When is the best time to open a retail outlet? How to open a retail outlet at the market - advice from experienced people

A point on the market in the dashing 90s was considered a profitable and prestigious business. You could call yourself a businessman or entrepreneur, get up at 8 in the morning, when factories in the country were already working at full speed, and earn as much as your energy would last. Over time, the demand for market goods began to fall. This was facilitated by covered pavilions, tents, and departments in supermarkets and hypermarkets. Essentially, the goods have moved under the roof, where it is dry and warm. The buyer, having bought a low-quality product there, knew who to contact to replace the defective product or return the money. And these are difficult times for market traders.

Does it make sense to open a retail outlet in the market?

Those who have worked in the market for many years, and some even decades, say that trading is addictive, and work quite quickly begins to shape your new image life. Trading requires a certain type of character and qualities that you cannot do without: communication skills, entrepreneurship, and an analytical mind. And, of course, you must be able to count well and quickly. No matter what difficulties market traders encounter, this type of activity still brings money, and the owner of the outlet himself determines how much time per day, week, month he will work. So, there is a certain sense in trading on the market. When you are your own boss and boldly manage your time and finances, it is always pleasant.

Tips before...

You still have time to bargain, so you shouldn’t rush headlong into market relations. First you need to decide a few important issues. Decide what you will sell. It doesn't have to be clothes, shoes or food. You can also sell services, for example, repairing shoes and boots, making keys for locks, or mending clothes. Whatever interests you, do it. Is the child growing up? Trade children's shoes and clothing. Do you like to eat delicious food? Sell ​​food products. Do you like gardening? Sell ​​seeds, seedlings, vegetables and fruits. The main thing is that you enjoy the process. In addition, there is a small plus: you can always use goods that were not sold on time.

Now regarding the markups. There is a simple rule: the greater the turnover, the lower the markup, and vice versa. Money must work, be constantly in circulation. Only on cheap small things you can throw 200-300%. In general, previously all over the world, on average, they traded for 10% profit. And this was considered the norm. Now everything has changed. The margin percentage has become much higher. That is why when you buy two products you will be offered a third one for free. It is not difficult to calculate how much the seller makes.

Do not sell goods that are already overstocked on the market. Firstly, they will not sell well, and secondly, you can have a serious conversation with your competing neighbors. Since we are talking about them, we must honestly note that no one is waiting for newcomers in the market with open arms. All spheres there have already been divided, so “a place in the sun” will have to be conquered. It is important to find good suppliers to purchase goods at a low price. The greater the difference in wholesale/retail costs, the greater the opportunity to reduce the price if the product suddenly does not sell. It is also necessary to take into account such a factor as seasonality. Some products are better purchased in the summer, while others are more actively sold out in the winter. Plan your assortment to make a profit at any time of the year.

Some useful tips

One of the main figures in the market is the administrator. It can influence various events. He wants it, and your point will be in the most passable place, and if he doesn’t like it, you’ll trade in the outskirts. Therefore, you need to be friends with the administrator. This person will help “settle” difficult situations. He can create them for you if you can’t find them. mutual language. If you have already decided which market you will trade in, do some research. Walk around the market, see where people are mostly crowded, and see if there are any empty seats there. Talk to the merchants about topics that are important to you, but do not admit that you are going to trade here.

At first, stand behind the counter yourself. This way you will get to know the market better from the inside, see what the daily revenue will be. In the future, if things go well, you will not be able to do without a seller. But never trust them. These are the kind of people who will gladly cheat not only customers, but also you for company. Therefore, occasionally you need to check them, sending reliable people under the guise of buyers. These could be your relatives, friends, acquaintances. Let them see if the seller is raising prices in your absence, pocketing the difference, or cheating buyers. Otherwise, the seller needs to be changed. Don't be afraid to experiment and offer new products. Prepare for the holidays in advance and thoroughly. If things go well, you can make a month's income on such a day.

Organizational aspects

So, you have thought about everything and are ready to trade on the market. It's time to meet the administrator. Introduce yourself with a smile and ask if there is free space. If the answer is positive, find out the rental price and inspect the place. By now you should already know its approximate cross-country ability; it was not in vain that you went on reconnaissance. If the conditions suit you, you can draw up an agreement. You shouldn’t immediately count on a “bread” place. Life in the market goes on as usual, someone comes, someone leaves. Over time, you can improve your conditions. The main thing is to try not to quarrel with anyone.

