start a business to suplment my Uni lifestyle. I am doing A2s at the mo, and want to pursue a business career.

We want to start off on eBay, then possibly a site, but since neither of us are tech-wiz, we would be using a domain hosting site, which is rsiky

We will use Facebook etc - would hopefully turn to places like the Fishy to promote liking the page

THANKS for the help guys

Quoted from psgmariner

Nice to see someone trying something different.

Couple of quick points:

- Poundland already do online ordering (http://www.poundland.co.uk/help/buy-online/). They are a multi million pound organisation so you need to be doing something very good or very different to take sales off them.

- Selling something for £1 means you won't be making much on each sale. Volume will be key. Work out how many items you need to sell per day, per week, per month etc to stay afloat. Then consider if it's realistic.

- Could you not start small by trying to sell on ebay or something? Free to set up and will give you a feel for demand.

- If you do go ahead with the idea. Hammer social media as this is free and surprisingly effective.

- This local organisation can help you with the practicalities of setting up a local business (https://www.businesshive.net/)

- You should check out One Lincolnshire (http://www.onelincolnshire.com/). They have set up an online market place for local businesses which means you can avoid having to set up and run your own website.

Maybe beers for a quid is something that could be looked into .. ???  

They would probably be a day off sell by date, and in polish!

Question: We are limited financially (a budget of £4k) - would a crowd funding scheme work?

Quoted from MARINERSMAN22

Question: We are limited financially (a budget of £4k) - would a crowd funding scheme work?

Without wanting to sound harsh, I don't think many people would crowdfund someone setting up an online pound shop.

If we offered rewards?

I am aware of the ins and outs of crowdfunding, and people have a spare tenner whack it in and get something out of it.

When trading on ebay, we have come up with possibly bundeling up cheap items into boxes and sellig them

So 10 x £1 cleaning items go into a box

10 x £1 art things
etc
etc

Just a thought , why restrict yourself to a £1 ?

I am sure you would still sell well if everything was less than a fiver,

There will be a little more chance of making a profit .

hmmm good plan, we had considered this; we have recently devised a plan for ebay sales - a ' hamper'  of low cost items, to make selling them more economical. e.g all cleaning things (lets say 10 of them) in a hamper for £10 plus delivery

#operationpoundshop

well I paid something like £25 to lootcrate for a really shitty box of excrement....so you could try something along those lines.....creating value where none exists

https://www.lootcrate.com/

As this is a football forum maybe look at the demand for a football centred crate with lesser known teams' scarfs etc. A quick google suggests it is already being done but I can't see a specific football one.

https://www.cratejoy.com/the-jocks-box/

That is a great idea. Have unfashionable team scarfs, keyrings, posters and flags and bits like that; possibly have a smaller factfile on lesser known footballers...

How much would you pay for it: monthly subscription of £10 or a years for £110??

Quoted from MARINERSMAN22

That is a great idea. Have unfashionable team scarfs, keyrings, posters and flags and bits like that; possibly have a smaller factfile on lesser known footballers...

I'd make it a team of the month box. Have playing card sized factfiles of the players and maybe a laminated team photo with extra info on the back or a large magnet https://www.stickermule.com/uk/products/custom-magnets, throw in a scarf or similar and a programme (you should be able to negotiate a good deal for a large order from a smaller club), and make the box open up into a picture of their ground taken from the away end. You could expand it to include lower league clubs around Europe.....you could then possibly ship to Europe too.

I've no idea how many people would subscribe or how many you'd need to make a go of it.

It is a very good idea: perhaps  have people nominate players for team of the month to boost online presence and rely on word of mouth

I reckon smaller clubs would almost give their merchandise away as it is free advertising

Quoted from moosey_club

Maybe beers for a quid is something that could be looked into .. ???  

Lidl have some bottled beers for 99p.