Tips for opening a store

[WildTech]

I have a very successful shop in a small town. I think its important to do four basic things.

1) Treat each customer equally and with respect. After all, without them, you might as well close up before you open.

2) Tell it like it is!! Don't try to match pricing with the big chains. Sell quality merchandise and NEVER appoligize for being more expensive. EXPLAIN why the merchandise you sell is better. The customers you want are the ones that buy quality merchandise.

3) Maintain a clean, organized appearing shop. Even if the setup and repairs rooms are utter chaois, make sure the your sales area is neat and well stocked(empty boxes are a great idea)

4) Be Fair!! Never intentionally cheat someone. It only takes once to establish a reputation for being a cheat.

Have fun and good luck
<IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[Auric]

My suggestion does not necessarily pertain to running a store, but in a sense designing your systems you want to sell...
say if you have 3 levels of systems, 1 for basic user, 2 for average/medium user and 3 for power user build 1 of each (you can use em for display aftewards) but take em home or something and play with them, litterly use them like a user would and see if you run into any problems with the system configurations

[jaimez]

Best advice I can offer is that you don't need to spend a lot of money opening up a shop. Keep about $5000.00 worth of parts and make sure you keep turning them over and out the door. To make it, you will need to sell computers as well as fix them. Never let the customer have anything for free, once you start doing free work then word gets around that your shop is a free for all. Ask for a credit card number when they call on the telephone asking for tech support. If you get a pissed off customer then calm them down by asking what you can do for them and then do exactly what they say, they'll then stick with you forever and you can get your money back by charging them more the next time. Get plenty of empty boxes and put them all round the store to make it seem like you carry a lot of stock, the customer doesn't know any difference, they just think it looks good. Run an advertisement in your local paper constantly in the Services section, this will get you more customers than you think. I started off five years ago working out of my basement, now i have 6 computer stores in 3 cities.

Good Luck!

P.S. You have to sell computers as well to keep the money turning over, if you can't do it then hire a salesperson, it will pay off especially in the short term.

[IronTech]

Too much inventory can definatly kill ya. that was the problem at the store I was working at. And also, don't worry too much about the software end. No matter what you do, you can't compete with the Best Buy that buys 100,000 copies of Tomb Raider 27. That's another place we lost money. We also did trade in of used software, another killer.

[MichaelScot]

Hi.

My view is this: You simply cannot make a viable go of a retail store dealing with PCs.

Nowadays, you cannot build a PC for less than say, a company like Gateway, supplies them. So, straight away, you'll be struggling to cover your overheads. I may be wrong here, but I don't think your operation wil be big enough to qualify for the volume discounts which allow you to turn a profit.

What I did here was offer a repair service in peoples homes for a standard fixed price, no matter how large or small the job was. They knew where they stood and they were happy with that. I suggest you do the same.

Open a small store and offer all repairs and upgrades for a fixed price of say, $100. What would be even better would be if you could arrange an uplift and delivery service.

10 jobs a week = $1000 = $52,000 P.A., plus weekends off!

Michael.

[Fubar]

Never hesitate to say 'No'. I had a really good friend that started putting boxes together for customers. He found that once they bought HE was resposible for everything THEY did. He was such a friendly guy he would help them. Soon he was helping more than selling. He quit because the leeches were too thick. There is a lot of good advise in these posts. Think about it. Have a WRITTEN business plan. Cash Flow is NOT profit. Pay yourself as little as possible if anything. And above all don't give up!

BEST OF LUCK TO YOU IN YOUR ENTERPRIZE!
<IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

[raptorGT]

If your computer suddenly says, "Feed me!" I advise getting rid of it. I don't believe computers should be the beneficiary of any sacrifice in the computer store, unless of course, the sacrifice is a customer who won't pay or is being a cheap little bastard that won't spend an extra $5 on a better CD-ROM drive for his 1.4Ghz, $3000.00 computer. Then its ok. The sacrifice can even be a friend who hasn't the peace of mind to let go of something from the past and stop screwing up someone else's relationship. Other than that, feel free to put stickers on as much stuff as possible, you know, the ones that say, "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED." I love those. I have 3 of them on my pencil...

[savagegerbil]

There is one thing i didnt see anyone post about. get a folder and get as much info on the competition as you can. find out what services they offer and especially what they dont offer. find out the prices and set your price lower. now, i never had my own shop and right now i am saving up to start one but i do know business and if you can say repair a computer faster and better and cheaper then say compusa and give them more personalized service, you'll never fail. as far as stock goes, these best buys and crap, they have the option of returning the unsold merchandise, you dont so when the new os comes out, stock only a couple at a time so when 5 years goes by you dont have 20 copies of win95 taking up space. training, anyone would be willing to pay for training. i dont like teaching but the money is there. hold one on one training sessions until you can afford a class and then mark your fee down %50 a head. train what no one else touches. i make oodles of money training the basics of linux. advertise all that you can, flyers, radio, newspaper, phonebook. be classy, dont be cheesy and cheap if you go radio or television. man do i hate those computer renessaince commercials! anyhow, those are my two cents. i have many more but i cant give away all my plans :-p

[eenge99]

Service - yes, Sales - no. You probably won't see but a few dollars off of each PC sold unless you bundle in a service contract with the price. Even then you may eat more service costs than you can afford.

My last job was for a Sales/Service shop that just couldn't make much more than a dime off the systems we sold. And as for service we were the best in the area as far as price, courtesy and knowledge.

Good luck. Retail sucks.
<IMG SRC="smilies/tongue.gif" border="0">

[asopalav]

<Marquee>DONT</Marquee>

[Kenny P.]

Don't.

Kenny P.

[savagegerbil]

yeah, those service contracts wont bring in money unless you get insurance and they wont talk to you unless you can promise them X amount of dollers.

[Major Kong]

I agree with Wayward Clam also an important point is location. Try to establish your business in the most affordable visable place you can find, take it from someone who has been involved in a family small business for over sixy years (business started by grandparents in the late 30's!) this is paramount. Another thing to consider is the people you hire make sure thay are knowledgable, coherant and friendly. There is nothing worse than being serviced by a dumb smug mush mouth. Be prepared to explain your options (i.e. Athlon vs PIV, DDR vs PC133, OEM vs factory, ASUS vs PCCHIPS arghh!!). Keep your shop opened at times that are important with your customer base. A shop that is opened from 9-5 M-F will not get the business that a shop that is opened from 11-8 M-F, 10-6 Sat and maybe an optional Sunday 1-5. Good luck and Kyrie Elaison!
Remember (I had a customer tell me one day) "Don't confuse me with the facts my mind is made up"!

[Wayward Clam]

Oh yeah, if your location sucks, the only thing that's gonna keep your head above water is ADVERTISE ADVERTISE ADVERTISE so if you're gonna spend that money anyways you may as well get a good store front and save yourself the effort.

Pakprotector is right. Also, he has a really cool screen name. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[kannibul]

Don't do it.
waste of money and time doing retail. instead, do a service depot type of buisiness. offer on site services, consultations, even offer service "packs" (blocks of time that can be purchased)
some people will jump on the idea that they have x ammount of time for service calls, and they never use it up.
make no guarantees about return trips from these packs as well.
have a disclaimer that they have to sign protecting your company.
make sure you incorporate the company, so that you can not be sued, or made bankrupt.