The second step will be going to the tax office to obtain a work permit. There you will be advised on what documents you need to provide to become an individual entrepreneur. While the permit is being issued, you can start selecting an assortment of goods so as not to sit idle. Think about the appearance of your retail space as well. Even if it is small, but tastefully decorated, buyers will immediately appreciate it, because most of them are constantly at the market, so they will immediately notice the new point. When the permit is ready, show the administrator all the documents, pay the rent and get ready for the working day. Don't forget to give a bonus to the very first buyer. He, like his first love, is remembered for a lifetime.

When you have a salesperson, set him a fixed salary of small size, and make the bulk of your earnings dependent on revenue. This will be a great incentive for your assistant. The seller must have a good understanding of your product in order to help the buyer with professional advice, be polite and courteous. Your profit will depend on many factors, all of which need to be taken into account. Experts say that if a market outlet is organized correctly, the initial investment in it will pay off within a year. So, everything is in your power. Good luck and prosperity!

Mikhail Vorontsov

90% of people are sure that opening coffee to go is easy. On the one hand, they are right. The only clarification is that you can simply and easily open coffee to go only if you know how to do it correctly. Despite the fact that in appearance the coffee to go format seems simple, like any other business, ignorance of the subtleties and nuances can make it profitable and promising business idea an unprofitable enterprise operating at zero and sucking out the last pennies.

To avoid such a situation, you need to know where to start and which stages of the business you should pay utmost attention to.

For example, you need to start by identifying the target audience for coffee to go. By asking yourself who will buy your coffee, you can adjust the design, strategy, and concept of your small enterprise to the needs and requests, interests and desires of specific people - your future customers.

The target audience for coffee to go is mainly young people aged 18 to 24 years. In 70% of cases these are girls.

Students, young professionals, managers lower level- these are your potential clients. They value low prices, friendly service, efficiency and social activity. Of course, older people shouldn’t be discounted either; there are also fans of takeaway coffee among people over 50. But if you face the truth, answer yourself the question: how many of these fans will pass by your takeaway coffee outlet every day and how many of them will think about purchasing?

But it is the number of people passing by, coupled with their “quality” (belonging to the target audience) that is the key to the success of a coffee to-go outlet. Finding a place like this is half the battle for coffee to go.

However, we should not forget about another important fact for the coffee to go business. This is the taste and quality of the coffee itself. If you prepare delicious invigorating drinks, people will come back to you and recommend you to friends and acquaintances. This way, you can ensure that spontaneous purchases are reduced and the number of regular customers increases.

About all these subtleties and others important details we will tell you further.

Investment size

Opening a takeaway coffee shop can be considered a business with small investments. According to the experience of entrepreneurs who have opened their own coffee points to go, you can meet 200 thousand rubles, and the upper limit starting capital is unlikely to exceed 400 thousand rubles.

This difference in initial capital is explained by ample opportunities to save.

Of course, the amount of funds required to start will largely depend on several large expenses, without which it is simply impossible to open a takeaway coffee shop. Firstly, this is rent, which we will talk about a little later. Secondly - equipment.

Coffee machines for coffee to go

If the flow of customers depends on the choice of rental location, then the ability of the point to quickly and efficiently service this flow will depend on the equipment on which you will prepare coffee.

A professional coffee machine and coffee grinder are the main means of preparing and selling coffee to go.

There is no point in bringing a home coffee machine or even a super-automatic coffee machine to your coffee spot. Firstly, such technology will not be able to provide required quality product, and secondly, it is not designed for constant and uninterrupted operation. And if the coffee machine breaks down, you won’t sell a single cup of coffee anymore. Remember, the miser pays twice: time wasted, money wasted.

That is why many entrepreneurs try to purchase high-quality, foreign equipment, the cost of which can be 150, 250 thousand rubles, or more. If you don't have that kind of money, but work for professional equipment After all, it’s a priority for you; renting equipment or buying used coffee machines comes to the rescue.

Typically, coffee equipment is provided for rent (even free of charge) by coffee bean suppliers, subject to the purchase of a certain volume of coffee from them. At the same time, they also advise on the selection of the necessary list of equipment depending on the expected amount of work (for example, single- or double-chamber coffee machines) and provide maintenance and repair of equipment. However, even in the case of free rent, many companies require a security deposit - from 20 to 50 thousand rubles.

As for used equipment, its purchase will cost no more than 100 thousand rubles.

What else will you have to spend money on?

You will also have to spend money on a sales counter or the design of a rented kiosk. Naturally, when developing appearance When it comes to coffee to go, you need to pay attention to ensure that it attracts attention and attracts glances. The appearance should evoke a reflexive desire to drink coffee or tea. The name on the sign should not subtly hint that an invigorating drink is being poured here, but shout about it, so that a person understands at first glance that you are offering coffee, and not selling donuts or SIM cards...

Returning to the investments required to open a coffee-to-go business, it is also worth mentioning all sorts of little things that are nevertheless important for comfortable work without failures or hiccups.

Purchase Supplies for preparing a variety of coffee drinks - milk, toppings and syrups; additional assortment - snacks, sweets and snacks; purchase of disposable cups, lids, spoons; purchase of bar equipment.

By the way, there is an option to save on the purchase of consumables - for example, disposable tableware, if you can cooperate with other to-go coffee owners who purchase unbranded cups.

Step-by-step instruction

Having calculated the required amount of investment in the coffee-to-go business, it’s time to start taking action.

To begin with, register your business legally. It would be best to register yourself as an individual entrepreneur and submit an application to the tax office to choose the UTII taxation system. This tax will allow you to pay less due to the lack of employees and the small rented area on which the activity is carried out. Taking into account the minimum required area of ​​a coffee to-go outlet of several square meters, you will pay an average tax of about 3,000 rubles. In addition, for individual entrepreneurs on UTII cash machine is not mandatory, which means you can issue a check only on demand using a regular CPM (check printing machine).

The OKVED code for the coffee-to-go business is 55.30 “Activities of restaurants and cafes.”

Despite this OKVED, there is no need to obtain any permits, since there is no full-fledged kitchen, which means there is nothing for the supervisory authorities to check. All that is required of you is to notify Rospotrebnadzor about the start of activity. You should wait for inspections from the SES only if there are complaints. If you are lucky, you will have your first meeting with inspections only in three years.

Attention to the workplace

It’s worth taking care of ordering a sales stand in advance. It will take at least two weeks to design and manufacture. Provided that you already have a chosen rental location.

The process of installing a counter, bar or kiosk equipment can also cause difficulties and problems that will lead to a postponement of the planned opening date.

For example, you need to take care of proper energy supply in advance. If it is not there, you will have to call an electrician and carry out additional line, which will need to be agreed upon with the landlord. Therefore, all issues related to electricity, heating or water supply must be resolved at the stage of signing the lease agreement. At the same time, the contract itself should not be concluded for a long period: your expectations about traffic may be erroneous and in practice the pedestrian flow will not be converted into buyers and clients...

From coffee to cookies: how to choose a supplier?

Naturally, in parallel you need to look for suppliers of consumables and raw materials.

And first of all, you need to decide on a supplier of coffee beans. If your customers don't like your coffee, everything is lost. Delicious coffee is one of the main components of the success of a coffee to go business. There are a huge number of coffee varieties that suppliers can offer. Your own taste, advice from the suppliers themselves, and analysis of competitors will help you navigate your choice.

If you purchase your own coffee equipment, you will not depend on a specific coffee supplier and the range of varieties offered may be much wider.

Find out whether the variety you choose is suitable for classic coffee drinks, since it is the usual espresso, latte, cappuccino, Americano and mochaccino that you will specialize in. The volume of the initial purchase will depend on the conditions under which you sign an agreement with the supplier, whether you will rent equipment, etc. There is no need to be afraid of numbers of 10 kg or more.

A small 200 ml glass of coffee requires 9 g of coffee, and 18 g for a 400 ml glass.

Thus, the purchased 10 kg of coffee will cost just over 1,100 small glasses of coffee. At the same time, an operating coffee to-go outlet in a passable place sells much more per month.

In addition to the coffee list, it is necessary to create a menu and a list of additional assortments. Will you sell a variety of chocolates and sweets, or maybe ready-made sandwiches or even baked goods?

If the answer is yes to this question, you should look for profitable suppliers or partners who could provide you required amount products, usually not too large. You can buy chocolates or oatmeal cookies at wholesale markets and stores, as well as in stores such as Metro, Lenta and Auchan.

