How to open an online toy store: a phased plan

Baby products are always a profitable business. As you know, people can save on themselves, but they never save on children. All grandmothers, grandfathers, dads and mothers always delight their kids with new toys, clothes and other things.

Today we are going to talk about how to start a children's toy store from scratch and what you need for this.

Competition and business format

Where there is high demand and high profits, there will always be high competition. The toy trade is just such a line of business. Based on this, before opening a store, you need to assess the competition, look at the assortment and pricing policy of similar stores and highlight the main points that should be emphasized in order to be better and customers chose you.

If you live in a big city, then there is an option to think about the format for choosing a narrow niche, for example, selling only soft toys, or only educational toys, etc.

Living in a provincial town, you need to look at the full spectrum of the product group, from toy cars to educational games and soft bears. In small towns, people are used to buying all types of toys in one store and this must be taken into account.

Premises and equipment

The best solution for selling toys would be to find premises in a shopping center, it is especially important to look that there are already departments there, for example, with children's clothes. This way you can be sure that your target audience is here. It is also a good option to rent a sales area near the markets, where many couples go.

The size of the premises for a toy store can be from 25 sq. ... and more. A smaller room will create discomfort for the buyer, and you will not be able to conveniently arrange the entire range of goods.

To run a toy business, you will need to purchase equipment. These are racks, shelves, glass display cases and more. Everything will depend on the interior of the room that you will be renting. Also, don't forget the salesperson's workplace.

Proper lighting and competent segmentation of goods into groups will play an important role in such a store.

The children's niche is one of the most profitable niches on the market. Babies are born all the time and need diapers, clothes and toys. In this article, we will analyze a step-by-step plan for opening and scaling an online toy store.

stage: Website development

The first thing you should do is the site itself. We will not talk in detail about how to create the site itself. We will consider this topic in another article and will never return to it.

When you have a beautiful and convenient site, you should find suppliers for your store and fill the site itself with goods.

If you don't have an IP yet, then you don't need to register it. If you do not have goods on hand, then you do not need to purchase them. Your venture may fail, motivation disappear, and IP and unsold goods will remain hanging. Therefore, just fill the site with products, and when a customer tries to buy something, you will notify him that this product is out of stock. This way you will understand whether they will buy anything from you at all.

Also, I would like to note that your phone number must be on the site so that customers can call and clarify their questions.

stage: Customer flow

Now we get to the hardest part - traffic. If you live in a province and are creating a store that will work within your city, then that is very good. Since the competition at the interregional level is so high that you will need millions to advance somewhere.

To get traffic, you will have to invest money anyway. The answer to the question of how to find clients is limited only by your imagination and experience.

Options for receiving traffic:

Today, many people find it difficult to find a job to their liking. In any case, this is what experts who study the labor market and employment say. Interestingly, the very concept of “work to your liking” has changed. Are they paying well? Are you satisfied with the work schedule? Everything worked out, we already liked the case. Conclusion - we are writing a job application.

Any person who does what he loves, which does not bring him a stable and large income, is an eccentric in the eyes of others. The people around are unanimous: they cannot live because they cannot make money!

How to combine your favorite business and profit? Okay, even if not super-profit, but at least such an amount of money that would be enough for a comfortable life! There is only one way out - to engage in individual entrepreneurship.

Who is not attracted by the idea of ​​starting their own business and being their own boss? But entrepreneurship has pitfalls that we usually don't think about, it has its pros and cons. The proof of this is Victoria's personal experience, which she shared with the readers of Reconomica magazine.

Is everything so great

My name is Victoria, I am 32 years old. For almost a year I have been running my own small business selling children's toys.

Once upon a time it seemed that all entrepreneurs are successful wealthy people. Well, after all, it cannot be that all these stalls, individual workers are working at a loss! And salespeople are also hired.

However, having plunged into the world of harsh entrepreneurial reality, I realized that not everything is so beautiful and rosy.

Having started my own business, I began to communicate more often with colleagues in the entrepreneurial get-together. And you know what? Many are literally on the brink of survival. To see this state of affairs is wild, but no one is closing down yet - everyone is tolerating. And that's why.

Entrepreneurial Psychology

How to open a toy store from scratch and why is the product a toy? Where did this idea come from?

All children need them for development. Two or three years have passed since the first rattle appears, and they fill all the rooms, "This is not a house, but some kind of toy store!" - you grumble in annoyance, every evening, removing blocks, constructors, cars. The word "shop" haunts you when you fall asleep. And why not really open a toy store, because thanks to the children you are very good at them. It only remains to figure out where to start.

The toy store of your dreams

The starting point is your desire, supported by a certain amount of capital investment. For financial support, you can turn to investors by drawing up a business plan for a toy store with feasibility studies for the profitability and recoupment of the project. Or take a bank loan for business development.

And in order for the business to be profitable, a new business should be to your liking. After all, your customers will be children.

Attractive store design, helpful staff, assortment of toys selected for every age, small play area. In order for a child to bring his parents for a new toy to you, you need to sink into his soul. Uncomplicated entertainment: construction sets, sketchbooks with pencils, a large aquarium with sweets on the counter for customers, discounts on birthdays and holidays, will make your store a favorite for kids and their parents.

By the way, they will tell their friends and relatives about you, and this is the best advertisement, moreover, without investment.

Particular attention should be paid to the assortment and quality of toys. Parents prefer to buy educational toys made from natural materials or safe plastics for their children; domestic manufacturers of wooden development tools are in great demand. The children themselves adore toys in the form of their favorite cartoon characters from popular TV series, cars, trains, ponies, dolls with unusual figures, faces and outfits.

Educational wooden toys

The assortment should include toys for every day - these are unplanned small purchases with a low price, for situations: they passed by, went to look and could not leave empty-handed.

A toy store business plan is a program that includes information about the product, the direction of the entrepreneur's work, marketing, the effectiveness of the development plan. Trade requires a competent approach to building a business, studying the market, searching for suppliers of products, assessing one's own competitive ability even at the initial stage of development of such an area. The toy business is no exception, so you need to draw up a competent development plan, store promotion in order to get the expected profit.

Relevance of the idea

A business plan for a children's toy store involves the formation of a special program aimed at developing the business, taking into account the state of the market in a particular area. It is necessary to study prices, the number of competitors, demand and other factors before funds are raised for the development of an idea and the first work begins on finding a store premises, providing advertising and promoting the business, even before registering a business selling children's goods.

Forming a business on children's toys requires obtaining fresh statistics for the region where the stores are planned to open.

Market research evaluates how relevant the idea of ​​opening a children's store is.

Two factors are determined that will determine whether or not it is necessary to open a toy store in a particular locality:

• Demand. The profit of businessmen depends on this criterion, regardless of which branch of trade is chosen. Accordingly, the greater the demand for toys, the higher the relevance of the idea of ​​opening a children's store.
• Competition. This criterion will also affect demand. It is necessary to assess whether the consumer's need for children's goods will decrease if, in addition to other stores, another one is opened.

If the region allows you to start this type of business, then you will also have to carefully approach the production points, namely, decide on the equipment, assortment and sellers, select premises, sales area, and so on.

To understand how to start a toy store from scratch, learn a step-by-step action plan. Starting your own business requires establishing whether you need permission to work.

The legislation on the licensing of business activities in Russia establishes that the opening and development of a toy business does not require an official permission from the regulatory body.

Registration

When figuring out what is needed to open a children's store, first pay attention to registration. We are talking about the formation of an individual entrepreneur or the opening of a limited liability company.

The registration procedure involves filing an application with the tax authority, as well as determining the following aspects by the entrepreneur: