Scrapbook Retailer
A large initial investment and time commitment are needed, as well as detailed research into your local area of present and potential competition. Profits differ, depending on the area demographics and competition, and though many stores report not taking home a paycheck for at least the first year, other stores are quite profitable and open multiple locations. This is the most expensive way to get into scrapbooking as a business. You will have to purchase a large amount of inventory and find a storefront to operate out of. However, this can be a very profitable venture when you consider all of the options that you will have available to you. You can bring in guest instructors to teach classes for you which will increase your sales – especially if they use your inventory to create their pages. You can schedule weekly crop nights where fellow scrapbookers get together and put together their pages. Charge a small fee for this service and offer up your expertise as a professional to help them in making a memorable page. Hiring employees to help you run your business is also an important part of opening up your own store. Find employees who love what they do! Hire people who are passionate about scrapbooking!" There's a reason this is repeated so often - because it works. Hiring Employees Running a store is hard work, and you’ll need to have someone to help you to avoid having to spend your every waking moment running the business. Hiring quality employees is important because they will be representing you and your business. First, decide why you’re hiring people and what you want to accomplish. If you want to increase sales, you need a salesperson. If you want someone to do a little bit of everything, they will be an assistant. An employee who helps with the books will be more of a bookkeeper than anything. Once you know what type of position you’re trying to fill, sit down and write an outline of the position and what the job duties will be. Specify what jobs the hiree will need to do. Make this list specific and outline the hows and whats of what is expected of them. Knowing what to pay these employees is the million dollar question! You can only afford so much, but in order to get a quality employee, you’ll need to add a little extra to minimum wage to attract people who will give you the best work ethic. See what you can reasonably afford to pay and make concessions for the worker’s comp insurance and employer tax contributions that you will be required to pay. If you offer health insurance, add that into the bottom line as well. Offer all employees a discount on the supplies that they buy from you. 30 percent is a good number to offer. By doing this, you’ll encourage them to use your inventory and be able to rave about them to potential customers to make additional sales. When advertising the position, the obvious choice is to put an ad in the classified section of the newspaper. This will work well, but also consider placing a flyer on a local college bulletin board or simply place a sign in your window. These are free options and can work reasonably well too. Be specific in your ad as to what type of person you are looking for. Specify the hours and any benefits that you can offer them. Don’t worry that you’re a small business. Most often, part-time employees are going to be mothers with children in school who are just looking for a way to keep themselves busy during the day. This is the type of employee you want! When interviewing possible employees, have them bring in samples of their own scrapbooks for you to look at. If they don’t have one, they’re probably not going to be a good fit for you. You want someone who is passionate about scrapbooking and can speak with knowledge about supplies, techniques, and such to potential customers. Providing Great Customer Service As independent stores trying to compete with a growing influx of chains and franchises who want a slice of the scrapbooking pie, providing passion to your customers is a must. And that means more than just excellent customer service. Make sure you greet everyone who comes in. Walk people over to the products they ask for and show honest-to-goodness passion for your business! This may even be one of the main things that keep customers true to you at all times. Obsessed scrappers who want to turn their passion into profit by opening a store need to make sure they are as informed and knowledgeable as they can be. And this knowledge isn't just knowing what fixtures to buy, or what products sell best, or even how much money you need to invest. It's knowing that, generally speaking, by saying "hello" to becoming a store owner, you are saying "goodbye" to time and money. A lot of people think that opening a store means scrapping all day, or at least more than what they are able to do right now, when in fact it's just the exact opposite. Expect to work 70 to 80 hours per week, minimum....and sometimes more when you have a workshop or have to be doing bookkeeping, just to keep up, or try to catch up. It's an extremely high maintenance business, the overhead is HUGE, and you are also in constant competition with the online stores, as well as the other brick and mortar stores. But if you think this is the route you should go, don’t hesitate to do so. The rewards can be HUGE as well! What’s important is to take in more than you spend. While this might seem like an easy concept, it can be more difficult than it seems. What can make the difference? Marketing! Which, of course, we’ll talk about later! You may wonder how in the world you’ll be able to compete with corporate giants like Wal-Mart when it comes to selling your scrapbook supplies. Do you lower your prices and risk going out of business? Do you offer sales constantly? No. Figure out what sets you apart from Wal-Mart, and concentrate on those traits. Continue offer outstanding personal customer service. This includes helping out customers who have questions about designing a particular page or album, demonstrating new products and having the customer try them out, offering special orders, greeting people warmly, and remembering customer's names and/or details. Make sure all of your employees employ the same practices at all times. If you are not there, your employees represent you and your store. Upon hiring, go over "store policy" with them, outlining all of the ways that customer service should be handled, and WHY it's important. Stay in contact with your customer list, with a regular newsletter AND various direct mailings. Send your direct mailings at various holidays or times of year. Prepare a direct mailing to customers who haven't been in for awhile. Prepare a direct mailing that outlines all of the services you offer (extraordinary customer service, crops, playroom, classes, hard-to-find items), that implies why scrappers would benefit more by shopping at your store, rather than the large chain. Research and carry hard-to-find items that the large chains don't carry. Naturally, some people are going to want a "bargain" and the convenience of doing all of their shopping at once. A lot of people don't even realize what they are doing to the mom-and-pop businesses every time they give their money to a corporate giant. If the Wal-Mart in your town is taking away business, just concentrate on the above-listed steps and stay focused on all of the ways your store is superior to a generic chain. Now don’t get us wrong, we love Wal-Mart just as much as the next guy. But the success of your business depends on going above and beyond what they have to offer. Sure, they have low prices, but do they have people willing to help with their needs when they’re shopping? How many times do you have to go looking for an associate when you have a question? Providing exemplary customer service will keep your customer coming back for more – even if Wal-Mart beats you by 1/3 of the price. |
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