Of course, the main component for a coffee to-go outlet will remain coffee as a drink, and various sweets and “snacks” are necessary rather only to increase the average bill and the convenience of the client. You are unlikely to be able to make money from chocolates or pastries. Still, the margin on resale of other people's products is small.

In general, the volume of additional assortment does not exceed 5-7% of turnover.

The assortment of snacks and coffee accompaniments will change - some items will disappear, others will be added. It is definitely necessary to experiment with the assortment, but only when the operation of the outlet stabilizes and the changes do not entail a sharp decline in revenue.

Barista for coffee to go

An important factor in the success of a coffee to-go outlet is the professionalism and competence of the barista. This person should not only prepare delicious coffee, but also serve customers correctly, communicate with them, be able to upsell, thereby increasing average bill. Finding and hiring such a person may pose certain difficulties both at the launch stage and during the first time of working with coffee to go.

When opening their first to-go coffee shop, entrepreneurs often personally stand at the counter and serve their first customers, working 12 hours a day without days off or lunch. But such work on two fronts quickly becomes exhausting. In any case, an entrepreneur will need a replacement or a full-time employee. At the same time, hiring a professional barista is not always possible. Mostly young people who don’t have the slightest idea about how to prepare coffee correctly apply for the vacancy of a barista at a coffee shop to go. She is attracted by the flexible schedule, hourly pay, etc.

Careless young baristas bring their friends to work with them for coffee so they don’t get bored. And instead of working, they organize a booth.

A special feature of working with the staff of a coffee shop to-go is a high staff turnover - which will stop only when you hire the right person - friendly, honest, hardworking and responsible, who will also quickly master the art of making delicious and high-quality coffee. Agree, such people, especially young ones, are rare today...

Therefore, the future owner of a take-away coffee will initially be faced with the task of finding and training a reliable person who can replace you at the counter. Subsequently, if you do not stop at opening one coffee shop to go, the need for employees will increase. Therefore, it is necessary to immediately determine the stages of selection and training of employees, as well as develop a shift schedule, a system of motivation and control.

One of the options for motivating baristas is bonuses or premiums for exceeding the sales plan and the absence of comments (a percentage of total revenue or a percentage of each coffee sold above the plan).

But even the motivation system does not insure against unscrupulous workers who do not show up for their shifts, create a booth at the point, or simply treat work superficially. The owner of a takeaway coffee is faced with the acute issue of monitoring an employee or shift worker.

Alternatively, you can install a surveillance camera at the coffee to-go point and thus monitor the employee online.

Regardless of which option for working with staff you choose - carrot or stick - when opening a coffee shop with you, be prepared that at any moment you will be forced to personally stand behind the counter and work as a barista.

If you are planning to open a takeaway coffee shop, know that all your profit will depend primarily on the location. At the same time, choosing a suitable location for a coffee to-go outlet can be one big problem.

A couple of years ago, when no one had heard of coffee to go, landlords, especially large shopping and business centers, did not understand how they could make coffee on three square meters x and refused to rent. Today, almost all the tasty places in more or less large shopping centers and business centers have long been occupied.

However, the rental market is quite competitive and involves a change of tenants. It's just a matter of price. If you find a sweet spot, but it's occupied, it's worth starting negotiations with the owner or rental department, find out the rental rate and offer to pay more, or convince that your coffee to-go spot can generate additional traffic and attract a certain audience.

By the way, you can open a takeaway coffee shop not only in big cities, where the lifestyle encourages people to do everything on the run, including drinking coffee, but also in small towns. Moreover, choose a good place for coffee to go in small town It’s even simpler - there are fewer points with high pedestrian traffic in small cities, which means the likelihood of choosing a bad place is reduced.

However, it is still quite easy to make a mistake when choosing a place to rent for a coffee to go outlet. It often happens that a location seems to have high traffic, but it is only possible to evaluate its quality once you start working. For example, it may turn out that there is simply no target audience among the traffic passing by. Or the point itself is not located in the flow of people, as it should, but “around the corner.”

When considering locations for coffee to go, you don’t need to limit yourself to rental options in shopping or business centers.

Small business can be started with small retail store. In this case, the risk of bankruptcy is minimal, and this starting option will be the most optimal.

And this article will help answer questions about how to open a retail outlet from scratch, where to open it, how to choose the right range of goods sold, organize a pricing policy and keep records correctly.

To begin with, the amount of starting capital is determined and the products sold are selected. A search is made for suppliers whose conditions are favorable and convenient for those opening office work. At the first stage, it is recommended to select related product groups.

When opening a retail outlet in public places - in a market or in a shopping center, registration of an individual entrepreneur will be required.

Moreover, it is important optimal choice system by which taxes will be paid to the state. The most common tax system is the simplified tax system.

The selection of the location where the retail outlet will be located is carried out very carefully. Competitors' stores should not be located in close proximity to the opening outlet.

Having decided on the location, you can agree on the cost and rental conditions. When concluding a lease agreement, you should pay attention to the possibility of early termination.

Purchasing commercial equipment to create the appearance and design of the store will greatly affect the loyalty and trust of potential customers.

Hiring a seller is mandatory so that the businessman has time to deal with other organizational issues. The friendliness of the seller and his good reference in assortment will affect success retail and its profitability.

Price policy

The cost of the proposed product should be thought out depending on the capabilities of the target audience - it will be a budget product designed for most population, or elite.

The outlet on the market becomes an attractive idea for those who want to try themselves in a new type of business and understand how they make money in the markets. Perhaps this will be the first step towards a new life, on the way to big business. Despite its simplicity, having a retail outlet requires from the first days attention and consideration of the product, the ability to communicate with customers, and decide on organizational issues. questions, and feel in the flow, which is important. Sometimes the situation develops in such a way that a person suddenly loses his job. Our time is a time of opportunity for enterprising people. If you try to open a point, you can be sure that you will start running your own business, make a profit, and gain new experience. There will be certain risks, but there will be no bosses over you, and you will create your own work schedule.

How to open a point on the market?

How to open?

• Register as an individual entrepreneur or legal entity. face.
• Decide on the type of taxation. It is best to stick to a simplified system.
• Conduct marketing research for the outlet - what group of products you will sell.
• Find suppliers with favorable conditions cooperation. You can minimize costs if you negotiate correctly with suppliers.
• Find a place to sell. A suitable place is away from competitors.
• To sell correctly - to have an assistant, with health certificate, work experience, responsibility for the result.

Trading Features

Start-up capital will be needed in any case. You can take out a loan, you need to decide in which market you will do business and what to trade. There are clothing, construction, automotive, mixed, food markets. And everywhere has its own specifics and rules of trade. Perhaps you already have some ideas and preferences. Or, for example, time of crisis suggests which product will be in high demand and what should be abandoned.

After the market and product category have been selected, it is necessary to study the demand of the population. Pay attention to how customers walk between the rows, what they are missing, study the prices and decide what will be sold, in what form, and how best to arrange the goods. The point of sale should attract the attention of the buyer, even if he just stopped. How to detain him, how to attract him - the seller’s ability to find the right words and convince him that the product is necessary, and only now there are discounts.

Many traders don't do this in the beginning, so they get into a lot of trouble. There may be a popular place for trading near the market. It's better to sell what you know. If you have a medical education, you can open a pharmacy or a point of sale of massagers and applicators. If you understand building materials, it is better to open a point on construction market. But one thing is clear, the most popular point is selling food. Even if the market has recently opened, there will be no problems with customers. For example, if you open a mini-cafe, sellers will eat there, and you will always have an influx of customers.

After you have made a decision, you need to enter into agreements with wholesale suppliers who have low prices for their products and high-quality goods. To do this, you will have to do the work - find options on the Internet, advertisements in the newspaper, look at samples, analyze and make the final decision with whom to cooperate. This will determine your activities many steps forward.

Trading Rules

There are trading rules that a seller needs to know. After making a decision, you need to contact the market administration and inquire about rent. Each market offers different variants. For example, you don’t need a room on the ground floor, but part of the room will be fine. It is necessary to persuade the tenant to give you half, or a part at a suitable price.

After registering a business, you need to recruit sellers. But if you have not yet promoted the point, it will be difficult for you to pay everyone salaries. It is enough to first hire an efficient assistant and work on increasing profits. Either expand the range of products, or do marketing moves– offer discounts, organize sales.

Point design

How to attract a buyer? Colorful design of the point, signs, showcases, banners, business cards, flyers, and they can be distributed at the entrance to the market, all this will attract the attention of the buyer with its originality. Individual approach- this is exactly what can attract buyers to your point in our time. If the buyer was treated attentively, was not deceived, and was advised what he needed, he will definitely return. Store the goods in places suitable for this purpose, do not sell perishable or stale products.

Profitability

For each point, profitability may be different, but approximate calculations can be made. For large items, you can mark up up to 30% of the purchase price. For small household goods - 100%. Payback depends on the rent, the purchase price of the product, and the level of sales for the product. The product may be seasonal or perishable. Experts say that the point can pay for itself in a year, provided that the trade was organized correctly and you did not make mistakes anywhere.

Watch also the video “Basic steps when opening a retail outlet”

Ordinary people complain about the anti-tobacco law, which has created many problems for both consumers of tobacco products and their suppliers. Strict rules regulating smoking in public places and increasing prices for cigarettes force smokers to huddle discontentedly with cigarettes in yards and corners and save cigarettes in a pack, and manufacturers to count losses.

But this is what makes an entrepreneur different from ordinary person who knows how to take advantage of any situation. If the state has seriously taken up tightening the rules in the field of tobacco smoking, then why not make a business out of an alternative to the usual way of satisfying nicotine addiction?

Increasingly popular with Russian consumer purchase electronic cigarettes. These devices are vaporizers that simulate the smoking process using a steam generator. When a person using an e-cigarette takes a puff, nichrome spiral, located inside the steam generator, heats up and converts the liquid with which the device is charged into steam. The process contains the taste of nicotine, smoke reminiscent of cigarettes, and a device that occupies the “smoker’s” hands. At the same time, electronic cigarettes cause much less harm to the health of the person who uses them and are absolutely harmless to others, so their use in public places is not prohibited by law.

In addition, electronic smoking simulators are in an effective way fighting addiction to real cigarettes. According to statistics, 75% of smokers who switched to these devices were able to significantly reduce their nicotine consumption, and 65% were able to quit smoking altogether.

The range of electronic smoking devices is very wide - they can take the form of regular cigarettes, cigars, pipes and even hookahs. In addition, electronic vaporizers are available in various flavors, and if you wish, you can “smoke” mint, vanilla, chocolate, strawberry - in a word, almost everything your heart desires.

Before you start a business

If you decide to open a sales point in your city electronic cigarettes, then you should start with marketing research market (you can conduct it yourself or order it from a specialized agency). You need to find out who the main consumer is of this product in your city (usually 21 to 30 year olds with average income who want to quit smoking), what is the average retail price for key items, what brands and types of e-cigarettes are in greatest demand, in which area of ​​the city the products are least represented, and other details necessary to write a business plan.

Location

When choosing a location for a retail outlet, focus on two indicators - the approximate income of the population living in a particular area, and the presence of competing outlets. Many budding entrepreneurs strive to bet on central areas cities, however, competition in such places is much higher, as well as rental rates. If you see that the niche for sales of electronic cigarettes in the center of your city has already been filled, then it makes sense to take a closer look at remote areas with developed infrastructure - the trend now is that there is active development of the urban periphery of megacities, opening there shopping centers, consumer stores, etc. An area with developed infrastructure is suitable for the implementation of your project.

To get started, it will be enough to rent a small retail space in one of the local stores - shopping malls are best suited for this purpose, since the traffic there is many times higher than in specialized stores. For the operation of a business, a small stationary display counter with an area of ​​3 square meters will be sufficient. Its monthly rent will cost an average of 10 thousand, but the exact price depends on many factors (region, district, rental policy of the owner of the space, etc.), so it is better to find out specific figures yourself by contacting landlords in the area you are interested in.

If your budget is limited and you cannot afford to risk the funds that you will invest in rent, then it makes sense to start with an online platform and sell goods through an online store. Then it will be necessary to create a website with a high-quality product catalog, which will have a form for online ordering of goods. Creating a simple “virtual business card” will cost you 10-15 thousand rubles, but you can make a website yourself using a free online designer. To promote your online store and increase impulse purchases, you will need to invest in contextual advertising.

Documents and licenses.

Before opening a retail outlet, you must also register as a subject entrepreneurial activity. In this case, an individual entrepreneur is most suitable - its registration will cost 800 rubles (payment of state duty) and will take an average of five days. In addition to the receipt of payment of the state duty to the future individual entrepreneur You will only need a passport, TIN and a standard application. The most comfortable tax regime for individual entrepreneurs this is a simplified taxation system (STS). It provides for the payment of 6% from the “income” object or 15% from the “income minus expenses” object.

As for additional licenses for the goods sold, they will not be needed - in Russian Federation electronic cigarettes are not subject to mandatory certification, and foreign certificates do not carry much weight.

Range

As mentioned above, the range of products described is quite wide - from cheap “cigarettes” with a maintenance-free evaporator and a non-removable unit (the so-called “egoshki” to more advanced models where you can replace the battery, choose the taste of the liquid in the evaporator, etc. When choosing When deciding what exactly to order for your store, you can follow one of two vectors:

A wide range of inexpensive products is a basic option to start with. In this case, it is better to rely not on well-known companies, but on representation large quantity options to compete with already operating outlets.

Focus on advanced devices. If vaping (electronic smoking) is quite developed in your city, then inexpensive “cigarettes” are most likely already represented on the local market. In this case, it makes sense, after first familiarizing yourself with the results of marketing research, to satisfy the needs of more advanced users - those who prefer a higher class of goods. One of the owners of a business selling electronic cigarettes advises ordering branded products not from suppliers directly, but from resellers - the cost will not be much higher, but there is an opportunity to buy goods in small quantities (five to ten items each). Of course, there is a risk of purchasing counterfeit products - to minimize it, it is better to cooperate with resellers who already have a reputation as conscientious contractors and value it (for example, TenOne).

To order the first batch of goods you will need from 50 to 100 thousand rubles. The exact amount of initial investment in this section of launching a business project should again be assessed independently by making a list of what you are going to purchase and analyzing the range and prices of suppliers.

Who to order from?

Ordering goods from Russian suppliers benefits the entrepreneur due to faster delivery times than from abroad (during the period during which one parcel arrives from China, you can make two or three purchases from Russian companies), and the absence of problems with customs services. However, entrepreneurs note that in addition to the advantages, compatriot suppliers also have significant disadvantages, such as: periodic delays in delivery times (the Chinese take this matter much more responsibly), a higher percentage of defective shipments of goods, changes in payment upon delivery, when the final price greatly exceeds agreed upon.

If you order goods from China (AliExpress, FastTech.Com, etc.), you will have to face other difficulties. Thus, branded suppliers work exclusively with MOQ (minimum order quantity), which means that goods of famous brands cannot be ordered in small quantities of several units. Therefore, what is imported from China is mainly inexpensive low-segment items supplied by non-branded companies - we do not have minimum size order.

When ordering from abroad, you should consider which delivery service your potential supplier cooperates with - if it is DHL or another standard company, then there is a high risk that the ordered batch will be subject to customs clearance, which is fraught with additional costs and delays for the buyer delivery. Therefore, cooperation with a local logistics company will not be superfluous. The standard scheme for ordering goods from China is as follows: the buyer transfers money to the seller, the seller sends the goods to a warehouse, from where the shipment is delivered by air to Russia. Payment for the services of the logistics company is made after the fact, when the buyer has already received the goods.

As for the markup on the original price of the product, on average it is 45%. However, if you sell exclusive brands, being the only representative of the brand in your city, then the price can be doubled.

Personnel

If you want to maximize the flow of customers, then it is necessary for the point to work seven days a week. Therefore, you will need two sales consultants who will work in shifts. Their responsibilities will include not only selling goods to customers, but also advising on products, as well as promoting them. The potential buyer must be properly informed about all the advantages of electronic cigarettes (environmental friendliness, the ability to quit smoking, a wide variety of flavors, etc.) - then the chance that he will become your consumer increases, even if he does not purchase the product immediately. Therefore, your employees must have good communication skills and the gift of persuasion.

The most appropriate system of remuneration for sales consultants is a salary plus a percentage of sales. The average size the salary portion is about 11 thousand rubles, but the exact figures depend on the region.

Profitability

According to average estimates, the profitability of this business is about 37%. With an approximate number of customers of 5 people per day, the average daily revenue will be about 14,000 rubles. If the point operates seven days a week, then the income at this figure will be 420 thousand, and the profit minus monthly expenses (rent, advertising, wage employees, unforeseen expenses, etc.) will amount to about 157 thousand rubles. However, in order to more adequately assess the profitability of a business selling electronic cigarettes, we advise future entrepreneurs to independently estimate all one-time and monthly expense items, based on the prices of your city - this will require the Internet and one or two days of time for monitoring.